Big Beat Steve

This need not be so if you use the IBAN et BIC (SWIFT) codes of the recipient's bank account for bank transfers inside the EU, and the banks aren't even ALLOWED to charge the customer (at either end) any fees for such intra-EU bank transfers using these codes (for once EU regulations are in the interest of the individual citizen on a practical level). Yet some banks still do (including those in France when you send money FROM France). All that probably helps in the short run is to raise heck directly with the banks (i.e. the bank tellers) each time they want to deduct fees for such transactions.

I ordered via amazon.de. The obvious choice as I live in Germany, particularly since the price seems right. Haven't checked for any other online sources yet.

Pulled the trigger on the Diz and Zoot CDs (would have loved the vinyl but THREE times the CD price - well, hey ..) Thanks for highlighting these items, EKE BBB ! Now I'd really wish they'd dig a bit beyond the all-time greatest names and come up with a few of their gems that they have on comparatively underrecorded (but nevertheless classy and deserving) jazz acts from that era, particularly European ones. They are BOUND to have tons of tapes on file there ...

Same here, but I doubt that I will be able to ... Thanks at any rate, Brownie, for making us aware of this!

Rock - quite possibly. But "and roll"? Doubtful ... (Yes I know you were just quoting what the website said ) Don't know what the Horse Flies are exactly but certainly not "rock and roll" in the actual sense of the word, judging by their Youtube clips ... "Progressive Bluegrass", maybe? Cowpunk? Dunno ... But certainly fun. Good to see, though, Dick Hyman is still so very active.

A couple of years ago I read his "The Jazz Scene", and though I approached it from a primarily historical perspective to read more about the jazz scene of the time the book was written, some of its contents (e.g. the relationship between jazz and popular music) appeared to me to be relevant and insightful well beyond that particular era. A very interesting read, even decades after it was published. That's my impression too. And I have a feeling he wasn't out to define soul jazz but rather described an earlier R&B setting (as opposed to more "intellectual" modern jazz). I am sure I have never read these liner notes mentioned above but that description of the music in that bar sounds very familiar (word by word). Could it be that that quotation was lifted from "The Jazz Scene"? (I did not find it upon a quick check of the book, though.) A jazz pianist and organist who a.o. recorded with Lester Young and was featured in the 1944 "Jammin The Blues" film. According to Chilton's Who's Who, he was with Coleman Hawkins, Al Sears, Sid Catlett, Doc Wheeler, Eddie South and Tiny Grimes through the 40s and mainly worked as a single in the 50s.

Well, my VINYL reissue (yes, by Fresh Sound ) of the Trans-World release sounds quite OK, clear and crisp to my ears ("fresh", in fact . And at any rate it has the advantage of a medium that will LAST.

Listening now - I picked this up at Bud's Jazz Records in Seattle some time back. RIP, Mr. Bert. Seeing that this LP has been plugged here by several forumists, that label (Somerset) made me hesitate ... Could Somerset (a budget reissue label) really have released something original? A check showed that they did not, at least not in this case. Becvause this LP is a reissue of Trans-World TWLP-208 "Let's Dig Bert (Eddie, That Is)". It's been around as a facsimile reissue LP on Fresh Sound (FSR-540). Will spin it shortly. As far as I can see it's not in the current Fresh Sound CD catalog, though, not even in a different repackaging (or has gone OOP again).

I've never been a big fan of the jazz trombone (it all too often gets in the way of instruments that naturally and effortlessly can manage higher tempos IMO) but Eddie Bert is one of those where an exception is definitely due. His Savoy albums ("Musician of the Year" and "Encore") are real swingers. So ... RIP and Thank you Hope it's OK to post these pics (from the K. Abe book) on a somewhat lighter note:

Small wonder ... The fascination of period originals ... (even if you're not a 1st pressing fetishist).

As mentioned here before, I bought that Bob Dunn box shortly after it was mentioned here on this forum. And I am still very pleased with it. I wouldn't be quite so harsh about Bob Dunn are but no doubt your judgment is musically better founded than my listener's/collector's/fans' impressions would be. But my first listening impression of this 2-CD set indeed was some sort of "Steel guitar soloists' artistry sure progressed in leaps and bounds in the following years/decade up to the second half of the 40s. Bob Dunn is nice but what is ALL the fuss about him?" Though maybe it would be not quite fair if you judge him (even subconsciously) by the yardstick of those you know came shortly AFTERWARDS. Maybe he just was the "state of the art" on country music steel guitar in his heyday? And IMO comparisons with soloists on other instruments would be a matter of apples and oranges, somehow.

