Big Beat Steve

Like Optatio said - this was young Wynton. A far cry from JALC bigwigdom. I guess most evaluations of this kind of record made today are based on what people tend to project into him TODAY (and do not like about him TODAY), maybe as another variation on the theme of "oh that self-proclaimed moldy fig has reaped all the rewards and occupies all the key positions where he can pull all the strings whereas oh so many oh so deserving (avantgarde etc.) musicians barely eke out a living in jazz though THEY ought to receive all the honors because they are much more valuable artists". Understandable sentiments but beside the point ... Making your art appeal is part of the game too. Reminds me somehow of quite a few of those 50s/60s/70s musicians who rode the "swing mainstream train" even as new artists on the scene and did not embrace all the latest fads in far-outness (and therefore came under heavy fire from the critics in many places - a bit unfairly IMO).

I remembery buying "Bird Is Free" on Charlie Parker Records (along with Bird Symbols) around that time too - and guess what? "Sly Mongoose", of all tunes, left a particular impression on me - due to its catchiness. Cannot recall Bird and Diz getting attention beyond their status as "forefathers" of (then-current) jazz among my age peers, and to them Miles was "Electric Miles" (etc.) only anyway. IIRC the Paris 1949 LP was my first Miles leader LP I ever bought (yes, I often explored artists chronolgically). Apart from that - not much hanging out with long-haireds here ... by that time others had started growing some DECENT hardo again , and I always did my own thing anyway. "Kitchenette Across The Hall" - Google brings up Tadd Dameron-Fats Navarro only, but that is only half the story IMO. The Navarro-Dameron version really comes to life only after you have heard one of those "real", STRAIGHT-pop vocal versions that must have been out there in the 40s. When I first heard a straight rendering of the tune years later I was sort of dumbfounded, I must admit ... I may even have a vocal version by one of those chirps or warblers on 78 somewhere but for the life of it cannot remember the artist and where to search for it now.

Strange .. this brings back memories from my own start in jazz, though I never was a musician and was sort of an outsider digging swing and bop in those days (others among my age peers who claimed they liked "jazz" in those mid-70s were - predictably - all about "jazz rock" and "fusion" - plus some "free" - as being THE latest (and - to them - sole) word in jazz ... ho hum ... ). I am not sure whether it was the Miles Davis-Tadd Dameron Paris 1949 LP on CBS or the "Mating Call" LP feat. John Coltrane on Prestige-Bellaphon that I purchased first at that time (I did not manage to get my hands on the records with Fats Navarro until sometime later). I had read about Tadd Dameron's importance within 40s bop before and I remember I bought the Paris 1949 LP when it came out too, and when I bought the Mating Call LP I figured this was about as far out within hard bop as I'd dare to venture at that time (you have to EASE your ears into the music after all ) but Tadd Dameron's tunes and scores made it all immediately accessible. At any rate, what struck me about Tadd Dameron from the very first moment (and still does) was how he kept coming up with those little melodies and catchy turns and twists that made you almost hum along. "Bop with a melody" in a way ... The impression this made on me was not totally unlike the Gigi Gryce tunes and scores with Clifford Brown on those 1953 Paris sessions (which I had gotten at roughly the same time and spun a lot too).

Considering how much dust this Central Avenue subject seems to stir up here, just a reminder that the "Central Avenue Sounds" book by Clora Bryant et al. (University of California Press) is not the worst source for background info on the happenings on Central Avenue in the 40s etc. and should complement the "Black California" sections of the West Coast Jazz books by Ted Gioia and Robert Gordon (for those so inclined) rather well. Additionally, there is an online source somewhere connected with the makings of the Central Avenue Sounds book that has quite a few more interview files with musicians to read up on. Can't find the link now but hopefully it is still up (googling should help). Reading might be a bit long, though (some of those transcribed oral history recollections invariably tend to ramble on and on and on and get a bit unfocused here and there).

Dear BBC: Make that Piemonte (Italian) or Piemont (regional dialect) and don't mix it up with the Appalachians. There is no need to anglicise EVERYTHING. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piemonte

Mike, doesn't Clare Fischer on that cover above remind you uncannily of "our" latter-day Bill Ramsey? (Insider joke for Germans )

I think my heavy metal-inclined son has it too. At least he has their patch (among many others) on his jacket. Good move anyway, JustinV!

I don't know about this kind of threads about totally non-jazz (in the wider sense) or non-music personalities (celebrities?) which indeed have been proliferating here too, but in the case of musicians or music-related personailities belonging to the (core) realm of this forum, why not take the news of the death of such a person as a moment to remember them and maybe discuss them, even if only briefly? Nothing wrong with that IMO.

Another one where I guess not many had an idea he had still been around (I certainly had not). Those Krazy Kat LPs with reissues of his Gotham recordings really are something else among early post-war R&B. RIP.

Not wanting to spill the beans or spoil the fun for anyone, but here is what the Swedish jazz mag ORKESTER JOURNALEN had to say about this flick in their October, 1947 issue: Dorsey Brothers' Movie Weak The movie about the Dorsey Brothers' lives and doings has now been shown here and proved to be a big disappointment. It premiered in a few smaller movie theaters far outside our capital's center, which seemed like an indication that the worst was to be expected regarding the quality of the film. Quite so - it proved to be bad in all respects, and you did not even get to hear really good music. Some good musical moments were to be heard here and there, but nowhere near as much as one had hoped for in a movie about musicians. The best music came about in a jam session that made an appearance halfway through the movie. Its main personality was Art Tatum who played excellently, but of course you only got to see him for a few seconds, whereupon the camera moved away, focusing instead on a table in the club where the movie's lovers sat and turtledoved. Which was a big blunder on the part of the director, because after all we can turtledove ourselves anytime, but I'll be damned if anybody can play like Tatum. When Tatum's solo was over the camera moved back to the band for a few moments and you got to see Charlie Barnet, Ziggy Elman and Ray Bauduc in action, and Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey too, of course, but what they played was not all that out of the ordinary. Tatum was the only one worth hearing in the entire movie, but he got to play too little to make it worth the price of the movie ticket. Just quotin' ...

