Big Beat Steve

I guess I have all of the later (80s) Savoy (vinyl) reissues from that era but still am looking forward to the detailed tracklist. I'm really wondering if they will target the gaps that there are in previous reissues instead of only covering the obvious throughout. For example, I own a Savoy 78 by Leo Parker "Chase'n The Lion" b/w "Senor Leo" that somehow did not figure on any of the reissues I've bought through the years. "New Look Swing" from that particular session also seems to have remained unreissued. And no doubt there are more by other artists. Will have to dig through Ruppli's discography one of these days again ...

Ohhh .... Talking about "young" Roy Haynes, so you did not include any of his tracks from his first leader session in Sweden in October, 1954? And none of his recordings made under his own name a couple of weeks later in Paris for Swing and CfD either? (The Swing 10-incher has been reissued not long ago in that much-touted Vogue box set) What a pity. The Metronome sessions, in particular, have reached not quite cult status but are highly regarded among the expatriate recordings from that era here. And after all it was these sessions that put him on the map as a "young" leader - years before he recorded as a leader again. So these recordings definitely do not deseve to stay under the radar in his leader discography, paticularly when it comes to acknowledging when his career as a leader actually began.

Mike, if you are interested in the Johnny Otis Savoy recordings then I assumme you have the two 2-LP sets "The Original Johnny Otis Show" Vol I and II. Vol. II was all over the place in the record shops here (you may remember ...) when it was released as a German pressing (distributed by RCA/Ariola) and was quite common for several years but I never saw Vol. I in the shops here and it took me several years to finally get hold of a copy (U.S. pressing). Those two sets have 64 tracks altogether but as they do not have commercials I assume the contents may not exactly match the box set.

I have them on another one from that 2-LP series ("2 Franks Please" - Savoy 2249). I pull it out every now and then when I am in kind of a "Basie-ish" listening mood without feeling like going straight to 50s Basie. Nuff said, right?

Glad to see I have all of those you showed/recommended. (And I agree ...) (BTW, do not overlook "The Changing Faceof Harlem Vol. 1"). In fact this series is one of those rare occurrences where I did buy a spare copy of some of these ("just in case" mine eventually do wear out) when I came across NM copies dirt cheap in a local secondhand record store.

Interesting connection. He must have been an "older man" (by rock standards) by the time he appeared on their second LP in 1969 (if my discography is correct).

Yes it did - I had a copy of it for a time in the mid-90s (I don't recall the exact reissue country, though). I bought the Black California Vol. 1 twofer secondhand fairly soon after it came out but did not manage to find Vol. 2 for several years (though I knew it existed). Then one day somewhere I chanced upon a CD release of it which i took as a s "secnd best option", but lo and behold, not long after that I finally found a copy of the 2-LP set at Ray's in London (not very cheap but worth it, particularly since IIRC the CD did not quite include all of the 2-LP contents as the playing time of 2 LPs exceeds the max. time of a CD). Of course I grabbed that one as vinyl of course was what I preferred. I was able to unload the CD quickly to a fellow collector (primarily for the Slim Gailard tracks on it, incidentally). I'd second most of the recommendations for the 2-LPs sets from the 80s mentioned above (including the R&B-ish "Roots of Rock'n'Roll" sets). Actually I have been pleased with all my buys of Savoy reissues (covering recordings from the 40s - including National masters - up to 1957 or so). Some special mentions, though, for items not singled out indivdiuall,y so far: From the Denon CD series, I find I often spin "Joltin' Joe" by Joe Roland and "Bright's Spot" by Ronnell Bright. And from the 2-LP sets, dont overlook "The Brothers and Other Mothers", Vol. 1 and 2!

Which would mean that there is even less Crescendo material that goes BEYOND the contents of the three "Count On The Coast" LPs on Phontastic. Pity ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MaIyxtKb0Q

Seeing your reply only right now ... I was under the impression this was sort of standard fare to British jazz lovers everywhere because it has been out for a very long time. I bought the second volume (1950-1970) as a secondhand hardback (edition dating back to the 80s I think) at Mole Jazz sometime in 1997/98 or so. I did not get vol. 1 (1920-1950) until a couple of years ago as a paperback through Amazon (paperback edition, along with a CD box set to cover that time frame) when I found out (to my surprise) that the book is still in print (it must have been reprinted several times). If you have been asked to recommend just an "introductory" book on this subject matter then this might indeed fit the bill.

