Big Beat Steve

All 8 tracks are on Youtube. For the time being, that's good enough for me. Considering that this LP apparently has never been reissued, my guess is we will have to wait for the Andorrans to do a CD reissue. They have reissued Urbie Green stuff before.

Thanks for the reminder. I just tried and got the sound to work 👍. But the problem is just this: The (desktop!) PC I would be able to play this from is not near my living room or music rom but one flight down in my office. Inconvenient ... (no, no "smart"phone here for this ...)

Which is exactly what came to my mind when I wrote my reply ... But that 8-hours YT clip of department strore Xmas muzak had me wondering ... I've half a mind of downloading it for the upcoming season ... (my better half will be away for a couple of days, so ... )

Yes, that Yuletide record is very nice. Particularly at this time. (Though I am not sure I'd want to listen to ALL the 8 songs on Youtube in one go ). I had not been aware of the existence of this record before either. So thanks, TTK!

Thanks - those links make the Hoss Allen connection (via "Black" Nashvile) clear.

Amazing that they used Louis Jordan for that program as late as 1966. He was near the end of his recorded run and, alas, certainly past his public-appeal prime by that time. OTOH, TV host/(ex-)DJ Hoss Allen must also have been a bit past his most active prime by 1966. If my sources are correct his most important years were in the pre-R'n'R days. I am not familiar with that show and its place and status on TV of those days, but considering everything, maybe they catered to a somewhat older audience that still fondly remembered the likes of Louis Jordan? Anyway ... it's nice to see Louis Jordan in THAT context. "Caldonia" is taken at bit too fast a pace IMO but otherwise his set moves well and the modernized touches that his band comes up with fit in fine. Contrary to some of his very final recordings that somehow sound like not quite flesh nor fowl.

That cover photograph is odd ... and ill-suited ... This is a pic by renowned jazz photographer Susanne Schapowalow and shows trumpeter Fred Bunge in war-devastated Hamburg in 1949! Far outside the time frame of the record and showing a musican who did not figure on that release either (he had virtually left jazz by the period of the recordings and died in 1960 in a car crash). Reconstruction in Europe had progressed rather more by the late 50s /early 60s (and Germany, in partuicular - cf. the German "Wirtschaftswunder" period). So there would have been better period pics to illustrate the feel of the era, i.e. through 50s/late 50s modernism. What were you thinking, you artworkists?? Apart from that, Sonorama is an interesting label that goes where few others bother to tread.

Listening to this now: Some knowns, some unknowns, some discoveries, some early Ray Charles off the beaten tracks of the usual contents of reissue compilations. So overall a nice addition. Bought this 2-CD set yesterday at a local secondhand record shop at a price I couldn't resist - and which turned out to be significantly lower than the asking prices and median sales prices of European Discogs sellers.

Just checked my magazines (I have about 2 full years of Jazzfinder/Playback from 1948-50), and the below article must be the one from the Dec. 1948 Jazzfinder that is being referred to: I'll leave it to Oliver experts to interpret the contents. FWIW, the 1942 Down Beats are available on the Worldradiohistory website.

Thanks for alerting everyone of that link to a free downloadable online version. Quite convenient, so I downloaded the PDF (though I already have a printed copy of "Rust" - 4th ed., though). On a side note, I wonder, however, what the one who wrote the "presentation" of that opus (on the very same website) was thinking (if at all) ... OOP for 40 years?? That long, really? ... And then: "but Mr. Rust probably ended his discography in 1942 because this was the year he stopped writing the book?" Huh? Rust worked on his book MUCH later (as indicated e.g. by entries of collector LPs from the 60s or even 70s featuring previously unreleased pre-1942 jazz), and the focus on "early" jazz coincided broadly with his personal interests (an early edition of his discography had a cutoff date of 1931!). And as for the 1942 cutoff date here: Ever heard of the Petrillo ban? Which makes for a fairly "natural" cutoff if you have to limit the scope of your book. As for post-1942 discographies - "I don't know of such a book" .. Huh again ... When did the "Jepsen" hit the scene? 60 years ago, innit? And later on Brunyninckx, Lord, etc ... Not sure at all if such a clueless "promotional" text does the book made available there full justice ... As for the question on hand about the actual session dates, this has me puzzled too, and I'd like to see the booklet text too. Irakli did have some serious "scene credentials" as an active musician considered the ultimate "French Louis Armstrong idolizer". So at leat to me he seems like someone who knew what he had researched. But OTOH if the sequence of the matrix numbers says otherwise and points towards aDecember that seems to be some evidence too. Wondering what storng-enough proof one way or another will come up ...

