Big Beat Steve

Couldn't it just be that those who prefer yesterday's music (i.e. yesterday's musical STYLES) do so because today's "new" music (or whatever is being touted by the music makers and promoters as the "latest" "must-hear" thing) just does not strike a chord (literally) with them? Either because to them it does not offer anything that new (who was it who said about a given musical style that "whatever could be said muscially has already been said"? It could be said about many styles, I'd venture to say) or just does not happen to fit their musical preferences. Or maybe those who prefer yesterday's music just are soooo tired of all those fads and that hullaballoo that often boiled down to empty packagings with not the kind of substance that the listeners would have expected. So why force yourself into bending and deforming your musical tastes just to please those who go about touting this or that new musical fad? At any rate - and this may come as a shock to some musical practitioners - "newness for newness's sake" just isn't enough anymore to a certain bunch of listeners. Empereor's clothes effect, I'd say. And I cannot see this is all THAT bad as long as there is enough music to enjoy anyhow. And let's not forget in some cases the music from the past may also stand for what is perceived as a "better", more easily manageable era (especialy with the benefit of hindsight) when everyday life evolved and progressed (!!) one step after another instead of jumping, spluttering and hopping about in a seemingly unmanageable zigzag course like it seems to do today.

Oh, you've got to read the Gennari; it's a hoot, though no doubt dangerous as hell if it becomes the version of things that gets passed down through time, as might well be the case. So would you say the Gennari book would be an entertaining read, assuming that I consider myself able to take things (historical or factual) with a dose of salt where needed and have derived a certain amount of pleasure out of reading several of Hugues Panassié's books too (by taking them not at all as the Gospel but as a source of what one MIGHT think about this or that musical development without the reader having to agree with it at all)?

The HMWV shop as shown here http://voicesofeastanglia.blogspot.com/2011/05/streets-of-london-1976-1978.html must have been exactly like I first saw it as my first stays in london (14-day stays at host families organized by our school in cooperation with the YMCA) date to 1975-77. I dimly remember the staircase too but am pretty sure there were no listening booths anymore by that time. Otherwise I seem to have been rather underwhelmed by that shop as I cannot remember having bought much there. Probably their selection of 50s rock'n'roll, jazz, blues and R&B that would have been of greatest interest to me was nothing compared to Dobell's, those small shops along Portobello Road, a pretty nice shop (the name of which I forget) at a street corner not far from the Bloomsbury Book shop operated by John Chilton's wife, and several "neighborhood" record stores too, plus several more that I did check out but cannot remember their location anymore. Or else everything was "full price" at the HMV shop and no special offer bins anywhere there (which would have been of greater appeal to my small student's purse ).

Uh oh ... how many "absolutely coolest" LP's have you dug up in recent months, judging by your posts here? Must be freezing cold by now in your record rack by now if one platter is cooler than the other among those you've bought. :g But Gene Ammons is the real thing, of course. Though I'd be a bit wary of some of these compilations, seeing the mass of Jug recordings that Prestige has churned out through the times. So why go for repackagings?

One of those dreadful, artificially "updated" 70s covers that invariably put you off if you were out for substantially more "vintage" jazz and just got lost in the flood of items that hit the market in those years. I am pretty sure I have seen this set (or others from that serieS) but it just did not click with me when browsing through record stacks so I did not even bother to check the discog details. Seeing what was on this twofer I'd likely have snapped it up if it hadn't looked so horribly "70s funky-ish" (so you did not even imagine there'd be classy 50s stuff on it, especialy since the Impulse logo immediately made you think "cannot be older than early 60s" which by and large was a bit too recent for my PRIME jazz buying targets in my young days )). I picked up the Peacock Crossroads LP by Sonny Criss quite a while later when it was reissud in FACSIMILE form by Fresh Sound but somehow never managed to grab the Kenny Dorham album on vinyl.

I don't believe anyone has guessed who this is yet. O.K., I see that not much is going to be forthcoming, so here is the reply, and I SWEAR I AM NOT KIDDING! This is him TODAY: During his student days in the mid-50s he was the singer in a group called The DOCTORES. One or two of the other band members went on to make more of a name for themselves in more famous Italian bands, and him ... we all know the rest ...

Johnny Ray? Looks like him, but Wikipedia has him as Johnnie Ray and American. ding-ding!! thanks, Bill. actually knew the correct spelling but thought maybe he was British. bottom line: wrong answer! Wrong on all counts. Sorry. Feel free to try again. Too few shots in the dark yet for me to go ahead and spill the beans.

O.K. so let's see if you know your celebs really, really well. Only hint: He is NOT American but I'd guarantee that ALL of you around here know him!

The "Tenors Head-On" LP was reissued on (Liberty-owned) Blue Note in 1978 (in the "The Blue Note Re-Issue Series" program that also had those famous twofers). But certainly not because of the "Lighthouse series" tag. The first vinyl reissue of "Double or Nothing" that I am aware of is the Fresh Sound facsimile LP of the 80s.

