Big Beat Steve

I just about managed to avoid that myself ... After having ordered the book on amazon.de and waiting for more than one week for it to become available (it had been listed as being "currently unavailable" both in the hardback and the paperback version) I finally ordered a paperback copy from amazon.com on the 23rd. And when I then cancelled my hardback order on amazon.de (not wanting to end up with two copies) I found that in the meantime the paperback version (which surprisingly is more expensive than the hardback version over here) had gone "in stock" there (the day before it had still been unavilable). Oh well .. gotta wait longer now for the copy from the US to ship and arrive ...

From the movie ROCK ROCK ROCK Can be found on this ... or this ... (depending on which pressing you can - or want to - get hold of)

Your comments make me more and more eager to get my hands on this book. For reasons maybe not considered appropriate by all of the "jazz as pure art" segment of the jazz powers in that this book seems to tie a few OTHER loose ends together that IMHO have been waiting to be tied together, e.g that jazz ("valuable" jazz to use criteria used by jazz scribes earlier) could indeed be entertainment and music for partying and all-out dancing even AFTER (well after) 1945, much like MG has pointed it out in an earlier post of his about the primary function of soul jazz (even beyond "soul jazz" in the strictest sense of the word - a couple of years ago I picked up a 47W63rd St., DG, ear in wax copy of Cannonball Adderley's "Something Else" with surprisingly O.K. cover at the "princely" sum of 1 (yes, ONE) euro at a local record store clearout sale - priced so because the record with all its scuffs, scratches and "odd and hard to clean" stuff in the grooves spelt out a life of PARTY fodder in big letters). I can't put my finger on it but I seem to have read something about Sam Woodyard before to the effect that you quote - maybe in some contemporary review of one of the Ellington orchestra tours from that period. And it wasn't even a writeup on the 1956 Newport festival (I'd venture a guess the combination of Paul Gonsalves and Sam Woodyard on "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" would have kept even the dancers at most honkin' sax R&B parties happy (and exhausted) - even today - and no need for anyone to be sniffy about those who enjoy the recording in such a setting as "missing the point" - IMHO they'are not, they are rather distilling the gutsier immediacy out of that performance). And what you say about Alan Freed and the big bands he worked with OTOH does not come as much of a surprise or revelation to me, maybe also because I've read John Jackson's Alan Freed bio "Big Beat Heat" before. My forum nick is no coincidence, though I certainly wouldn't say this is my #1 interest area in jazz - I'd rather consider it a "special interest" area of mine that has been in the shadow everywhere - it seems to have been neglected by jazz history AND by many historians of early rock'n'roll as well. Count Basie's cooperation with Freed came to an unhappy end, BTW, though I wonder if it was more for artistic or more for monetary reasons. Anyway .. thanks again for your comments. You're making me more curious than ever.

And yet ... despite your reservations you're making me curious. And I hope our Amazon over here will be able to ship soon. Just by way of comparison, where would you situate this book's approach to the subject matter (coverage of the evolution and history of a specific style of jazz) overall compared to, say Ted Gioia's "West Coast Jazz" and Arnold Shaw's "Honkers and Shouters", for example? I just checked the excerpts accessible on amazon.com and the table of contents has me intrigued and surprised in places. Pleased about the Gene Ammons chapter and am looking forward to reading about the other sax men too . And needless to say, I'll be fine-combing the "Big Beat" chapter. As we around here for the most part are white too and yet are getting deeply into music that originated in the black community and as we do think we have a feeling for that music (don't we? ) I certainly won't hold the author's skin color against him. By the way, where are you, MG, to have your say on this? Your opinion would be most welcome.

Happy birthday from here too, and good luck for a speedy recovery!

Bob Porter don't write no duds, I am pretty sure ...

Not at amazon.de yet, unfortunately. And that half-price offer via Superbooksdeals is no longer on amazon.de either. (BTW, @Dan Gould, did they confirm your order?) But as a paperback copy from amazon.com would have been almost the same price (including shipping from the US) as a hardcover copy bought here, I pre-ordered the book anyway and will be keeping my fingers crossed they will get it in stock before long.

Do we know the usual pressing runs on most of them? What was considered a "seller" in the black community then? Paramount experts should know. And how many may just have been discarded in the years afterwards? Those records sold before the Depression and I doubt that preserving recrods was on the top of the priority list for many of the families who found themselves in trouble when the Depression hit.

If you look closely at the record label when the camera zooms in on the label and gives a clear picture of the label you can see a faint line in the paper of the label - as if there already was a hairline crack there that had run through the thickness of the paper too. .

