Big Beat Steve

The more I think about it and look at that LP cover scan the more I think that it might very well be that Little Richard LP on the Contour budget label. The blueish tint/discoloration of the 70s photograph print alters the colors, but if you take this into account and look at the proportions as well as the spotlight reflections to the left and right of Little Richard on this cover, things look like they match. A record I would not have thought of - despite the fact that actually I USED to own this LP (bought it during a school class Easter holiday trip to London in 1975 - coincidence ...). I sold it off long ago, though, because those live recordings were just horrible, at least to my ears. Not the real (Specialty) thing by a long shot. Thanks for your perspicacity!

Strange ... Anybody else have this problem? It is there (two, in fact), and I've uploaded pics via the same image hoster here before - without any apparent problems. Just in case (a wild shot): If you do not see the pic but a link can you click on the link or copy/paste the link in yur browser to see the pic?

A question to those who may have wide-ranging tastes in music from the (pre-mid-70s) vinyl era: The below photo came up on a classic car forum and of course people started wondering about the LP this guy in his very 70s-ish garb is holding. (The UK license plate of the Jag E dates from 1973 so this and the other cars in the car park might date the pic - and the vinyl) Anybody have any idea for identification?

True. Not only in the field of music. At the end of the 90s my father tried to reduce his considerable library of architecture books (the result of a long professional life in that field and of hoarding books on this subject - a habit I "unfortunately" have inherited in my fields of interest ). Libraries did not show much interest and even antiquarians would have required him beforehand to draft a detailed listing of what exactly he had (as did the libraries). Neither of the two groups of potential recipients seemed to have been prepared to send someone over to have a closer look for assessment. The final result? Some of the more run of the mill stuff and/or more recent books were given to former students of his (free, of course), and the rarer/older/more collectible ones made it into my crates of fleamarket/garage sale stuff. I made some pretty decent money from those I have sold over time. As for the antiquarians - their loss .... I remember when I sold off a bunch of his more collectible 20s/30s books to a lady who turned out to run an antique bookshop specializing in architecture books herself. Musing over her finds at my stall she seemed to be truly dumbfounded by what she had discoverd there and asked me outright "Which estate did these books come from?", obviously meaning (without being that forthright) "Books like this are not supposed to end up with private sellers who might sell them directly to private buyers - they are supposed to go directly from the estate to professional sellers who can make a maximum of benefit from them". Ha, lady, your loss, and not true anyway - remember the saying: " Avoid the middleman"! So, Chuck ... while CDs are not that collectible, of course, how about participating in an occasional neighborhood garage sale first and make some happy buyers? You can still donate the leftovers elsewhere of call in one of the shops later on.

And when will your lock-up unit come up on "STORAGE WARS" on TV, then? Might make for some interesting watching ...

I am afraid it is the rule not all that rarely. Unless you happen to stumble upon a library that is severely understocked AND wants to add to its range in that particular field that you happen to want to get rid off. A very rare occurrence, unfortunately ... In fact I have heard about such sell-offs too (after the fact, of course ...). Lending libraries these days have a pretty fast turnover even of those items they stock for their customers and of what they discard as "no longer up to date" (read: perceived as being no longer in demand and blocking valuable space for more in-demand items that attract those who still go to these libraries). The days (such as in my youth in the 70s) when you were able to pick up long-OOP books from local/suburb libraries on historical subject matters that were of interest to you (e.g. books published as long back as the 50s that were still on the shelves all through the 70s and early 80s) are long, long over, unfortunately. You really have to go to larger, archive-minded libraries these days to peruse or borrow "historical" tomes. So you can imagine what their "life cycle" and turnover in the media field is these days ...

You mean you wouldn't want to bother packing and shipping any item that wouldn't yield you at least 25 quid? My my ....

Oh my ... If you lump in broadcasts (i.e. airshots) too then there is an awful lot from that period. Almost too much to be covered in any sensible maner bnecause obviously tastes differ widely. One favorite category of non-commercial recordings from that period that I have always liked are the JUBILEE radio shows emceed by Ernie "The Stomach That Walks Like a Man" Whitman, whose chatter adds some "period" spice (if taken in moderate doses). Some fine, fine music by the black stars and bands from that era there ...

" What's your favorite Jazz Style? Hard Bop, Smooth Jazz, Cool Jazz, Soul-Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Jazz-Funk, Latin Jazz? " She's got a somewhat narrow-minded attitude and knowledge about what styles of jazz there are. Reminds me of that innocent reply by that backwoodsy roadside joint owner in the Blues Brothers movie: "Oh, we got BOTH kinds of music: Country AND Western!"