It's in the book. Page 182.

Speaking of venues and stages in your "neck of the woods", are you familiar with this book? https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Halls-Last-Calls-History/dp/1556229275/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466785083&sr=8-1&keywords=dance+halls+and+last+calls The subtitle is a bit misleading, though. It is more about the dance halls than about the country music at large.

Glad to have been of service to you (but as it may have become apparent elsewhere on this forum, in addition to my interest in jazz from the 30s/40s I am very much a Western Swing fan too so part of this reissue strikes a chord with me in ways that may just not be that essential to others ...) As for your final question, as you certainly know the line between jazz territory bands and "hot string bands" (aka Western Swing bands) active throughout the South often was rather a blurred one in those years and styles overlapped to quite some degree. I think Allen Lowe will be able to anwer your question in a much more profound manner, but for a starter, the Port Arthur Jubileers (later known as the Jubileers) whose recordings took place at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX , in April, 1940, might fit the bill. The Rice Hotel seems to have been used on several occasions for "field recordings" in that area. Their recordings are here (I do not have this particular CD, though): https://www.amazon.com/Port-Arthur-Jubileers-Associates/dp/B00J9V2STC?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 This BACM label operating from the UK is a "labor of love" affair run by a handful of diehard country music fans but the fidelity may vary (some of it due to the digital sources used, it seems).

So you don't like Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman aka "the stomach that walks like a man"??

From what I have seen in their catalog I'd agree with Jazzbo, though I have bought only few of them (I am not a pre-Swing era jazz completist and would not need to replace what I already have so I've only bought a few CDs so far to fill gaps). There seems to be so much on 20s jazz bands on the CD reissue market that you just can get carried away once you get seriously started in that field. However, one Jazz Oracle release I'd very, very, VERY much recommend urgently is BDW 8025: "Arkansas Shout - Swing/Western Swing/Blues Recorded in Hot Springs, Arkansas , 1937". Not only is this one of the few releases that goes beyond the usual time frame the label covers but it also reunites recordings by eight territory bands whose output is extremely hard to come by anywhere else (some of the tracks by the Original Yellow Jackets have been reissued on an LP on the Harrison label in the 70s but beyond that I don't know ...), let alone on original 78s (do you have any of them, Jeffcrom? ). So this release is not just a more systematic collation and better remastering of tracks reissued (in part) before but it really fills gaps in the collections of almost anybody interested in these under-the-radar territory bands. What some of these bands may lack in ultimate virtuosity they make up in enthusiasm. And it draws a fascinating picture of "crossover" styles between jazz, blues and (sometimes) hillbilly music as they happened in 1937. The booklet is a gem too - and it shows that research on the background of these recordings sometimes really amounts to archaeology (literally ...).

Same here. I use these mainly because of their availability. No problem, even after years. A few years ago I had issues with SONY CD-Rs (the ones that came in jewel cases with greenish inlay cards): Some just would not want to be recorded and burnt even though brand new and just removed from the box, though others burnt successfully. Unpredictable ...

I am not sure the type of "listening in a state that comes just before sleep" that Jim Sangrey and me try to describe fits into any of your categories a) to c) but I agree with your statement nonetheless. FWIW I am not sure this "subconscious listening" really is comparable to what you refer to as "peripheral listening" (which I'd call "background music", granting that some situations that you describe under b) also fall into this category) but your "peripheral listening" is indeed underrated in its importance. When the music that you listen subconsciously to already "strikes a chord" with you at this stage (even though you did not listen that closely) this opens the door to more focused listening (and therefore is the key to appreciating the music). And I'd consider dancing to the music, for example, as one way of "focused listening" too (OK, OK, this is not a criterion with "free improvisation" but no doubt that "free" music can be enjoyed on levels below academic scrutinizing too). As for your final statement ... (*Only rehabilitated in 'art' circles....most people world wide have been quite comfortable with the idea for centuries) ... yes - this cannot be stated often enough. Focused listening is fine when it is called for but you don't necessarily have to dissect a piece of music to death to really grasp it.