Contemporary, Columbia Jazz and Prestige (in no particular order). Thinking strictly in LP terms, I'd probably have picked Pacific Jazz instead of Columbia, but since I'd want some SWING too I'd have to choose Columbia for its all-round appeal.

Not to forget Dizzy Gillespie's recording of "Cripple Crapple Crutch" (rec. April 11, 1952) where he clearly sings that he wouldn't "give a crippled crab a crutch" either.

To behear, you mean?

I don't think too many would have complained about 60s soul being referred to as R&B. The continuity is there ideed. But as this series of "100 R&B" LPS reaches well into the 70s, the plain descriptor "R&B" becomes a bit misleading IMO. And I think the main bone of contention here was the way the "R&B" term was/is used for even much more recent forms of black music - beyond that specific list. OTOH it really was to be expected that this "100 R&B LP" package would turn out like that. After all, were there all that many R&B LPs (i.e. original LP packagings) prior to the final years of the 50s (i.e. the end of the "real" key R&B era) to be reissued NOW? Remember that - in contrast with jazz - R&B as part of "popular" music remained mostly a 45rpm medium for relatively long. I can only see a scant handful pre-1960 items on the first few pages of that list.

Just call them R&B. After all they carry on the tradition and make it evolve to some degree. Like I said in my above post there are relatively recent acts that would really come under the R&B (despite all the evolutions they have gone thoprugh). Duke Robillard would be another one IMO. And no doubt there are many more. So is there any reason to be more generic than you have to in describing styles of music?

May I offer a huuuge pail of water to cool you down, and a tube of ointment to treat the burn marks? Because you ARE right. Just wondering, why? a) For the very same reason that IMHO it is a huge abomination use the term "rock and roll" for anything past the very early Beatles period (when they still performed rock'n'roll tunes (covers) and before the actual beat music set on. The "Rock" stopped rolling before the Beatles came along and when teen kids like Avalon, Vinton, Rydell etc. took over. Point. What came after was (and is) just plain "rock" (in all its facets). a) Why not call a spade a spade? There ARE connotations with the REAL term of R&B as it developed from the 40s onwards, and I don't think anybody has to be afraid of terms such as "soul" or "funk" (or "hip hop" etc.) to describe specific styles of black music. So why not be precise and to the point? Again, why not call a spade a spade? After all there ARE more recent acts in the wider blues field that would merit the R&B "style tag" so why make it unnecessarily blurred by making it "mean anything (black)"? Not a case of pigeonholing, just a case of being at least relatively precise in what you are talking about. Especially since the vocabulary to differentiate is there. Just my 2c

O.K., so for the most part this "R&B" term is to be understood the way it was used in U.S. charts through the decades to describe "popular Afro-American music", regardless of the actual style of music, i.e. simnply "SOUL" or even "Funk". A not so unimportant distinction to those who specifically go for "R&B" in the stricter sense sense of the word. Nice series, though, for collectors of this ty<pe of music.

Agreed about "Overboard". RIP Sugarboy. Not too long ago I pulled out his Chess/Checker and Imperial reissues again after they had long gathered dust on the record shelf. Music that really grows on you.