See for yourself:

Just spinning record #1 ("Them There Eyes") of this 4 x 12in 78 rpm album on the Signature label: This pic is from the web, my album is in better shape. Not sure if this ought to figure here or in the "Great Finds" thread ... I picked this up at a clearout sale at a local secondhand record store yesterday for the huge, huge investment of 1 (ONE) Euro. Why so cheap? Well, record #4 (Sunny Side of the Street/Time On My Hands) has a chunk missing, so only the final two thirds are playable. But THREE Signature 78s in quite good condition at one Euro altogether still are an EXCELLENT find. And never mind that crack - I have the music on LP anyway (these sessions have been reissued on LP numerous times, often under the name of Shelly Manne who apparently was considered to have the greatest drawing power later on). Normally this shop does not have any 78s to speak of at their annual clearout sale but this time I scored this and a few others (Benny Goodman Sextet "The Sheik " - 1940 Super Rhythm Style Series on Parlophone, Harry James "James Session" on red Columbia, Louis Prima's version of "Civilization" on RCA, plus two Sidney Bechet Blue Note Jazzmen 78s on Climax). Of course the Signatures were the bees knees of the day but a 1 euro apiece you cannot go wrong with any of these IMO.

The vinyl is likely to be quite costly - at least over here. When paying for my finds at a record clearout sale at our local secondhand record store yesterday, I asked about the special releases they'd get in for the upcoming Record Store Day and mentioned the Monk LP. Nothing doing, they said, the prices at which the DEALERS would have to buy these were quoted at MORE than 30 euros each. So no go - they'd not be prepared to go along with ANY silliness (I paraphrase only slightly ). Understandable.

The kind of memories that certainly are something to remember forever .... See Bill Birch, p. 129 to 131. Too bad the pics did not include a view of the front row of the audience.

He must have recorded his share of oddities in the early days. Going through my 78s (which aren't all that numerous or refined - compared to what Jeffcrom or Clunky have, for example) the other day, I pulled out this one and had to give it a spin again: Certainly not typical early Discovery fare. Did Savoy recycle this one too?

Thanks. I am not sure but I may in fact have come across that ''To Dig or Not To Dig" program page when I searched the internet for impressions of the book (a while back) before taking the plunge now. One more aspect that tickles my curiosity. Any other impressions?

Indeed. And FWIW, Jaws' playing on "Lockjaw" and "Athlete's Foot" from his Haven session (which predates the Savoy sesions with Fats Navarro) doesn't strike me as fundamentally different. So it wasn't only the Savoy A&R man, maybe?

The other day I ordered the above book which arrived today. https://www.amazon.com/Dig-Sound-Music-Hip-Culture/dp/0199939918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491498266&sr=8-1&keywords=DIG+Phil+Ford Thumbing through the pages, some names that grab you are Thelonious Monk, Normaln Mailer, Jack Kerouac and, particularly John Benson Brooks! (Wonder what a repeat listen to his "Folk Jazz USA" LP on RCA will tell me in this context ...) A quick look confirms the first impressions from the sample pages on Amazon - a very, very scholarly book, and this is going to be one tough read. But a mid-century culture subject which I find very interesting, and at an Amazon warehouse discount offer of about one third the original list price you can't really go wrong. Anybody read it? Any opinions, comments, impressions? Just curious ...

Oh come on .... As a veteran jazz historian-scribe, you know better than that, don't you? Jack McVea (of all 40s sax men), the archetypal honker? Now really, ... If you "must" draw an analogy, rather use Illinois Jacquet et al, (Leo Parker in his R&B leanings, anyone?), please. No point going into details but hasn't the discussion and appreciation of the R&B sax honkers in their time, context and purpose progressed beyond this stage? I must admit Bob Porter has a point in his Soul Jazz book where he hints at the analogies between early post-war honkers' screeches as ONE way of extending the range of the sax not totally unlike the free jazz screeches as ANOTHER way of extending that range. IMO he has nailed it. This may be heresy to the "jazz as high art" faction but one man's McNeely is another man's Brötzmann (different strokes, tastes, etc., you know ... )

You didnt know it?

And this???

Yes they did have decent liner notes - i.e. many of the the later volumes from Vol. 11 onwards. I have the entire run of the Stompin' LPs, i.e. Vol. 1 to 27 (as well as their somewhat more Black R'n'R-oriented Savage Kick predecessors). I therefore have only very, very few of the Stompin' CDs as the duplications with the LPs for the most part are enormous. My loss? Maybe, but they will crop up again eventually.

Thanks! Time to spin this in remembrance, maybe ... https://www.discogs.com/Various-Strutting-At-The-Bronze-Peacock/release/4697587

"Fields In Clover" by Herbie Fields (Fraternity 1011, 1958) Quite a handful of albums by Georgie Auld and Sam The Man Taylor from the same period would also qualify

Could it be because that reissue LP migrated into a "Special Series" catalog when it was re-reissued on CD? I do not have the catalog on hand NOW but 4-digit OJC numbers do not fit into the standard numbering run of OJCs.