Big Beat Steve

A hint at closer cultural ties that used to exist? Congrats anyway!

What's up with this non-availability through the easier accessible worldwide channels? Have Uptown changed their distribution setup and gone all in-house? Or is this just a temporary situation? Anybody have any idea? Thanx beforehand ...

While I wouldn't have expected anything "exceptional" I certainly would not have minded taking it off your hands either.

Too bad ... That record wouldn't even fetch extra (or even top) money in cllasic car colectors's circls who are all keen on automobilia and collectabilia relating to their favorite car marques. Take an original vinyl from the 50s and 60s where a VW Beetle, an English sports car (or other cars that have obvious "cult" status or at least a hardcore collector following) feature prominently on the cover and you might well sell these LPs for relatively good money in car collector circles though the music might be ho-hum ... Just for their attractive and collectible artwork ... Rolls owners/collectors don't usually fall into that category, though ...

That Dalida LP album title is so ..... eerie ...and tragic (considering that she eventually committed suicide). She was BIG over here in Europe, so maybe this record contained European recordings reissued for the US market?

Yes, now that you mention it .. wasn't Zappa on BIZARRE, a Verve subsidiary?

It might be interesting to see what other unlikely items there were in the Verve catalog if you look closer. Maybe they had their share of oddball releases in the 60s too? Bert Dahlander and Toni Harper (to me at least) aren't that unexpected (but then I knew about the Dahlander LP for a long time) but cocktail piano or Spike Jones? I wonder what hand Norman Granz had in selecting THESE?? At least as far as I am with the recent Verve story book they don't quite fit into the narrative..

It does seem somedays like almost anything was thrown onto vinyl back then (almost like the Youtube of its day). I'd probably listen to Skal though. Say whatever you want about latter-day Toni Harper and never mind Spike Jones or cocktail piano, but don't give NILS-BERTIL DAHLANDER short shrift. His "Skal" album was quite a valid jazz album in its own context of European expatriates working in the US (feat. Counce, Howard Roberts and Feldman, BTW) - and rated 3 1/2 stars by Down Beat, FWIW. The cliché-laden cover art and album title more speak volumes of the immature, INANE brains of the A&R men and marketing smartasses of the AMERICAN label that issued the LP. Not an isolated case, though.

Ernie Heckscher and Verve sure looks like an exceedingly unlikely pairing. Looks more like one of those "Music to Groom your Mustache to" etc.background music platter series that the major labels did in the 50s. As far as I can see at a relatively quick glance only the Toni Harper cover made it into the "Verve - The Sound of America" book. Too bad for Bert Dahlander (and Rex Middleton too).

Ha, sounds very much like the FINCH BANDWAGON I used to listen to on AFN on Sundays here in my early collecting years in the second half of the 70s. How much (or how often) Jack Teagarden, Lawson-Haggart, "The World's Greatest Jazz Band" etc. and other "middle-ground" bands and artists do you need? Sure, he exposed me to Big T and Lawson-Haggart first, but even to a youngster interested in jazz from that period this "play it safe" programming can become repetitive pretty soon if you keep your ears open and soak in everything you hear everywhere. I tend to agree with your DJ commentaries, though providing complete personnel for a small combo might be feasible but not for a big band program, and a 25-minute track on the radio might be VERY hard to fit into ANY format. Though it CAN be rewarding ... I remember a Dexter Gordon feature radio show I caught in the early 80s, and it had a lengthy killer jam session tune from the war years also including Duke Ellington and Ben Webster (and a CRAZY Stuff Smith). Somehow that jam tune never left the back of my mind but it took me well over 10 years to get the recording until I finally came across a copy of the Ben Webster "Ben and the Boys" LP (Jazz Archives JA-35) where the tunes and the line-up read like this might be IT at last - and it was ... a lengthy version of "Honeysuckle Rose" that starts in the middle of the proceedings! @jazztrain: Very interesting post summing up both sides as well as some pitfalls - thanks!

