Big Beat Steve

I've started reading the "Wishing on The Moon" biography by Clarke (will certainly not do it in one go, but anyway). And "The Song of the Hawk" will be next. I couldn't help wondering to what extent it can be used as the bio-discography that Medjuck suggests, but my first impression is that it's not quite that obvious. Unless you take the discussions of the sessions more as reviews. Which is not a bad thing because some of these actual bio-discographies (of which there are several in that book lot too) are a bit short on the "bio" side anyway.

For the Billie Holiday biography, that is? @ those who read this thread and are familiar with the books: Now how does the John Chilton biography of Sidney Bechet compare to "Treat It Gentle"? I've read glowing reviews of his Bechet bio. But opinions of actual users would be welcome as complementary info just the same. (Not that put-downs would deter me forever anyway. )

Three votes already for "Wishing on the Moon" by Donald Clarke - that seals it for now: I've started on this Billie Holiday biography (her genealogy described in the first chapter is confusing, to say the least!). Anyway ... opinions on the other books shown in my starting post remain welcome. In particular, another question to those who know: How does the Stan Kention "Artistry In Rhythm" bio by William F. Lee compare to other biographies written on "Stan The Man"? This is a subject I find quite tempting and I was glad to get that book, but leafing through the pages in the chapters of his final years left me a bit puzzled. At times they read like a scrapbook collection of newspaper articles on him which seem somewhat repetitive at first glance - as if geared towards the diehard fan completist. Strange ...

Thanks, all! (More input referring to my "list" very, very welcome! ) @Fer Urbina: Looking closer at that Marian McPartland book I see it is not "about" Marian McP, but rather "Marian McPartland about other jazz artists", so I'll file it along with the "Jazz Gentry" book. And I'll keep your recomendation in mind. And yes, I've read good things about the two books you put up front so they now are candidates for prioritization. @HutchFan. Yes, quite a treasure, and a welcome haul. From a fairly wide field of jazz publication areas. @jlhoots and EKE BBB: Thanks for your recommendations about Pee Wee (which I will keep in mind too), but this one unfortunately was not part of the lot. With a lot of reshuffling of the contents of my bookshelves (and moving many books on other collecting interests into another room) I've managed to put most of the new arrivals that made up that haul in my music room (which has overflown into about half of the adjacent room by now) in an orderly way. But shelf space remains very limited (my order of the Pacific Jazz history book is still pending anyway), so I try to restrain myself from buying more music books right now. For the time being it's more a matter of which of these to get into first and how to rank them overall compared to other biographies on the same artists. But as these finds (and the others that came with them) came my way essentially free, who am I to sneer at any of them? But while we're at it: @EKE BBB: A question about Duke Ellington bios to you: This lot also includes three Duke Ellington biographies: "Music Is My Mistress", "Duke Ellington in Person" by Mercer Ellington, and "Duke Ellington, His Life and Music" (ed. by Peter Gammond), all of them in their German editions. How would you rate these 3 among the crop of existing Ellington biographies? I have a hunch that I'd have to turn elsewhere for today's #1 go-to biography on him, and I often have misgivings about German translations of such music books, but like I said - who am I to sneer at freebies?

I had long wondered whether to put this question into the "What jazz book are you reading right now?" topic but then decided to start a new one in order not to let that "reading right now" thread get deviated into too many directions. Sooo ... I am wondering which of the following books to tackle next after the current one (Eddie Condon's Treasury of jazz - which is well-suited to small instalments and can be put aside almost any time in between, of course): (FTR, (Right now I am leaning towards either "The Song Of the Hawk" or "Jazz Gentry" - another one that is perfect for reading in small -chapter-wise - portions in between) The primary reason I am asking is this: Quite a few of the above artists have been graced by several biographies through the years, and these may not all have the same ranking among those in the know and familiar with them. So my question is: Any of you with any opinions on how the above rate compared to other biographies on the respective artists, or recommendations on which of these are particularly recommended, or which to put on the back burner in favor of a different one of the artist, maybe, etc. (FTR, I do own and have read the Bix biography by Richard Sudhalter, and I did bypass the "Lady Sings The Blues" bio, of which there is a copy - German version - in this lot too) (And in case anyone's wondering, "why that avalanche of biographies in one swoop?", 2 weeks ago I cleared out the bookshelves of the estate of a deceased jazz collector (from the source that the Bird book mentioned in the "Great finds" thread in August came from), and the above items are the tip of the iceberg - or should I say "icemountain? - and the more tempting ones of the biographies included in the lot.) Thanks in avance to everyone for your opinions and assessments.

I agree but what can we do these days with (customs duties) matters being THAT nebulous? (Uneasiness in the opposite direction over here is not much better, BTW)

Maybe they are trying to circumvent the obvious (as long as they can) in order not to frighten even more customers away?

Nice! And well-presented. Wish I had that much "free" storage wall surface around the actual storage shelves already occupied by vinyl (and related books and ... ).

Thanx!

Can some mod please correct the title of this thread? Pleeeze! As it is now, this must hurt the eyes of any French-speaking folks around here. It's "Souffle Continu". Just like some have written correctly in their recent posts.

A small side note about the appreciation of the partners of Richard Rodgers: I'm reading "Eddie Condon's Treasury of Jazz " right now (in small instalments), and in the chapter on Lee Wiley (written by George Frazier) there is this: "To hear Lee at her best, listen to her Storyville LP - the portfolio of Rodgers and Hart. Not Rodgers and that other fellow (who would be Oscar Hammerstein II, who, no disrespect intended, no Larry Hart, he) ..." I suppose the experts' opinions do differ on the respective merits of Rodgers' partners?