Yes, those Musidiscs often contained wrong date and personnel info. But they DID have their advantages - they WERE available, they were affordable and they made lots of rare stuff available at a time when small labels from abroad/overseas were very thin on the ground over here. And it has to be said in their defense that they took up lots of live recordings from U.S. labels (e.g. Alamac) that included incorrect dates too. Probably a case of mistakes being copied without proper research

Just wondering: Texans’ do-it-ourselves rescue effort defines Hurricane Harvey "Defines" oder "defies"?

Considering how collectible (or should I say nerdy? ) labels such as Transition are by now, these "one or two" must all be in Japan or Korea by now.

Ha, checked again ... that "Memorial album" reissue on Xanadu was not of one of his Time LPs but of his "Arrival of K.D:" LP on Jaro 5007 recorded shortly before Jazz Contemporary. Time to spin this and Jazz Contemporary later today ..

Very interesting. Will listen closer to it again later. While I realize his "Quiet Kenny" was a major opus in his discography and that inclusion of sideman appearances with other major (VERY major) leaders are inevitable in such capsule presentations (though they might tend to relegate him to sideman status again), I regret not seeing some of his other leader dates which present a different facet of his, such as his early 60s recordings for the Time label. Maybe I am a bit biased because the Xanadu reissue of one of these dates (Kenny Dorham Memorial Album) was my first introduction to his leader dates almost 35 years ago, but I feel that quite a few of these "other" dates that some with "big name" ambitions might qualify as "journeyman" appearances do indeed stand on their own merits and deserve to be featured at least to some small extent (and yes, there is a life beyond Blue Note! )

What is Hip? THIS is Hip:

One horn-guitar combination (though not sax + guitar, admittedly) has so far been overlooked here: The great Eddie Durham - trombone and guitar.

Stay safe so we can continue our exchanges here.

I would not have wanted to be that drastic in my words but I guess it is. At least by U.S. Copyright standards. By European copyright laws (which are not retroactively applicable, despite the changes introduced a couple of years ago following the lobbying of Messrs. McCartney, Richard etc.) they are legal because the original releases date back way before 1962 so these releases are in the public domain anyway. But like I said, I have a hunch they originated from the US. At least this is where I have seen the most plentiful listings of such CD reissues. They were (and are, in some cases?) also listed on UK sellers' sites, though.

It's on "R'n'B Wig Poppers" (subtitled "27 Jump Blues & Sax Honkers from the Rockin Fifties" on Lucky CD-1001 - one of those "grey label" reissues produced by collectors for collectors. Not being sure but I think this particular CD was produced on the US (for a while this and a whole slew of similar collectors' reissues were sold on eBay.com by Big Nickel Publications).

Like I said, I had initially checked this (vinyl) series as this was my primary candidate where tracks by him might hide but it turned out he was not on there. The search willl have to continue ... and right now I am stumped.

Like I said, I see and understand your point, but going by what you call "allegations", a lot of what has been written and is taken as a historical finding now would just be hearsay or worse, then (because the longer an event goes back in time the more you have to rely on secondhand sources and YET these sources are explored and not discredited just because those involved could not be interviewed first-hand anymore). Of course, as part of a master's thesis and/or a an in-depth book her sources would have to be identified and cited correctly and by scientific criteria. But in relatively short articles such as these? You don't see rows and rows of source listings in such articles and still ... As for your reference to Ira Gitler, sorry but that misses the point IMO. Oral histories are one thing, but this is just ONE facet of how history is written - a great way but far from the only and most widespread one (alas). And we are not talking about oral history here. Besides, aren't there plenty of "unidentified" sources that are just identifed as "preferring to remain anonymous" or "name withheld" in exploring historical topics yet what they contributed was taken at face value in the sense that it must have had immense credibility to the author and reader alike? Yet by your terms this would definitely have to be ruled out, regardless of whether there would have been overwhelming (personal?) reasons why the informants did not wish to be identified. So ... while I understand your arguments, since she does say she intends elaborate on this I feel that to her the facts she unearthed must be rather plausible so her "capsule" summary of her findings is not that unbelievable (or else, would she go that far out on a limb, given her involvement with her preferred subject matter and her other activities in this field? Wouldn't they have kicked her out of Rutgers if they had found her to be just gossiping?). And in the light of that Lucky Thompson experience read this morning about how easily Feather was wont to blacklist those who did not humor him (and aren't there other stories like this out there too?) I do feel that the fact that in Jutta Hipp's case personal (sexual) relations may have played a key role does not matter at all IMO in deciding what amount of evidence is needed to lend credibility to what otherwise would just be "allegations". So .. to settle this, the evidence remains that Feather was found by many dealing with him to be a person who would not just drop you by the wayside but make sure you pay the price if you did not do as he wanted you to do. Well, now I have gone on for much longer than I intended too.

