Big Beat Steve

Actually it didn't. Looking for a Selmer ad in these mags with the exact typeface used on the record label (and figuring on the instruments) - their ads from 1946 had a plain sans-serif "SELMER" typeface - I randomly pulled out the September 1950 issue and found the below ad on page 2: Wondering if this ad might be intended as a plug for a Selmer product inside the mag I looked up the Record Reviews section, and lo and behold, there was the review of "Hawk's Variations"! FWIW, here is what it says (translated relatively faithfully to stick to the tone of the French scribe - André Clergeat, it seems): "This is certainly one of the most original records we have had the pleasure of reviewing for a long time. What we have here is an unaccompanied improvisation by Coleman Hawkins. This just about says enough about how this record is bound to unsettle most fans. Provided our informations are correct, this recording was made by Moe Asch at the same time as the recording published by Norman Granz in his recent "Jazz Scene" album. Coleman Hawkins had been longing for an opportunity to make an unaccompanied recording for quite some time, and this listening experience certainly is most interesting. The lack of a rhythm section does not detract in any way from the pleasure any admirer of the great saxophonist will derive from listening to this recording where his sumptuous sonority really comes into its own. His improvisations develop into magnificent arabesques throughout both sides of the disc, and keen listeners will rapidly have imagined by themselves the rhythmic and hamronic accompaniment to go with this performance." On a side note, this review is followed by a brief review of Selmer Y 7136 (not listed on Discogs; Erroll Garner - The Man I Love/Don't Blame Me).

Of course. And according to Discogs the Selmer RECORD label was related to Ducretet Thomson (distribution? Some other Selmer 78s had identical catalog numbers on both Selmer and Ducretet Thomson). And the same source says the Hawk Variations record was presed by Pathé Marconi.

I am not so sure. The label shown further above with a catalog no. of Y 7129 looks like this number came out of an ongoing series. "Jazz - American Series" reads like this was a release series of masters originally recorded in the USA (there were PLENTY of labels in early post-war France - and certain other European countries - that thrived on such release practices). Discogs shows these from that "Jazz-American Series" series (and their listing may well be incomplete): https://www.discogs.com/label/1297501-Jazz-American-Series And Discogs has this on the Selmer label as such: https://www.discogs.com/label/391701-Selmer?page=1 I am not sure what "Série Medium" means for this label but it looks like one of several record series released in parallel. BTW, I stand corrected (again ...) for the BARONET release of these tracks: According to Discogs this was a DANISH re-release following the Selmer release (on a label launched by BARON Timme Rosenkrantz - shouldn't we have guessed?): https://www.discogs.com/release/20436736-Coleman-Hawkins-Hawks-Variations I'll check my (complete) collection of Jazz Hot from that period to see if there is a review of Y-7129 somewhere but this will take time.

I wouldn't disagree abut Selmer. But it seemed surprising to me that this was first released in France and not in the USA. So I (apparently mistakenly) assumed that the US Baronet release listed in the Bruyninckx discography was the first one.

What a combination ...🤨 Even less credible than that Beatles vs Four Seasons "Battle of the Supergroups"-style LP released on Capitol while Capitol held the rights to the Beatles recordings ...

As for Selmer, I don't know which was first - not even 100% so after reading the old thread from 2004 linked above. I know it was released on the French Selmer label but the Bruyninckx discography lists a Baronet release number first, so I assumed the recording was released in the US first and then adopted by Selmer for release on the French market. Maybe I'll find a review of this record in my old copies of Jazz Hot that will provide further clues.

And predated by "Hawk's Variations" Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 recorded by Coleman Hawkins as unaccompanied tenor solos for the Baronet label (probably in early 1945, according to some discographers).

Very helpful! So a public THANK YOU is in order.

