Big Beat Steve

Indeed there doesn't seem to be much on CD from that period, except that the CD set you allude to seems to have ben redone in 2002 ... (How far did they ever get with reissuing the Hampton recordings in the Chronological Classics CD series before tht series folded?) I guess this recording period was covered that extensively in the LP era (notably on German MCA, and the 5 LPs on French MCA in the Jazz Heritage series also provide very good though not complete coverage) that reissuers have not found it profitable enough to re-reissue everything in the same manner again. It is amazing, though, after all these years that have passed since. Or maybe the 40s Hamp still is considered too rambunctious for the "finer" tastes of the jazz sophisticates?

"Late Summer" with a playing time of 7:04 (might correspond to the 6:59 above if you are liberal with counting lead-in/lead-out seconds) and the entire Cologne sessions of 17 and 21 January 1956 for the Carisch label were reissued about 20 years agon on the (Danish) Swingtime label (another one from the Official P.D. stable) and on other Italian labels. The discographies I have on hand do not list a second version or alternate take from this session.

Not wanting to derail the topic at this early stage but since you mentioned others outside Dick Tracy and curious about your opinion: What do you think of "The Toonerville Trolley" by Fontaine Fox? I perused a collection of these cartoons (republished in 1972 by Scribner's) in my school days in the 70s at our local Amerika Haus library and found it very, very funny for its mixture of odd and original (quirky, in fact) characters, sly humor and caricature of backwoodsiness (that wasn't all that backwoodsy if you read closely) - and the intentionally "peculiar" use of the English language no doubt added to its interest at a time when you still attended English classes at school (that obviously were rather stiff by comparison). The Amerika Haus closed long ago but in fact the memory remained and some 12 years ago I finally picked up a copy of that very book on eBay.

I suppose a copy from 1970 still available directly from JH would be a REPRINT? These reprints are of superb quality, though. A few years ago I bought 4 issues from the 40s and 50s (that I had been unable to find as originals via the usual online sources to complete my JH collection of 1945 to 1961) via their online shop and was (and stilll am) very impressed with the reprint quality. Though it's a bit of a pity that their price per copy has gone up from 10 to 15 EUR in the meantime. Bonne année!

I sent a mail a few days before Christmas to inquire about their intentions to stock the Savory set and they replied (affirmatively) the same day with a very friendly mail. Maybe they are slowing down between Christmas and New Year (festive season) right now too?

RIP and thanks for your contributions. He always appeared very much down to earth to me.

A much larger-sized scan image would help.

I would't totally disagree with you. I pull out the CD about once a year and find it quite OK and fitting for the calm and relaxed Christmas Eve setting so I enjoy it each time. But I can well imagine some of the tunes come across better when performed live in a suitable setting. In general, what I find a bit of a drag about some bands fo this type is that they often come across as too "clean". They seem to be too intent on showing all facets of their instrumental skills and forget to just "BLOW". The violinist on this one, for example ought to have listened a bit less to latter-day Joe Venuti and Eddie South but more to Stephane Grapelly or even to Stuff Smith. I've only one other HCSF CD (bought after recommendations on this board along with the above one years ago) but when it comes to today's "Hot Club" small groups, I do prefer the Hot Club of Cowtown.

All I know is that THIS kind of Christmas tree "decoration" would make me feel freezin' icy cold in no time at all ... http://www.shorpy.com/node/505?size=_original#caption Different traditions, I guess ...

Merry Xmas and a music-laden New Year to everybody ...

You've memorized your Ross Russell well ...

I've had this for about 20 years now. Usualy i like to pair/mix it with this one: https://www.discogs.com/de/Various-Mr-Santas-Boogie-Santas-Secret/release/3909425 Re-your reference to Wardell/Dexter's Jingle Jangle Jump, how about combining it with Tom Archia's "Swinging for Christmas" feat. Gene Ammons (Aristocrat 606, reissued several times, including in the Classics (B&R) series).

Just had a peek in. Looked OK to me.

As it happens this LP is on the Charlie Parker Records "The Complete Collection" box set that (of course) also features the "BIrd is Free" LP referred to above. https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Parker-Records-Complete-Collection/dp/B006ZUKBJ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513878154&sr=8-1&keywords=charlie+parker+records+the+complete+collection (a bit overpriced there, though ...)

King Ubu is right from his point of view, but although I do not know what your approach to jazz from this period is, I'll try to make it more succinct: IMO it is essential to anybody who loves swing-era jazz. Because it adds something new and something substantial to the recorded history of a music where most if not all has been thought to have been discovered and out long ago. (o.k., not counting Benny Goodman ... ) And while I am not holding my breath on this I still hope somehow that some day someone who has been digging through the discs and (?) reels of this find will come up and say "Hey, I just discovered Mr Savory DID record that 1943 Earl Hines big band too!" Btw, any news yet from Jazzmessengers that they will get this in stock too? (Just wondering whether to preorder direct or wait for Jazzmessengers to get on board)

