Big Beat Steve

Yes, the subtle play on words in the subtitle of "Took thousands of photos" was duly noted.

Interesting project. I havent' listened to any of their music on record or stage yet but I wonder if their quest for recreating the music from that period extends to the drummer's work too. The Youtube excerpts are a bit muddy and lo-fi in that respect, but it does seem like the drummer passably refrains from riding the cymbals like mad (shifting the basic beat up there) in a post-Jo Jones/Kenny Clarke-like manner just like even drummers of recent oldtime/"Dixieland" bands have seen fit to do in so many cases (something that would alter the overall rhythm and feel of the music quite a bit. Hope the Youtube samples are representative even in that respect. After all, if you wanted to recreate the spirit from those times (without slavishly copying it, of course) it would be a bit strange if this stopped right in front of the drummer, wouldn't it?

Remember that series well from my early collecting days though I never bought any of them (once you were halfway seriously into collecting 50s r'n'r you very quickly outgrew that elementary Greatest Hits fare ). But those LPs remind me of another one I cherished in those days as it had a lot of less ubiquitous "oldies":

So we are talking about the BILLY STRAYHORN LP, right? Because for the life of it I cannot see a Johnny Hodges LEADER date in this series.

???

The story about that Jim Hall record cover was that when Larsen was asked to do the cover he said his price was one million dollars.....or one guitar lesson from Jim Hall. I'm assuming he got the latter. He did: http://articles.latimes.com/1989-08-06/entertainment/ca-462_1_gary-larson

Ha, Mike, you started with three that I also own. So I'll add three more from the same corner (music and/or label-wise). P.S. Can we just wait a little before the inevitable Robert Crumb covers are pulled up? That would be just waaay too obvious. Pleeeze! P.S.2: I see it has already happend (Earl Hooker). But still ... There just GOT to be plenty of others, less obvious ...

That would be this series (the one with the violet-blue back leaflet with the track listing)? Marked "Nippon Columbia" in my case, though. Edit to confirm that apparently it is (as Mikeweil's post just beat me to it). Too bad we did not jump on these earlier to pass them on later as this series seems to be in demand ... about 10 years ago a lot of these were available cheaply at the "2001" shops here.

Tempting package indeed, but as I already have five of the LPs (still lacking the Rex Stewart, the Barney Bigard and both Dicky Wells) I think I'll pass.

Who knows who may have been given a dub of that session decades ago and allowed it to be circulated now? Maybe one of those involved in the session? It is not AUTOMATICALLY a case of "stolen" if something surfaces that somebody else prefers to sit on like a setting hen on a set of marbles wondering when ANYTHING will ever hatch from it...

Good that my pending "mass" order from Fresh Sound/Blue Moon has not been placed yet.

The one who recorded on Dootone, you mean?

I have the two Route 66 LPs with quite a few of the 1951 Swingtime recordings, though not the Crown Prince label LP from the same stable. I admit I cannot quite see the tight Swingtime/Black Lion reissue connection yet, though. Those Black Lion LPs with 40s items that I am aware of and have found in release listings (e.g. Buddy Tate, Jay McShHann, Nat Cole, Andre Previn and some more) all feature reissues from other indies.

Strange that Bruyninckx doesn't list it at all. Neither did I find it any mention of Jimmy McCracklin on the Black Lion label in any of 3 or 4 annual jazz LP catalogs (listing the items then currently available from the distributors over here) from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. Are you sure you are not talking about the "Rockin Man" LP on the ROUTE 66 label?

Same here. A hundred and four is a bunch of years. Ditto here. Same here too. 104 years. Amazing .... Will spin the Mountaineers' Old Timey LPs a bit later on in remembrance.

Ken, I'd venture to say your diligent approach still won't prevent you from falling victim to publishers or printers (or whoever is involved in the final stages of the written product) who seem to be 200% sure they still "know better" and gloriously manage to "dis-improve" your product after you have handed it over (proofread 'n all). I've experienced this a couple of times, and as I only relatively rarely am busy in this field (or related ones) I'd guess those who are into it full time must experience this kind of "Mister/Ms. Knows It All" even more frequently.

This document accessible under one of the links provided by J.A.W. should be worthy of further consideration in this debate. http://irights.info/userfiles/Schutzfrist_A5_engl_final%281%29.pdf It sums up the case AGAINST extending the copyright, and upon a quick glance does so quite validly IMHO. Too late now to stop things, probably, but interesting for recurrent debates such as this one here, especially if the fate of those poor musicians suffering from "bootlegs" is bemoaned again. The case ain't THAT clear-cut when it comes to who is ultimately benefitting from it all and what is likely to be reissued at all. But referring to the last post by Claude above, I think the major issue to us collectors is that this protection does not apply to recordings that have already fallen into the public domain. (My long-overdue mass order from Fresh Sound/Blue Moon wil go out shortly anyhow ... ) So if I got this right it seems like it's "only" post-1961 or -1963 (depending how you look at it) recordings that will be off limits to further collector "public domain" niche labels from now on.

If this is so then this would be good news indeed, Claude, particularly for all the roots music lovers.

I've been wondering about that too. No wanting to sidetrack this discussion, but as far as I can see this set is not on JSP but on Bear Family (and its price is quite un-JSP-ish too ). And I think Bear Family have got their ground covere in this respect, at least in those cases where reissues focusing on individual labels (such as J.D. Miller's labels in this case) are concerned. But the entire royalty idea the way it is enforced now is plain silly anyhow. Who is to benefit from music NOT being marketed? And this is what is going to happen. As if 50 years after the fact weren't time enough for reaping a well-merited amount of income from that music. 50 years is a long time span. In the times where politicians are openly discussion steep increases of taxes on inheritances in the name of skimming off earnings from "income not generated from ones' OWN efforts" (and paying royalties for music of close to 50 - and now even 70 - years ago often amounts to paying to artists' estates, i.e. heirs only, not to the artists, so it is quite comparable) a law like this is just one other step towards the general trend of making the rich even richer. Especially since I doubt that a fair amount will actually go to the allegedly underpaid session musicans. Especially if these are not the ones commoly associated with a given recording.

A question to the musically (passably) wise: Who do you think are the musicians who will receive the artists' royalties out of the sales of the reissue CDs by HERMAN'S HERMITS? (Admittedly not in the Beatles or Cliff R. league but not of minuscule stature in (British) 60s pop history either so there ought to be sales)

Well, the UK (where Proper sits) definitely is part of the EU.