Funny .. I've had exactly this experience time and again (with music that was far from being "free") while relaxing in my lounge chair late at night and listening to a CD (which need not be meditative or "lounge-ish" or "after hours" at all). While sort of dozing off but still being awake enough to realize there was music being played I found myself ever so often thinking to myself "Wow, never realized this sounded so good/uplifting/had so much punch/drive/energy ... (whatever ...) .. I'll have to listen to that closer again later on .." But when I played the track again later (or the next day) while fully awake I rarely managed to find the same excitement in it. Sure the track was good but compared to my previous "uplifting" experiene it just sounded sort of "flat" ... Maybe the music that comes through to you is "filtered" in a way that makes it much more "intense" (don't know how else to describe it) when you are in a state somewhere between still being awake and only subconsciouly realizing what is going on..

Yes, these are four of the six tracks from the 16 Feb. 1955 session. Missing are "Sonny Howard's Blues" (maybe a bit too R&B-ish for the compilers?) and "Mr. Sandman" (a bit too pop-ish? But still very nice and a surprise in this setting ...)

Looks like that's the one I was referring to ("Best by Test" is one of the tracks, though the complete session actually includes six tracks). Could Jepsen and Bruyninckx both have been wrong about the recording date? They give a date of 16 Feb. 1955.

In fact the photo COMPLETE with the ceiling (even a wee bit more) is in the "Celebrating Bird" book by Gary Giddins, and cropped versions (showing only part of the ceiling) are in "Black Beauty White Heat" and Ken Vail's "Bird's Diary" (and certainly in others). So the photo in the "Taking Off" booklet seems to be the rarer one which is not seen often.

Probably the sessions EXCEPT the 1955 trio session, right? Seems like that latter one has not been served that well by easily acessible reissues. Apart from that, the above reissue probably is the one Lazaro Vega saw mentioned. But again - "For the Ears" and Coleman Hawkins is a confusing combination because this refers to two separate sessions.

No idea where the above record (?) title comes from (it's neither on my UK 10inch release nor on my 12in reissue and the Goldmine guide does not list such a title either for the US Vanguard 10in releases either) but this must be the Aug. 16, 1954 session which includes both "It's the Talk of the Town" and "Fore!" etc. Am just spinning it now. Nice, very nice ... and as usual Sir Charles Thompson gives an effortless flow to it all. BTW, the Vanguard session that produced the "For the Ears" track did not have Coleman Hawkins in the lineup.

Reminds me of another anecdote (probably true and with a somewhat sad tinge to it) that I read somewhere: When the subject of his withered looks came up among fellow musicians, Chet remarked that his wrinkles all came from laughing Whereupon Jack Sheldon quipped:" Nothing can be that funny ..."

I'll second Pete Frame's book. The links between post-war trad jazz scene (and some mroe modern jazz too) and the rising rock subculture are explored in a fascinating way. In a way it is a particularly interesting read if you read this as well as Simon Spillett's bio of Tubby Hayes (not concurrently but without excessive time in between) to get two different viewpoints of how the musicians from the jazz and "non-jazz" fields vied for the listeners' attention (and money) in the 50s and 60s. Judging from your initial question, BillF, I take it that you are not overly keen on Jim Godbolt's books on "Jazz In Britain" (particularly his second volume on the 1950-70 period)? I'll admit that even to me (I'd not consider myself an expert on British jazz from those decades) it reads a bit superficially and like the author has certain favorites and tends to give others short shrift. But as an itroductory book I still find it quite useful. And even though it covers "only" a regional part of British jazz history, I'd definitely add a recommendation for Bill Birch's privately published "Keeper of the Flame- Modern Jazz in Manchester 1946-72".