Talking about records you wouldn't imediately think of as being on Verve, how about BERT DAHLANDER - SKAL (MGV 8253) ? e.g. as seen here: http://diskunion.net/jazz/ct/detail/JZC20121221-100 Coming to think of it and while googling that release, I came across an older topic on that subject and a (totally forgotten) post of mine from 6 years ago on this very forum so I might as well quote myself to elaborate on the "obscure ones at Verve": "What about BERT DAHLANDER's "SKAL" LP (Nils-Bertil Dahlander, in fact, or "Bert Dale" for the linguistically lesser talented Yanks - BTW, anybody know of any reissue sources for this?), or what about that TONI HARPER LP (been a long time since she'd been a child singing star) or how about that obscurity by REX MIDDLETON'S Hi-Fi's (nice LP, BTW)? (And there were many more jazz-tinged vocal albums on Verve who did not make it to everlasting fame - probably about as many as on Bethlehem) Or how about LYLE RITZ on ukulele? And you even got SPIKE JONES on Verve. And who TF was that ERNIE HECKSCHER orchestra?"

I used to listen to a lot of jazz in my early years (post-1975 and onwards quite a bit into the 80s), both programs on more historical jazz styles, new releases by new and older artists, and even lots of collectors' programs diving deep into 78s. I learnt about a lot of musicians, recordings and styles (up to noting down whatever tunes and artists struck my fancy in notebooks, some of them coming in useful for later purchases or searches, though I almost all of the time failed to note down such key info as the EXACT recording dates (beyond the year) or key personnel. I also recorded a lot onto cassette tape and still play some of them in my cars every now and then (wobbly or not ... ). But in more recent times or now? IF ONLY there were many jazz radio programs of substance left, at least there are none to speak of on the FM radio stations that can be easily listened to here (I sometimes tune in to web radio, but not that often). Some late-night token programs that have remained seem to be more or less a medium of boosting upcoming or recently-completed festivals, even if the lineup is a full crossover into pop. Cannot recall having heard (or heard of) any regular FM radio programs such as the Night Life program (by Ghost) that I listen to via web radio from time to time with great interest. They USED to exist but that was a long time ago ... And what there still is that tries to present jazz that way on public radio today seems to me (on those relatively few occasions that I listened in) to be geared strictly to jazz newbies. One of the few remaining outlets where something for the actual jazz niche audiences might exist here are local "alternative" stations that you can either listen to in a very local FM area or via web radio. Interesting stuff there but since this is VERY "alternative" radio those who do the programs often clearly are more enthusiasts than radio pros. The programming is intriguing and broadens up horizons but the hosts are often not up to snuff, with some of them being just plain clueless. They love the music but don't have the background or knowledge to get the info about the music and musicians across with substance and, above all, authority and credibility. They could take a lesson from Ghost of Miles (sorry, David, admittedly I have not tuned in to your program yet).

Gilles has stood the test of the years well - he hasn't changed much since I was there in 2000/2001 (when I was there the last time in 2007 somebody else subbed for him that day). Always nice talking to him indeed - we got into talking too on thos efew occasions I was at his shop, and somehow I still regret I just could not take the time off to drop in a nearby bistro when, after having left his shop maybe half an hour before but still making the rounds at other shops in the same corner, I passed in fornt of that bistro and he saw me across the window and motioned to come on in where he was at a table with a friend for lunch. Unfortunately I could not because I had a VERY tight schedule of places (yes, mainly shops! ) to visit in Paris during that brief stay there (but it certainly would have been a very nice chat ...).

Following this topic, the impression I get here as an outsider looking in (what I have by Bill Evans are sideman dates) raises a few questions: Could it be that overall (given his stature and reputation, in particular) BE's output as a leader was uncommonly erratic? Was it a question of being THAT beset by his personal demons?

Sample it along with Bill Crow's recollections of that Goodman tour to Moscow, then ... (Available somewhere online ...)

The entire article is pointless. Comparing today's vinyl sales with those of the heyday of vinyl is totally irrelevant. Whoever praises the fact that now the 1-million mark is exceeded can and should only refer to the fact that vinyl has been proclaimed as being dead for years and YET the sales figures are on the up. Although only in a very minor way, and vinyl will certainly never become anythign like the #1 medium for selling music again - ever. It will remain a niche product and nothing more, but considering that it is supposed to be dead it is remarkably alive after all. So the whole premise of that article only shows the author has not grasped the essence of the vinyl debate as it is today.