Found the three CDs of that set for the "pricey" sum of 1 EUR each at the clearout sale of a local record store about 4 weeks ago - but no box case nor booklet, unfortunately. Did find the discographical details online but to get some (more) context surrounding these recordings I'd love to get my hands on a scan of the relevant sections of the booklet. Apart from that - yes, these recordings are very interesting - and enlightening. Re- other recommendations, the "Heinrich Heine/Attila Zoller LP mentioned earlier is called "Lyrik und Jazz" and is an achievement in its genre (but probably was plugged to death in the media at the time of its release in ANOTHER attempt at securing "respectability" of jazz among a "wider" public). But to appreciate it fully you would have to be able to master the German language, of course. But it's not overly expensive on amazon: https://www.amazon.de/Heinrich-Heine-Lyrik-Jazz-Westphal/dp/B000GH3DVK

96 years? Wow ..had no idea he was still around ... RIP and thanks for your name as a safe bet when picking up records to my liking from the heyday of "Out West" jazz. I guess most of his work for Kenton (plus some more for others) is on my shelves, and I have all of his 50s jazz leader dates on vinyl (Octet (Capitol), Fabulous (Coral), Jive For Five (Andex), In A Jazz Orbit (Andex), Great Big Band (Capitol, both mono and stereo), and would find it hard to recommend one clearly above all others. But I tend to lean a tiny bit towards his "Great Big Band" set. So, TTK, the "Original Bill Holamn Band - Complete Recordings" 2-CD set that appears in one of the Youtube links of the earlier post by Stompin' would be one way of rounding up the essentials from that period in a convenient package. (And don't let yourself be talked or bullied out of it just because it is on Lone Hill. ) Just listening to "A View From The Side" right now. I'd say it is a nice way of transposing his earlier style he became renowned for in a somewhat more contemporary context without trying to reinvent the wheel.

Yet it's amazing to see this sort of shortcuts or trickery happen with a label that does seem to be official (which UMI Jazz Germany is, I suppose?) ...

But what's that with "So Much Doldinger" being claimed to be an "original" album?? Any way you look at it (and compare liner notes and discographical entries), "So Much Doldinger" (a release for the German Record Club DSC) ORIGINALLY was a compilation of "Jazz Made in Germany" (released as "Dig Doldinger" in the USA) and of "Live at Blue Note Berlin" and is made up of half of each of these LPs. So what they did here was to usurp the title of that compilation LP and package assorted individual tracks onto that extra CD. Certainly nice fillers but no "original" ALBUM, this ...?? I wonder what made them shy away from marketing this as "4 Original Albums plus Bonus tracks" or similar? Have EPs or individual tracks become unmarketable to today's sales whiz kids? If one of these P.D. labels had done that one of their sets they would have been torn to shreds for misrepresentation by the usual suspects ... 😁

There is a difference betwen covering 80 (or even 50) to 100 years or 10 years (as in this case) on some 300 pages. So doesn't this explain that? I think I know what you mean but what you call "slow going" is what i would call "intense".

Started re-reading it AGAIN (in small instalments) 2-3 days ago. Still find it as rewarding as 25+ years ago.

FWIW, this session is also listed in the Bruyninckx discography (the version released in instalments as PDF files - but which certainly predates any publications in the Lord discography). So rumors about the existence of this release must have been around for a while.

I came to using Discogs regularly (and even buying there) relatively late (only a couple of years ago) but do appreciate the outline of an artist's output this site provides. The "crumbhunters" ' input to indicate even minor differences in releases, pressings, etc., is useful to me and has helped me in identifying pressings (at least approximately, as I realize you never know where an uncorrected mistake or omission might hide). I dont expect session details there but am glad when they ARE there (they sometimes are). So I take it above all as a database of the physical items that the music was released on to the public. Not as a discography in the stricter sense. One thing I find annoying is the huge amount of multiple entries. When you look for a particular record there you often find one and the same item (not different pressing runs or reissues) has been entered several times - by different people at differnt times - but never consolidated into ONE entry. They really ought to work on that ...

