Big Beat Steve

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.

Sadly, accessible to subscribers only. But sad anyway.

Now that you mention it ... Rummage, rummage ... yes, I still have an original 1995 Fantasy catalog. Useful as a refernce source indeed. The numerical index lists all the OJCs from 001 to 840 (LPs and CDs, thankfully they did not change their numbering for the CDs). From 675 onwards the releases seem to be CD only. Is this correct? No OJCs beyond 675 pressed on vinyl anymore?

Yes, of course - if we are counting twofers instead of single LPs too! Re-Blue Note "Brown Bag" : You're referring to the mid-70s United Artists reissues, I guess? They also did single-LP reissues, BTW, and also reissued records that did not come from BN but from Aladdin subsidiaries (e.g. Art Pepper) or Liberty (e.g. Bill Perkins).

I have quite a few of this series too and they are nice as an introduction. But as far as SINGLE LP series in THIS area go, I'd rather go for the (French) Black & White reissue series (the ones with the - mostly - black front cover that predated the later 2-LP Jazz Tribune sets - something like 203 volumes in all!), even if you take these series just as an introduction to the subject matter. They were more comprehensive, more thoughtfully planned and treaded where others did not dare to go through the RCA catalog reissue-wise at that time (and for a long time before and after). Over in the US you may not have been exposed that much to that series (and therefore still tout the Vintage series ) but really, the Black & White series did go one better indeed. Case in point: I do have the Harlan Leonard RCA Vintage LP and do like it as an introductory set but in the end I only kept it because I only have one of the two Black & White LPs that featured the band's FULL recorded output (and since that second B&W LP did not make for one full LP's worth of Leonard tracks they also included the early 50s George James recordings - who?? Which OTHER label would have dared to resurrect those (they ain't bad, BTW)? Certainly not the Vintage series ... ;)) (Oh yes, I have the Chronological Classics Harlan Leonard CD too but am still hanging on to my LPs as well). Speaking of which ... how come NO ONE has mentioned the Chronological Classics single-CD series as "favorite" here yet? Considering the cult status they seem to have attained ever since they suddenly went under there must be some who'll just drool at the mere mentioning of that name?

Be different! All things being relative, do we know after all if it actually is the HOUSES that are upside down?