Ha, "there is a loose moose aboot this hoose!!" As for the line-up, probably just a case of fairly well-paying session work, and there they had a bit of fun of their own (like "Boots Brown"). If you looked closer, there were quite a few British jazzmen of note to be found in the backing groups to Brit rock'n'rollers. Would Ike Isaacs or Johnny Hawksworth, for example, later on have liked to be meminded of their backing work for Tommy Steele, I wonder?

Went to a our "main" remaining secondhand record store yesterday and picked up a few items, including a new copy of Sonorama L-75 (Helmut Brandt Combo - "Berlin Calling") (yes, the shop also handles new vinyl of all styles that is being released every now and then). Nice enough music, but I am a bit underwhelmed about the promo blurb on the cover. It blares out loud "Unreleased cool jazz from the Helmut Brandt estate 1956-58" on the front as well as "Ten unreleased slices ..." on the back. On checking the tracklistings in the shop I already had some slight reservations about the tracks from the jazz festivals (but who would have a discography handy on such occasions?). On checking closer at home I found that track 3 ("Yesterdays") from the 1956 German jazz festival was released on a Brunswick EP at the time. On comparing the two records they do indeed sound alike so its not even a case of a recording made from a different mike or so. According to Bruyninckx, track 4 ("I surrender dear") was issued on a Jazzline LP before (this must have been sometime in the 80s). Some of the other tunes were issued commercially before on various Metronome EPs. I do not have all of these so can compare only some and there I hope that the recording dates given on the sleeve are indeed correct and these ARE different recordings of the same tunes (made at a different date) after all. This leaves definitely less than those "ten" tracks as being unreleased. I find it a bit sad that collectors' labels should resort to such trickery. So if any of you Sonorama people read this: WTF were you doing, there?? Is this really necessary on a record from collectors for collectors priced at collectors' level? What would have been so bad about "Ten rare recordings by ..., including X recordings never released before"? And if you don't want to do that and want all of your releasess to be previously unreleased, then choose recordings that really are unreleased. And if you had to use previously released recordings, then please note that the Brunswick records are (relatively speaking) not among the rarest of the batch so quite a few collectors out there are likely to already have the platter.

You're not quite as far off anymore, Lazaro ... It's awfully hard to transcribe phonetically, particularly if you have to rethink French vowels into written word as understood by typical anglophone speakers thinking in English. Particularly poor Hugues Panassié. To start with, Charles is the French "Charles" and not the anglo one. I.e "shaaarl" and not more. "De" like all French "de" (which means like it's definitely not "Dee" like in Dee Dee Sharp) and then "lew-nay". As for Panassié, at any rate the "H" in Hugues is not proncounced, neither is the "ues". So make it "ewg" or "eoowg", maybe. And in "Panassié" the stress is on the final "e" (hence the accent). Something like "Punn-a-se-ayy". That should be close enough. I really wouldn't want to make that much of a fuss out of this. It just took me aback on listening. I realize I am a bit (too) finicky about this - to me just has something to do with the respect for the person involved - at least as far as major world languages are concerned. But this is a door that swings many ways: Quite a while ago I discussed music with a friend who is a 200% diehard fan of (older/traditional) country music and the name of Roy Acuff came up. The way he pronounced it (very German-sounding) this sounded something like "Uckeewff". I guess most country-loving English native speakers could not have avoided giggling at hearing this. My feeling in that case was that if you are that much of a hardcore music fan you ought to know at least halfway how the names of your heroes are pronounced. Not least of all in today's world when exposure to "oral" information is that much easier available via the web. Though in other countries and languages this would be an even harder battle to fight. The average French are particularly unscrupulous when it comes to this. I move quite a bit in rockabilly circles too and have quite a few contacts over in France. You U.S. fellows would probably cringe BIG TIME at how the names of all the artists are constantly being mutilated there beyond recognition. Can you imagine offhand who "Beeew-dee Olé" is, for example?

Already being discussed ... Edit: Sorry but that stupid "new" forum software doesn't seem to permit inserting straight links. So please click on the "GQ" above to see where it's at ...

Very nice topic. Though it would have been nice hearing a yet somewhat higher share of dates made by visiting US artists with local musicians - just to show the catalytic action going on (and I admit I also had to smile at the way some of the non-U.S. names were pronounced Hugues Panassié may have been a stubborn moldiest fig but he didn't deserve THAT .... and Charles Delaunay is no relation to Delaney & Bonnie ). But something irritated me: I haven't listened to Night Lights shows for some time but It seems to me that in past programs the actual tunes played within the program were embedded rather more directly at their place in the narrative on the site and could be clicked upon to jump to that part of the music directly (if so wished). Now it seems this is no longer the case and the Youtube links scattered throughout the text on the website sometimes lead to tracks from the tracklist, sometimes to quite different tracks. A bit of a mismatch. Puzzling ...