I am no authority on him but somehow I doubt it. There are quite a few horn men I cannot identify in that book but I do not recall anyone with these features. Fernando (Fer Urbina) should know more.

Thanks, that sounds plausible. BTW, browsing through the book again, I noticed a photo on the page preceding the page that shows the second photo from the Webster Hall date on your blog: visibly taken at a break during a recording session (the engineer's booth is visible in the background), with two men (musicians, probably) reading their newspapers. Could this have been taken at the same Webster Hall session?

Wow ... what knowledge! I am impressed! Do you have any idea if this was taken at an occasion that was recorded?

Thanks a lot, Fernando!! So I was right when I figured that that guy wearing the cap looked treacherously like Tony Scott! (Sahib Shihab and Gigi Gryce also were easy to identify) Offhand I just could not think of a big band session that he led. Though I ought to have known and ought to have searched further ... because I do own the "Complete Tony Scott" album. As for others to identify, I might well contact you via MP (our should I put the photos here for everyone to see and identify?). One that comes to mind right away is the pic (about 20 pages into the book) of four bassists jamming together (studio? backstage?). Percy Heath (second from right) is obvious, but the others? Many thanks again!

The other day I chanced upon a copy of the huge coffee table book "The Sound I Saw - Improvisations On A Jazz Theme" with the photographs of Roy DeCarava (Phaidon, 2001). It came my way as part of a huge jazz book haul, and I had not been aware of this book before. Very, very impressive - amazing that it took almost 40 years for the preparation and conception of these photographs and texts compiled in 1962 to materialize into an actual book. (I have a hunch, though, some of the photographs are even older than that - at least one pic from the book showed up in the 1955 "The Family of Man" exhibition at the MMA) The combination of photos from "everyday New York" at work and jazzmen at work is amazing and fascinating and they really tell a story ... Now my question to those familiar with this book: While I can identify a lot of the jazzmen pictured in the book there are many that I am unable to put a name to (or am unsure anyway). So I wonder: Does anyone know of any source where someone out there has gone to the trouble of identifying and listing all the jazzmen (and women) shown throughout the book? This task is certainly not made easier by the fact that the pages are unnumbered, and yet I wonder ... Any hints and leads will be appreciated!

I have that "First Recordings" LP too (must have been 16 when I bought it - my first Sonny Rollins LP ever). But I haven't spun it for some time, so after I had snapped up that 10-incher I started hoping (before I got home) that the contents of the 10-incher would not be duplicated on that LP. Luckily they aren't (the contents of Prestige 190 were reissued on two different 12-inch Prestiges). And you are right - both photos look like they came from the same session.

A nice find at a downtown fleamarket last Sunday: Prestige LP 190, Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk, original 10" pressing from the mid-50s Jacket with visibly considerable ring wear, plus (inconspicuously repairable - and now repaired) seam splits, but vinyl sounds fine and plays very well, with hardly any background noise (might even be graded VG+ by some). Cost me 12.50 EUR. But this still seems to be a very good price, judging by Discogs where only one original pressing - in poorer condition - is currently for sale (at 50 EUR), and where even the average prices of past sales are higher than these 50 EUR. Popsike gives the same overall picture. So ... I'm pleased!

A good deal of the article was not paywalled so I at least got a glmpse. Zooming over the text, mention of the name of Warren Storm "the drummer" (more known for his La. rockabilly/swamp pop recordings in "our" circles ) caught my attention, so I'll check out the accessible part of the article in more detail later on.

For those wondering about the Bob Crosby band, here's a partial discussion (focusing on the Bob Cats): Personally, I have quite a bit of Bob Crosby on vinyl, but the reissues (of the band's commercially released 78s) in the vinyl era were a huge mess. You tended to get almost the same things over and over again, while others continually fell by the compliers' wayside (though some of these "misses" I've heard elsewhere are worth exploring. ) So my LPs have lots of overlaps AND gaps. OTOH I've never come across the Halcyon CD series mentioned in the above thread, but i dont think I'd have invested in a "complete" series anyway.

The Google books link to "Dameronia" led me to a page that did not display but below is what the Bruyninckx discography says about the recording session of 14 May 1945: I have this recording on Official 3046 ("The V-Discs Volume 2") but its liner notes give the dates for mx JD296 and 297 as 30 Oct. 1944. Not being familiar with the V-Disc matric numbering I do not know who is right.

Well, whaddaya know? Serves me right for never having paid maximum attention to the Miller bands. Anyway ... this tune certainly was not a staple of BLACK (big) bands of those years. Offhand I am only aware of a version of Pistol Packin' Mama by Louis Jordan (on a Jubilee program, but he never recorded it commercially).

May I respectfully suggest that you amend/correct the title and item descriptions? It is CHARLES Brown, not Charlie Brown (as in Peanuts ). Just so people know from the start who it is all about. I for one must admit I did not have the slightest idea which artist you were talking about when I saw the title of this thread. Particularly since I found it hard to imagine any of the Charlie Brown artists I had ever heard of (far from all listed on Discogs anyway) would have been graced by a Mosaic set. https://www.discogs.com/search/?q="Charlie+Brown"&type=artist

Yes indeedy! 😉 That's one item that is a fair bit off the trodden paths of the usual big band repertoires. Very much an item of its times but therefore a natural fit for a V-Disc set.

Indeed?? Maybe not "technical English" in the sense the tech terms are used here? But I agree it is confusing and not very clear to those who are interested enough to read these descriptions and think them over. So some rewording could not do any harm.