About where the dross is in music: I do think there is a point to downloading being pushed immensely by the desire of many music buyers to buy single tracks only and not entire albums. And although some may sneer at this "high brow" attitude again, I do think that jazz all in all is one of those styles of music where the majority of the listeners and buyers of the music treasure what they buy and whatever they buy is bought for keeps. Because they are not only "consumers" of the music but rather collectors and they do listen more intensely on a permanent basis. Now is this also the case with mainstrean/pop/chart etc. music churned out today? And has this been the case with mainstream/pop/chart music of past decades? Of course there were/are those who do treasure these popular styles of music and hang on for a long time, no matter what the current trends are. But are they the majority? Or is the majority of mainstream/pop/chart/music consumers made up of those who often go after todays' trends today and after tomorrow's trends tomorrow? With the result that what they download is of interest today but not in 1, 2 or 3 years from now and can and will be erased again. Expendable, consumed music. Though IMO the "fault" lies not with the music (because any style of music, no matter how mainstream-ish it was in its day, has its core of lovers and collectors so there is some intrinsic value in ANY style of music to those who love that music beyond its fad-ish or trendy short-term appeal) but rather lies with the buyers, i.e. the majority of the buyers, those who account for the BULK of the sales. And it is for them that formats that appeal are adopted and provided. Hence the download trend IMHO. And this is where jazz remains a special case (like other "special-interest" styles of music). Beause there the proportion of the long-term music lovers/collectors (who want to keep their music in a tangible form) vs short-term music consumers is totally different from most mainstream/pop/chart music. This doesn't prevent anybody from downloading even in jazz but this may be why downloads are not nearly as much appreciated and welcome - as shown in earlier posts.

Yes, French is not a black box, language-wise. There should be enough people here who can handle it. If Brownie in the end cannot follow through due to higher circumstances, feel free to send it to me. But for what you want to know now, try one of those online tools. The results will be some terrible gibberish but at least you should be able to grasp the bare essentials of what it is roughly about at all. Processing details are the same on all amazon sites, from what I can tell (apart from amazon.de, I've dealt with amazon.fr, amazon.co.uk and amazon.com). But watch out - maybe it is not worth the effort to go to any great lengths with these mails anyhow. Do they specifically mention the item you ordered in these mails? Because if they don't, then beware - amazon.fr are VERY strong on sending publicity mails, mentioning special offers, general discounts or invitiational mails to those who've not bought via them for some time (I've used amazon.fr only occasionally through the years) and at times my mailbox gets loaded with regular invitational mails for a return visit to amazon.fr, etc. I am not bothered enough with that to send them a mail asking them to cut out that nonsense but I don't pay much attention to it either.

Obscure albums I'd give my eye teeth (not quite but anyway ... ) to hear? INGO: "Jazz auf der Gitarre" (Amadeo AVRS 9017) rec. late 50s. Been aware of it (thanks to a 1960 jazz record catalog) since I started collecting in 1975 but never ever saw any copy anywhere, not even an unaffordable, over-the-top priced one, and to the best of my (admittedly scanty) knowledge of the Japanese market this seems to be scarce enough to even have eluded the Asian reissue freaks.

@Greg M: Are JOSEPH GIBERT and their CD section as well as Paris Jazz Corner and other stores like this still alive and kicking? Otherwise, FWIW I've noticed a rapidly dwindling selection of jazz or other non-mainstream/chart items in chain outlets that handle CDs for quite a few years now (including in France) so I am not all that surprised. But if the specialist stores/sections finally start disappearing ...

I wouldn't know about their modern jazz, really, but as for the reissue activites at large of this label, I am afraid you are being a bit rash in your judgment, King Ubu. Show me where an in-depth reissue of the R&B output of the MACY's label covering exactly the same ground has been done before (you can gather a lot of Macy's hillbilly items on other reissues but you'd have to plough through a LOT of individual platters) or of the MELODISC label or of drummer/bandleader Peppy Prince's output. As for them being "shabby", if blues writer Opal Louis Nations (known from numerous contributions in the "Blues & Rhythm" magazine) sees fit to contribute liner/booklet notes those Acrobats can't be all that shabby. As for jazz and all having been out on CD before, a very superficial check shows Acrobat claim this one hasn't ... http://www.acrobatmusic.net/?cid=5&AlbumId=777 ... and this one doesn't exactly look very rehashed, either: http://www.acrobatmusic.net/?cid=5&AlbumId=792 ;) BTW, lest somebody again complains that the above items cannot be linked to here, Acrobat stress the point of their reissues being the "first legit CD" ones over and again throughout their item descriptions. So .... would they do so if somebody could easily pin a lawsuit on them for clearly false claims?

He was on this 1955 10-incher that I picked up for the proverbial song (nobody had ever heard of the leader's name, it seems **) at a record fair a long time ago. Time to give it a spin again ... (** Neither had I, but you can't go wrong with 50s Eurojazz in my book ... )