At any rate you can safely say they look a lot classier than many of those who were (relatively) "old" in the 70s. That 70s garb on those dudes who were sharp as a tack in the late 40s and early 50s was just sad and out of place ... Trying to stay "with it" - understandable, but trying to look like the young'uns in the "dark age" of fashion that were the 70s (IHMO ) when you were 50 and beyond - ugh ....

An affordable vinyl reissue is "Out of The Shadow" on Affinity (UK) AFF90.

Both amazon.com and amazon.de quote a publishing date of 10 November 2016 but say it's temporarily unavailable. So I am wondering when it will actually be for sale. And at the list price quoted I am VERY wary of that virtual "half-price" offer by reseller "Superbooksdeals" listed on both sites. Sounds too good to be true (or realistic). Would have been a very nice Christmas stocking stuffer but I have a hunch my (jazz) reading arrivals for Xmas will be plentiful anyway.

Actually, that "pairing" reminds me of Pee Wee Russell's appearance on stage with Thelonious Monk and his "Ask Me Now" LP on Impulse.

Thanks for the hint, Duaneiac!

RIP Have the recordings he made under his own name for Federal in the late 50s/early 60s ever been reissued anywhere? Those King/Federal sax instrumental compilations that I am aware of do not feature anything by him.

Which only goes to show that tastes differ. Luckily ... Things MIGHT be different if the thread starter in such a situation had said "I like artists A and B but not really C and D and the like, and style-wise I tend towards X but can do without Y. So within that framework, what would you recommend from the Bethlehem catalog?". But he didn't. And I dont think this is a bad thing. Because if your musical horizons are a bit wider this will hold plenty of interesting discoveries in stock for you. Bethlehem is a label that for a time I bought almost unseen-unheard when reissues were around easily, and while there are some I like better than others I cannot recall having ever ended up with one that (to my taste) was a dud. (But I did avoid the femme vocalist albums - not my cuppa to explore them in depth ... ) And coming to think of it, another one that (to me) stands out is "The Chase Is On" (BCP 6021) feat. Charlie Rouse & Paul Qunichette.

From the moment I saw this thread I thought of this particular record but was not sure if recordings made under pseudonyms would qualify too. However, (as so often) Discogs is incredibly superficial. This recording has MANY more artists for whom this might have been "out of character": In addition to Shorty Rogers, the Boots Brown group had Bud Shank, Dave Pell, Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper, Frank Patchen, Howard Rumsey and Shelly Manne in one line-up and Milt Bernhart, Bud Shank, Gerry Mulligan, Marty Paich, Jimmy Wyble, Howard Rumsey and Roy Harte in the other. And the "other" group of that LP - Dan Drew & His Daredevils, had the East Coast match: Al Cohn, Nick Travis, Eddie Bert, Elliott Lawrence and Osie Johnson among the better-known ones. "Out of character" for most of them. Or maybe not?? Remember those "Big Boy", "More Big Boy" "M.B.B.", "Big Girl" honkin' sax excursions recorded by various incarnations of the Lighthouse All Stars (including several of the above West Coast line-up) on Skylark and Contemporary. Sounds like this sort of R&B outings was part of their on-stage set for a time. Same here. For as long as I have known of the existence of this record I have never been tempted one bit to add it to the close to 50 Kenton LPs I have. One reason being that I have never liked Tex Ritter in his "normal" setting either.

Some I spin fairly often among my Bethlehem records are the ones by Stan Levey ("This Time the Drum's on Me" and "Stan Levey Plays") and Claude Williamson ("Claude Williamson" and "Round Midnight") - and one I like particularly is "Sam Most plays Bird, Bud, Monk and Miles". And another plug for Dexter Gordon's "Daddy Plays The Horn"! To be taken along with his "Blows Hot and Cool" on Dootone as a document of his "middle period".

Considering his penchant for the blues (if his "Odyssey" book is anything to go by), it would be interesting to hear Bill Wyman's opinion on this release.

That must be "The Hi-Lo's and All That Jazz" with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette (including Jack Sheldon). Maybe the HI-LOS would have read too much like the HI-LOSS to them and everybody else? Apart from that, I agree with you and I cringe almost every time I see another word mutilated by a misplaced and abused "a'pos'tro'phe"