Big Beat Steve

If I had to do a phonetic spelling of the man's name the way I recall it, I'd write it as "Jacques Crépinaux" (or Crépinot? or Répinot? or ...?) but I have no idea if this is near the actual spelling. Does that phonetic spelling ring a bell, maybe? BTW, in the beginning I figured THIS was the main host of the show because the somewhat "accentuated" sound of the name somehow rhymed much more with the agitated voice of the host (Averty).

Oh, quite a pity. A generation steps down and a page is turned. RIP. I remember his radio show "Les cinglés du Music-Hall" that I often listend to in the early 80s when I lived relatively close to the French border and was able to catch French FM stations on my radio. This is where I got a lot of interesting initial listening exposure to a lot of 20s and 30s music, both French and U.S., both jazz and semi-jazz as it was often to be found in France (I think this is where I first came across the name of Jean Sablon - who was accompanied by the distinctive sound of Django's guitar). A really "extreme" show by any yardstick - it cannot have been often (not at that time and certainly not today) that the presenter would have gotten away with a FULL hour of music by the Abe Lyman orchestra or by a full hour of a zillion different versions of one and the same early 30s hit song by singers male and female, orchestras, combos, French and foreign, etc. And all this mixed with Averty's permanently excited voice who often sounded as if he was about to go overboard at any moment. At least to non-French ears, and particularly due to the contrast with his co-presenter (Jacques something - do you remember his exact name, Brownie?) who seems to have acted as a sort of straight man to Averty's excitement. (A fitting name, BTW - "averty" is virtually the correct word for the French equivalent of "in the know" . )

Well, I was familiar with "OP" from previous Oscar Peterson threads and thought nothing of it here (though normally I am not one to use abbreviations excessively, such as all that YMMV stuff and so on ...), and somehow I was under the impression that what you took to mean "OP" is most frequently referred to as the "thread starter". But I CAN see your point of "double entendre".

Oscar Peterson Original Poster playing .... ha ... Not "the OP". Just "OP". Big difference ... Trying to pull someone's leg?

For a moment I thought he was talking about Jimmy Rushing!

Isn't that what a musician is all about? His playing? And if you want to know what somebody's favorites are an explanation of what they like about those favorites would not be amiss IMHO - not least of all because this should allow the OP to evaluate better why this or that recording is preferred by somebody else out these. He just "might" have different priorities and this will allow him to judge the replies accordingly. A case of "one man's meat ..." you know ...

I guess - in my case, then - this one below (where he is given co-credit and which I do find quite an ear-opener) doesn't count either?

Ha, I was about to pull out one from that series and ask if reissues count too .... Germans of a certain generation will be familiar with that series ...

Same impression here. I can't recall if he was one of the first I heard but he certainly was omnipresent (e.g. in jazz programs on radio in my early jazz years). This may have been one the reasons I did not search him out actively for rather a long time (and whenever I listened to or bought JATP recordings it certainly wasn't for OP either). So in the end it was tunes that caught my ear on radio that spurred me into buying OP records that became my favorites: - His "Exclusively for my Friends" albums recorded for MPS in the 60s, particularly the "Travelin' On" album. - His very early 1945-49 recordings for RCA. Fine stuff with me any time. No doubt many will quibble that this is not "THE OP" as we all know him but I find them amazing anyway, no matter if to some they are more a case of OP trying to "out-teddywilson" Teddy Wilson. I bought them on the strength of tracks heard on radio and actually more as another document of 40s jazz but I am fine with that. I just take them for what they are.

Interesting subject - very interesting. Actually the second photograph above (by Charles Peterson) comes from the "pre-Keynote" period of activities of Harry Lim. It was taken at a jam session organized in August, 1939, at the home of newspaper cartoonist Burris Jenkins for an intended feature of LIFE magazine. For the anecdote, Eddie Condon (who included several pictures from this all-star get-together in his "Scrapbok of Jazz" and seems to have had a bone to pick with Harry Lim because he steadfastly refused to identify him in the captions) had this to say about the proceedings: "The music was exciting, but for one snag; (Duke) Ellington had part of his payroll (cash) in his suitcoat pocket. It was a hot night and he removed his coat, which he hung on the back of the chair. When the party ended, hours later, he had a coat but no payroll" Uh oh ....

Honestly, I don't know about your preferences so I did not specifically hint at you. But I KNOW there are people out there who'd be overjoyed if they could even lay their hands on a 10-CD box set of Trane chewing gum and an extra case and book showing facsimile reprints of every wrapper of every gum Trane ever chewed. (And I am only exaggerating a "little" here ... - and I am not blaming anyone ... collectionitis and fan adulation CAN take extreme forms ...)

Because the music (at least the bulk of it) so far has been unreleased, right? So European P.D. laws don't apply?