The first record I ever bought (at about 3 months short of my 15th birthday) was an RCA "Best of" compilation by Duane Eddy. It wasn't too long before I sort of tired of his style and found more interesting R'n'R guitar players elsewhere but later on I did pick up comprehensive vinyl reissues of his Jamie recordings. For completeness sake and to occasionally revive old memories. R.I.P.

OT, and yet ... The above statement is a bit ambiguous. Are the tune titles on the "brown bag" Herbie Nichols twofer alrerady those that Michael Cuscuna was able to reassign according to the session notes or are they non-definitive "provisional" titles?

A note (just in case ...) to those wondering: I just checked the "Lestorian Notes" discography by Piet Koster and Harm Mobach that (on the face of it) is ultra-detailed. But no trace of that tune in the song title index. Yet the entry IS there. It is listed as "(Just a) Little Bit South of North Carolia" and therefore is filed under "L" and also marks the beginning of the 1942 entries in the actual discography. The LP on Everybody's 3002 is nice indeed. I picked up a copy last year when I had (more or less) first pick among a 5000-LP jazz collection our #1 record shop had gotten in. And yes, the 1944 recordings by the Basie band on that LP are fine. But "live 1944 Basie" (including Prez soloing) is exceedingly plentiful out there on various collector labels. So you can easily get drowned in the flood.

Indeed! But signs and part of the times. Remembered differently according to everyone's musical conditioning during that period. Their record contract with MPS made them a staple on a wide variety of German Music shows and broadcasts during the 70s. Usually in (Very 😁) "Easy Listening" formats - for people not quite sophisticated enough to really dig the Siwngle Singers, for example. Not my cuppa, neither then nor now, never miend their undoiubted craftsmanship. But I remember back then I came to sit them out as part of the intermission fillers you were often served, and today I take them as part of the "70s sound" for "adult teens". They probably were also part of the typical music served on a radio show on Sunday nights (taken over from Austrian radio, I think) called "Schlager für Fortgeschrittene" ("Pop music for avanced listeners") hosted by Gerhard Bronner (whom Gheorghe no doubt remembers WELL!). The few other artists I remember from these shows were the Swingle Singers and very similar acts as well as Brazilian latter-day Bossa Nova tunes (with what to my young'un's ears sounded like puzzling, deliberately lifeless singalong plodding). And among the non-vocal items there may well have been some production that would be filed under "sophisticated elevator music". To the ears of this 14-to-15 year-old just getting seriously into music (though not at all the then current hit parade or rock "in crowd" stuff) the fare served there came across as utterly bizarre sounds, making me wonder who on earth would ever buy this and what the point of producing such music was anyway ... Oh well ... BTW, seeing these clips now, I now remember that back in the day I never would have guessed they were made up of only 1 female but 3 males. To the average listener they must have sounded more like 3 females and 1 male. And I remember now this is how I visualized them back then too.

That "rare draft" of Lil Hardin Armstrong's autobiography, isn't that something that Chris Albertson had access to (and/or had been given) after Lil Armstrong's passing?

Update of above list and an addition: 9) Bulletin du Hot Club de France, complete years 1965 to 1968 (10 issues each) - 6 EUR per year (20 EUR for all 4) (French language) Panassie's montlhy publication with record reviews, concert reviews, historical articles, club news (and his share of rants and opinions on the state of jazz - often fairly amusing from today's vantage point)

Ohhh .... He was one of the persons that you figured would be around forever. And it makes you realize how time flies and how you get older too ... RIP

Thanks very much for the links. I had seen the one on Discogs but was wondering whether there might be more details (e.g. more comprehensive recording dates). I am still interested in scans of the booklet, though. In particular if there's a section that discusses the individual tracks. Any general chapters on the basic story of the Beat Generation would be far les important (I've got books that cover this subject pretty well).

This is the first one I ever bought of them (on the strength of the lineup - and at 1 EUR apiece you can take chances. ) According to Discogs they recorded 3 LPs during the 60s (my find is the second one of them). So you will have to wait for others to chime in.