Wouldn't that rather be a grapefruit??

Like I thought ...

What you do you mean "Peeling? An orange?"? You dont peel oranges? You never eat them? Just squeeze them to drink the juice? Or cut them in half and suck them out like they are wont to do in certain parts of South America? Cultural clashes ...?

They are now at CD 468 so that gives you an idea ... I have a hunch I know which ones you are talking about and they are not that recent. Uh oh ... doesn't bode well, though I find lots of others (more recnet ones) quite OK, even when comparing them to other reissue labels with that kind of material, but of course have no 78s to compare with. Yes, I'd know one or two where the thrill of finding THOSE would be as intense as when I first learned of the existence of these records in 1975 or 76 or so ... Just like with others that took me some 20 years of searching to find.

I did understand that and just wanted to point out this your reaction was not an isolated one - I had the same reaction, though with a different photo, and upon checking others of JMcL I found there are quite a few where you can be misled.

There are MANY photographs in circulation that make you think so. OTOH, if a young Earle Warren and, above all, Lena Horne, are found to be African American when looking at their pictures, then there is no reason why Jackie McLean isn't.

Yes I do see what you mean, and I agree. The thrill of discoveries is gone in some respects and sometimes buying what you are looking for has become too easy (funds permitting ... ). But please step back for a minute and take a look at the OVERALL situation of what you can reasonably find AT ALL from a NON-U.S. perspective: As for originals, apart from the question of "where do you start and where do you finish" when you have tastes that are not too narrow, a) no matter how much you search, a lot of stuff just is inacessible to anybody outside the country where the records were first issued (and often probably outside the state/county where they were pressed and sold off at gigs), and b) I simply am not crazy enough to go on 45rpm hunting sprees through the U.S., shelling out 500 or 1500 $ for some obscure original 45 as many country/rockabilly fanatics from Europe have done, nor c) do I (nor hardly anybody else) have the funds to keep up with those insane Asians who have pillaged European sources for "Eurojazz" for years and decades and have driven the price of those records that remain to totally sick levels. Beyond that, I certainly do search for vinyl, including originals, and I have paid quite a sum through the years, but prices being what they are I'd just as much settle for a decent reissue (particularly one of these facsimile reissues reproducing the original cover artwork etc. and NOT one of those garish contrivedly modernized 70s covers). And even though I still do prefer vinyl and have been known to sell off a CD as soon as I was able to find the same material (at last) on some LP there are many cases where you just cannot find anything except CDs if at all (because originals are just inaccessbiel for the above reasons). Realism just has to prevail sometimes, even in "Collectingland". And this is where reissues (including and above all CDs these days) come in. Of course, if heirs of record collection estates dating back to periods when there would be interesting originals from the 40s, 50s or 60s (bought by the only owner new back then) to be found would make an effort to sell these records one by one or in small lots at prices decent for both sides instead of unloading even those collections in one swift go with dealers who'd pay far less (than what private buyers would pay for items of their choice) but will of course charge top money when THEY resell or (in most cases) auction these items to the next round of prospective owners, then overall accessibility would be a bit better too. But ... as shown in other discussions this seems to have become unrealistic too. So unless you are REALLY rich you are off to the reissue market again ...

Just to get this right: Where would you say the "recent" reissues start? For a while I have participated in their "subscription" program (getting their new 3 CD releases each month) until about 1 1/2 or 2 years ago when I abandoned this because there was not enough overall to REALLY hold my lasting interest (I don't like "country weepers" - different strokes ... ). Before that date when I quit I found some of these releases indeed a bit "clean" but attributed this to the source material (50s recordings, some of them on major labels where good original copies might be easy to clean up). But my main quibble with some (somewhat older and basically very interesting) reissues unfortunately was that while they had to rely on whatever source material they were provided with from collectors, the sources in these cases did not even sound like sub-par digital copies to me but more like 2nd or 3rd-generation tape copies with a noticeable amount of loudness and brightness variation that seemed to oscillate in regular intervals (as a function of the speed of the rotating tape?), like it can happen with older or worn tapes. These were very isolated instances but still a real pity ...