Seeing what the "Down Beat Record Reviews" annuals (covering the 1956 to 1963 reviews publisahed in DB) seem to go for these days (several sold at $200+ in recent months) I figured I might as well bump my list again. Mine for sale (Vol. III, reviews from 1958. see opening post of this thread) admittedly is not in as-new condition but a good, clean reference copy (and priced at a fraction of eBay or Abebooks rates), and with that price difference even cross-border shipping might be worth it to someone ...

An interesting topic. Let us know what you think of the book when you've finished it (or in mid-course?). I wonder how such a subject can be treated at book's length without becoming repetitive and full of commonplaces that are not strictly linked to JAZZ LPs. But I'd like to see this a successful job.

My hunch was right: Fresh Sound (yes, them! 😄) DID include her too in their list of reissues of oft-overlooked 50s femme vocalists. So this might get you a little further ... (though they, too, seem to be unwaware of her activities after the 50s) https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/13553-lucy-reed-albums

Thanks, that's an interesting story. Like you, I wouldn't have been surprised if Littman had been reported dead before the end of the 50s. I remember reading a story about the tragic days in Paris in 1955 (cannot recall the source; this was well before the publication of Jack Chambers' book). The author claimed that one major reason why Twardzik fell back into his habit was that Peter Littman, an (I quote from memory) "incurable addict", was the worst possible travel companion for Dick Twardzik (even more so than Chet Baker, it seems) - as he made it all too easy for Twardzik to score again and get high and into the habit again. With the results we know ... So ... time to listen to the CD of the Holland Concerts by the Chet Baker quartet (of 17 and 18 Sept. 1955) now ...

I realize that and will remember your advice. But it's just this: I DON'T smoke, but I do lots of my own repairs and restoration work on my cars, so guess which mineral oil-based fluid is most easily within reach when the idea to remove such a sticker nuisance hits you at the most unlikely moment. (Just checked the last LP where I removed that sticker - and gluey-gooey layer underneath the sticker paper - with thinners. The spot would be nearly invisible if it hadn't been for my own impetuous attempts at peeling off the sticker BEFORE resorting to thinners - which resulted in two small spots where the top paper layer of the sleeve came off along with the sticker)

Boy, are you lucky that The Magnificent Goldberg (MG) no longer seems to frequent this place (which is very regrettable ...). No doubt he'd pull your ear and set you wise about "all organ players sounding quite the same". I am FAR from an expert on organ jazz, particularly of the Soul Jazz period (in which I have taken more than a passing iterest only in very recent years), but there ARE differences (stylistic and soundwise) between, say, Milt Buckner, Wild Bill Davis, Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott, Rhoda Scott, Jimmy McGriff et al. Whatever similarities there may remain certainly are mostly a matter of the instrument as such. At least if you do not listen closely.

I've sometimes used a drop of lacquer thinners with the results you describe (easily breaking the adhesive layer apart). But you need to be extra careful in order to apply it only to a record sleeve surface that is not easily affected by contact with thinners. So I would not recommend this as a general solution.

I systematicalloy removed the price stickers too. But when I buy a secondhand one today that still has its "New record" price sticker (underneath the current secondhand sticker) from a local record shop (that I spent lots of money at from 1975 to its demise in the very early 2000s) I will leave it on too. For old times sake ... And for much the same reason I also retained the price stickers from Dobell's in London (usually attached to the rear of the sleeve) that were still in place on some LPs I bought secondhand in London throughout the 90s. Reminds me of all the recods I was unable to afford there during my Easter Holiday stays in London in 1975 to 1977 when I was still in school.