This unfortunate way of adding "bonuses" to pretend the buyer gets extra value through extra playing time of a CD has been going on for a long time and is neither flesh nor fowl IMO as often the extra material is added at random. I did not particularly like this with certain Fresh Sound reissues (as these bonuses often split up existing sessions so do not add much for those who'd like sessions in their entirety so if they get the entire sessions somewhere else these bonuses are useless - if they do not already have them anyway) but this has also happened with reissues on other labels. So there are many guilty parties. Even if it is not even a matter of "thieves" (non-retroactive P.D. laws, remember? ) In this particular case, however, I cannot see how the buyer could have been misled. The back cover clearly says where the extra tracks came from and since the lineup is a totally different one it cannot have come from the Up at Minton's session anyway. Reading the fine print of line-ups and recording dates has become a required art IMO ever simce they started to reissue stuff on CD. Too much attempts (often inept ones) to fill up CDs with RANDOM (instead of carefuly collated) tracks when the original LP playing time would have been a bit meager. And is that Comin' On session really that obscure - release/reissue-wise? What I find much more annoying when it comes to misleading buyers in the reissue field is crediting recordings to persons who NEVER were the original leaders of the session (and in some cases not even the #1 featured soloist) and not even mentioning this in the "fine print". Has happened VERY often with artist compilations. Of course it is tempting to market the music under a name that became a "major" name after the (original) fact but these reissues actually should be labeled as V.A. reissues. (Wishful thinking? Yes, of course, but still ...)

Same here. I'll spring for this for sure. Almost too good to be true. (I suppose it will be a long while, though, before we get to know if Jazzmessengers will carry this? ) The best news about this IMHO and TO ME, though, in the link above was that the Goodman material will remain "in limbo". I was half afraid anybody who'd release this in a "physical" format would jump for more of the most obvious "biggest" names. But honestly, there already are so many BG airshots and live recordings from that period out there that I guess most can do without more versions of '"Rachel's Dream" or whatever in that vein (UNLESS of course that there are substantially more recordings of the sextet featuring Charlie Christian and playing tunes that so far have NOT been preserved for posterity - but how likely is this, I wonder??).

Interesting to read these assessments by the "elder statesmen" of this forum. Maybe this description of how it "hit" people describes how it hit me too. I've never been much of a Coltrane fanatic (and make no excuses for it - if you get into the various styles of jazz somewhat chronologically instead of in "backwards chronology" there is MUCH else out there in jazz). Free jazz never was my cuppa, I did not feel a need to get as deeply into hard bop as into swing, R&B, bebop and WCJ, and as I've had most of the the classic Miles Davis quintet LPs from the 50s for a very long time this covered my immediate Coltrane needs and I held off on others (particularly since his own (Prestige) LPs from the same period permanently seemed to be out there). Now we had a public TV channel here that filled the late night hours (after the regular programming had ended) with cycles of hour-long previews of the upcoming TV schedules for the week ahead - to the background of late-night jazz and other stimulating "mood" music (i.e. certainly not just "soft" music). One night, a good 15 years ago, I happened to zap into that channel and the music caught my ear. This just seemed to be right, not for this late hour but overall .... This jazz impressed me enough to stay tuned in much longer than I'd normally do for this kind of preview, and eventually the "fine print" of the credits came up and said the music came from the "Blue Train" album. Within a few days I found a newish BN reissue LP of it at one of our two still decently stocked local record stores. I still haven't added substantially to my Coltrane LPs but this one was a "must have" ...

This one, maybe? (Missed it at the time, unfortunately, hope it gets rebroadcast one day) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_f%C3%BCr_die_Russen_%E2%80%93_To_Russia_with_Jazz As for Bill Crow's memories being "non è vero" - I'd give it to him that they WERE "vero". He wasn't the only one remembering this kind of behavior. Just read Terry Gibbs' autobography and HIS reminiscences of "The Fog" (aka "El Foggo" ).

Those clips won't play here in Europe so - one question: If I get this right they incuded a larger part of the more advanced examples from the book at long last for CD 2 (which is what the LP did not include, right?). How does the sound compare? Good, cheap secondhand copies of the LP should not be hard to locate here so I am wondering what would be the clincher for the CD (except that I'd like to hear the Tadd Dameron tunes but OTOH am no "late Goodman" completist at all).

I thought so too.

My Goodman records don't (yet) extend that far but maybe this is of some use? https://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/apr/14/benny-goodman-moscow-observer-archive And while you listen to the music, relax and sit back in your chair and treat yourself to this: http://www.billcrowbass.com/billcrowbass.com/To_Russia_Without_Love.html

Here, for example: https://www.abebooks.com/California-cool-West-Coast-cover-art/12194090782/bd

My thoughts exactly when I opened this thread. I have a couple of Esquire EPs bought secondhand in the UK in the 90s (and also 2-3 78s), and 2-3 years ago I picked up the below LP at a fleamarket during our holidays in Southern France. Sadly pretty shot but interesting just for the cover and at a price of 1 euro you can't go wrong. Besides, I already had Prestige 7003 (OJC facsimile reissue) with the music in mint shape. The elderly seller who disposed of quite a few jazz records of his at the same low price (somewhat more recent releases, in better condition but clearly "enjoyed") told me he had bought this particular LP - his first LP (or jazz LP?) - as a youngster while on a school exchange stay in London in the 50s. Nice story and one more reason to reserve a spot for it.