I am not quite sure (far from sure, in fact) if I will be in the market for this specific item but I find the whole concept of this entire project just excellent and spot-on - and tempting for sure. The presentation seems to be tops, the material included really is comprehensive - something for the real fans and those who are into the music including its period context and history (printed matter included etc.). And ABOVE ALL - the contents for the most part chart new territory and offer music that has NOT been on the market before and therefore REALLY fills a gap (to those who feel there is a gap in their collections). I for one feel that complaints about the presentation of such reissue/historical issue projects are a bit off the mark all in all. Yes - they are not cheap at all, but you get something new for your money. Although the following will be heresy in the eyes of many around here (for which I make NO excuse), I have much more misgivings about the purpose of many Mosaic reissues that may be more affordable than this project but are not that cheap either and basically rehash stuff that has been around: Better fidelity, maybe - but how much better to whose criteria? All in one place? Maybe, but not all the previous issues have been scattered THAT badly. New, previously unissued music - how much actually, not counting alternate takes? So how often is the label NAME the main selling point, including the fact that these Mosaic sets are a sort of investment too because they tend to hold their value? And honestly - if somebody had done such a project on, say, Trane or Ayler or Dolphy, wouldn't everybody have fallen all over themselves in enthusiasm? Trane - no expense spared, but Bechet - oh, the music will suffice because to most "it's not THAT essential" (contrary to Trane?)? I fully understand that "reasoning" - I guess for me the MOD Records box produced by BESharp! held less new items than this Bechet box would but it was a Must Have for me so no regrets there (though it WAS a luxury purchase that I cannot afford to repeat very often). But if others feel that Bechet does not rank high enough on their priority list to afford that box then it's not primarily a problem of this box but a problem of their priorities ... There will always be those who just want the music and don't care one bit about the documents and memorabilia and of course you can dumb down any reissue to the bare essentials but there will also be those who'd like to afford themselves a package such as this - hoping it won't get "recycled" by one of the "P.D. grey labels" one of these days. So more power to THEM - just like it's more power to those who go all overboard and dump whatever they have as soon as there is a Mosaic of the stuff on the horizon. Priorities differ ...

Very, very 60s-ish ....

But Soulpope .... don't turn her into a man, please.

Thats not quite what I meant. What I meant was what would have kept DSM from using a somewhat more ... well ... positive photo as the model for doing this drawing? Such photos did exist, particularly from that session, and could have been worked into that collage just as well. (Yes I know I am talking from a perspective of hindsight, but still ... )

That's the kind of stuff Guy Peellaert did in the field of rock music more than 40 years ago (anybody remember "Rock Dreams"?) The jury is still out on whether this really is art (or even "high" art) but it can be fun to look at. But it can become kitschy too. And sticklers for detail will wonder whether '46-48 DeSoto taxis were actually still in use in NY at all (I doubt it) when Miles and Trane could have hopped into one at the time they looked like this - and whether cars typically parked at the curb were THAT old.

Actually I can picture this as the basis for the cover of a 78rpm record album from that period.

Agreed with Cyril about the quality of the Albert Gleizes painting as a work of art. Jazz in the title or not. And I also like the Mondrian work. Others may consider Grandma Moses (and maybe jazz groups painted in that style) as the ultimate in art, so ... ? FWIW, frm an art point of view I can't really see the point of many of these Ellington paintings either. Painting (airbrushing?) over actual photographs and therefore just copying them - what's the point except to produce a piece of workmanly effort? Not really "creative" art IMO there. OTOH .... From the worst to the best - maybe ... Yet I always failed to see the point why he had to use a photo of Bird as a basis that - certainly not without reason - was captioned in "Bird Lives" as "Tired, fat, disenchanted and looking ten or fifteen years older ...a very played out Bird." Not very flattering ... I wonder what Esther Bubley would have had to say about the details of this composition ... Not to mention her less than pleasant dealings with the people at the record company issuing that record (acocrding to the book authored by Hank O'Neal somebody at Clef/Norgran cheated her out of most of the negatives featuring Bird after - apparently on the urging of DSM - she had consented to lend them her negatives and photos from that session - and never got them back in their entirety. Shame!!!)

Recommended listening: https://www.discogs.com/Maurice-Vander-Piano-Jazz/release/6441024 RIP

John Graas? Julius Watkins? Two different approaches but both trailblazers in jazz on this instrument. No idea, though, if this maybe is a bit too heavy stuff for somebody who is taking up the instrument

In my opinion a case of cross-pollination and "like minds think alike".

Excellent! Well worth publishing another pictorial history book using these pics - like a sequel to the book featuring Charles Peterson's pictures.

Great to have you here. As for getting the book (I was one of those who initially had difficulties), and as for blowing the entire Xmas season - looking at the final page of my copy it gives a printing date of 24 December 2016 (!). Somebody working late hours at the printers? Looking closer at the fine print in the book had me wonder - could it be that this is a print-on-demand publication? Thanks for your book which is a great read (and let me say from here it is also appreciated overseas) - and a particular thank you for highlighting the links between jazz and post-war R&B artists and recordings - this is an aspect that long deserved to be pointed out IMO.

It's in the pre-history ("Rock Begins") chapter of "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock'n'Roll" (ed. Jim Miller), Rolling Stone Press/Random House, 1976.