Haven't tried lighter fluid yet but I found that hot air from a hair drier works very well to soften the glue of the sticker enough so you can peel it off without pulling off chips of paper from cover surface at the same time. However, in recent months I was faced with the sticker problem in almost all of its embodiments. In August of last year my favorite local used record shop got in a huge jazz LP collection, and I bought quite a load from that collection over time (including 2 weeks ago at another clearout sale). However, the previous owner had had the nasty habit of sticking a paper-based sticker almost the size of a letter address sticker (with the number of the record in his collection inscribed on it with felt tip pen) in an upper corner of each and every LP. And these stickers had aged rather poorly and differently over time (with no apparent link to the time they had been left on the sleeves, judging by the numbers). On some the glue had dried and the stickers literally fell off, leaving just some whitish powdery residue on the sleeves (that scrapes off with your fingernail if you insist long enough). Some stickers peeled off nicely, leaving hardly any marks, whereas others (more stubborn ones) had to be warmed with a hairdryer or treated with a bit of water mixed with dishwasher fluid to come off well enough. But some resisted any attempts at warming or treating with fluids. So the only solution (that would not damage the cover surface itself) I was able to come up with was to lightly wet the stickers with water and then rub their paper layer off with my thumb. Primitive, and you have to insist yet be careful (particularly when it's a U.S. cardboard sleeve). But it eventually worked and just left some fairly invisible marks of almost-dried glue. Still figuring out how to get rid of these final remnants ...

One more (mentioned now to tip the scales a bit in favor of the distaff part of the artists mentioned ) : Former big band vocalist June Richmond! Apparently forgotten enough in her country of origin by the mid-70s to see her name misspelled as "June Richman" by the oh so enthusiastic compilers and annotators of the Joyce label (whose LP-5001 - "Count Basie`s Jubilee" - I just spun). @Niko: Yes - Rhoda Scott was big in France. Most of her discography originated there. Lou Bennett also was a household name. Not to be confused with Benny Bennet who worked with various jazz notables in France in the 40s and 50s, but later shifted towards popular Latin sounds.

Never mind ... blues is part of jazz! 😄

I DON'T particularly like flute in jazz but I do like the "Nuts about ..." Sam Most LP.

Thanks for the link. Interesting to listen in.

That "expat jazzmen" thread of 2019 is good but seems to live mostly on fairly "recent" memories (maybe often based on personal exposure by the forumists?). Most of the names do not seem to go back beyond those featured on the "Americans in Europe" Impulse LPs. Yet the trend (particularly among Black jazzmen and women, and going well beyond Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter who spent several years in Europe in the 30s) started MUCH earlier (which is saying something about a certain societal climate ...). Though some by force of circumstances were forced to return back to the US at the outbreakof WWII. Here are those that come to mind offhand (but the list is not chronological - some came to Europe in the 30s (sometimes in the 20s), some came after WWII): Sidney Bechet ! Arthur Briggs Harry Cooper Big Boy Goudie Herb Flemming Willie Lewis Garnet Clark Spencer Williams Valaida Snow Leon Abbey Freddy Taylor Inez Cavanaugh Peanuts Holland ...

Google does not yield any results for the word "Claudehopper" in connection with "Claude Thornhill". But another online search that led me to the DAHR website shows that a tune named "Claudhopper" was recorded on 2 March 1959 (Woellmer was on trumpet at this session according to the DAHR site) and released on this LP: https://www.discogs.com/de/master/1463148-Claude-Thornhill-And-His-Orchestra-Dance-To-The-Sound-Of-Claude-Thornhill-And-His-Orchestra Probably one of Thornhill's less memorable efforts when (according to various biographies on him) he certainly was past his progressive prime and had settled in a more conventional dance band routine. I recently picked up a copy of his slightly earlier "Plays for Dancing" LP. Nice enough as a document of its times but hardly in a league with his 40s recordings. And I have little reason to believe that that Decca LP of 1959 is radically more "modernist" again.