If she found evidence in inteviews with musicians who were there it does not read like hearsay to me (regardless of whether the source is cited verbatim or footnoted or not - at least within such a relatively short article). She seemed to have been rather sure of the statements she had gathered, judging from her own statements (as translated below from that 2006 feature on Jutty Hipp published in Jazz Podium, BTW. according to her publicly accessible Facebook page about Jutta Hipp, that book is still "in progress" as of 2016)): However, Leonard Feather also played a key role in Hipp’s decision to end her career in jazz. I will explore this subject in depth in my forthcoming book. Despite being married and a father, Feather pursued Hipp shortly after her arrival in New York. Hipp, who at the time was engaged to the Hungarian guitarist Atilla Zoller (who would follow her to the US in early 1956) rejected Feather’s advances and also refused to record any of his compositions. I see what you mean but by that yardstick it would be impossible to write any history once those who are the subject of the history (or were contemporaries of the persons involved) are dead (or even earlier), wouldn't it? I.e. only first-hand sources count (and even then - by your criteria - you would have to be able to hear both sides). Or any historical piece written at a later date would just be a case of rattling off earlier sources and quotes (which would make pretty well everything unreadable). Hearsay in this sense lurks everywhere. Just see for yourself to what extent this would apply even within such a limited historical framework or timespan such as the history of jazz.

"Grey label" reissues in the UK from the late 80s through the 90s, found mostly at sellers present at (real 50s style) rock'n'roll concerts and festivals (outside the UK too, of course). All in all running the whole gamut from (danceable/uptempo) country blues via jump blues/ R&B to "electric" 50s blues/R&B and black r'n'r and even very early R&B-ish soul. The Stompin' LP series (Vols. 1 to 26) was superseded and augmented by a CD series under the same name relased thereafter. Most of it is still listed here, for example: http://www.nortonrecords.com/stompin/?sort=alphaasc As for copying from Clemson, not so. I just checked the United/States entry.

Not wanting to doubt your impressions unduly, but which statements would you qualify as "hearsay" and therefore maybe unfounded? Of course none of us were there to have witnessed these things but what Jutta Hipp said about him sounded like some rather unpleasant reminiscences to me, and after some reading done this morning this ties in all too well with what others had to say about the Leonard Feather of that era. To be more specific, this morning I happened to read a piece about and interview with Lucky Thompson authored by Leif Anderson and Björn Fremer in the October, 1957 issue of ORKESTER JOURNALEN (for a background, both authors were regular contributors to OJ at the time and neither of them was known for mincing their words so they did not shy away from tackling sensitive topics). They told L.T.'s complaints about Leonard Feather like this: Everybody knows Leonard Feather, the leading hypocrite in the field. Do you remember Lucky Thompson's famous "Just One More Chance" recording for Victor? Feather had set up this session and composed two tunes but did not want to list them under his name but rather listed Lucky as composer. Of course Feather kept the money but Lucky wasn't overjoyed with seeing his name associated with two substandard melodies so he objected. Ever since then Feather diligently avoided mentioning Lucky's name or playing his records on his programs or Blindfold Tests. One of his recordings was in fact included in a test, but although all the other musicians's names were mentioned, Lucky's name was missing, though he was both the leader and the soloist on tenor. To Feather, Lucky is a "dead man". And so on ... Doesn't this way of behaving sound strangely familiar? (BTW, the two tunes that Lucky Thompson apparently alluded to, "From Dixieland to Bebop" and "Boppin' The Blues", are indeed credited to Feather on reissues.) Leaonard Feather did a lot of good in the field of jazz but this "make or break" attitude towards people who wouldn't play HIS game reeks of something rather unpleasant.

Thanks for this bio and discography. Schoolboy Porter is a name that comes up here and there in 50s R&B and to those interested in the music (like me) rings a loud bell but somehow is never explored in depth. I even seem to remember that somewhere his name was mentioned as being an alias or byname for Jake Porter, probably in some liner notes. And somehow it seems to me that apart from the Pontiac CD you mention a track or two by him are out there on some other RB& reissue compilation. I've searched but cannot pinpoint them right now (and they are not on the Savage Kick/Stompin' V.A. LPs) so I may be mistaken and it might actually be his guitar sideman appearances I saw but this triggers a sort of "deja vu" feeling here. P.S: Just for the record: To the best of my knolwedge, the name/spelling of that bassist on the Roosevelt Sykes session is Ransom Knowling. Not to be confused with Fela Ransome Kuti. (An African-influenced slip of the typing finger, maybe? )