I checked Part 1 of the Liberty discpography linked above qhen i posted my< message yesterday but did not see any other mention of either the LIGHTHOUSE band name nor of Howard RUMSEY except for a 1963 sampler that included tracks from previous releases. So ....? And the Goldmine 1949-1969 album guide does not list any Liberty LP except Howard Rumsey's Vol. 1 (LRP 3045) under his name either, so if there ever was a Vol. 4 (or more) the Lighthouse connection must have been even farther fetched than No. 2 and 3. But who knows ...? Maybe Calvin Jackson's Jazz Variations (LRP 3071)? But NOT the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet's Sax Appeal (LRP 3080). I haven't got the record on hand right now but cannot recall any "Lighthouse Series" mention. Maybe Teasing The Korean would know about any others that may not immediately come to mind to fans of jazz in the stricter sense? A lot of the Liberty catalog from those years seems to fall straight into his areas of preference.

O.K., I see - so it seems like this was more of a marketing gimmick than an actual recording involving the Lighthouse ALL STARS. But after all two thirds from the rhythm section (Red Mitchell and Stan Levey) had indeed been held over from Vol. 1 of that series. And Howard Rumsey seems to have provided the name only. Which OTOH would explain why Jepsen (inexplicably at first sight, if you did not pull out the ORIGINAL album cover) listed the Tenors Head-On LP in his discography under "Rumsey, Howard".

Headman, I think Romualdo was referring specifically to the LIBERTY releases. The Contemporary items are rather well-known fare, not to say common knowledge. @Romualdo: Could it be that what you describe as Vol. 3 is the Stan Levey-Max Roach shared date released on Liberty LRP 3064? Check the listing on this site: http://www.bsnpubs.com/liberty/libertya.html I really cannot find anything listed between LRP 3045 (vol. 1 as per the original record sleeve) and LRP 3064 (Vol.3 as per your statement) that would fit a description of a Lighthouse/Rumsey-led or backed date. LRP 3051 (Kamuca-Perkins' Tenors Head-On) would not fit the bill either. For more Liberty discographies, see here: http://www.bsnpubs.com/liberty/libertyb.html http://www.bsnpubs.com/liberty/libertyc.html

I find this kind of e-mail rather irritating and the light it sheds on its originator really is odd. Really sorry to say this, especially since - after having bought the Serge Chaloff, Allen Eager, Charles Mingus and Bird & Diz at Town Hall Uptowns and being VERY satisfied with their musical and booklet content - Uptown really did look like one of the more thoughtfully done labels that really tries to fill gaps in collectors' record shelves instead of rehashing previously done reissues with a minimum of new material and living off the (often rather subjective) "improved sound quality" argument. I'd been looking forward to the Charlie Christian CD but after having read the info on this board it seems I'd be buying it mostly for those few jam session tracks that start off the CD as most of the Goodman stuff has been around indeed (and I probably have a fair bit of that on previous reissues). And if Frank Driggs' liner notes really are that much off the mark (anybody care to confirm or refute Allen's assessment of those liner notes?)... In short, my enthusiasm for this particular item has waned a bit. Too bad (my loss, maybe, I know, but still ...) Getting back to that mail: I haven't come across any of this in small collectors' record label "customer service policies" yet but in a way it DOES sound familiar, unfortunately: I've witnessed several cases of small businesses catering to niche markets and selling to customers largely perceived to be "collectors" or "enthusiasts" where complaints about product quality that was perceived by the customers to be substandard (and may have been even less of a case of personal preferences there as it related to goods not fit for their intended purpose of use, not giving the expected service life, etc.) had been voiced publicly on forums such as this. Not in threads started specifically to downgrade the items but just in the course of exchanges between forumists when the topic of users' experiences with this or that item came up and where pros and cons obviously went to and fro. Dissatisfaction with the goods (even if the causes for dissatisfaction were provable) was invariably countered by the sellers of those goods by berating the complainants, in a tone not too dissimilar, the gist of which often seemed to be "Hey, we are doing you FAVOR by supplying you with these items, whatever we put out is top notch because the items are being put out for this NICHE market and if you are dissatisfied then you just are not qualified to use them" (or indeed even by attempting to sue them for slander etc.). Really seems like niche producers of niche items for niche markets where the sellers perceive themselves as being "enthusiasts selling to fellow enthusiasts" are particularly touchy when it comes to handling complaints about their products' features, even if shortcomings could be proven. Too bad ... but what can you do as a customer ...?

The lonely woman on the Atlantic/London cover was top model Sondra Peterson . Saw her a number of times when she was French jazz radio broadcaster (and director of Jazz Magazine) Daniel Filipacchi's companion. Filipacchi later headed Hachette Publications in France and the USA. Always wondered who was on the cover. Amazing what one can learn here. Ha, for a second I thought Wanda Jackson had made it onto a MJQ cover!

The liner notes of Xanadu 172 specifically state this session was recorded for Cosmopolitan. Jepsen's discography (compiled before any reissues were released, as far as I can see) includes all four tracks but neither a matrix number nor a release label and number for tracks 2 and 4. Which seems to indicate that the existence of these tracks was known but that they had not been released.

While I am somewhat less enthusiastic about that label (they are O.K. by my taste but not more, especially their pop stuff of the 50s really is VERY middle-of-the-roadish, and while their jazz output has a lot of gems it still is more of a matter of "special interest" jazz if you dive deeply into it), there must be something to that label. About 6 years ago I bought a collection about 700 78rpms of 40s and 50s jazz/r&b/U.S. pop, and while the collection had already been picked over (but not in a targeted manner nor excessively as far as I could ascertain) before I got hold of it, the lot I bought had a really extraordinary share of Capitols. Pretty amazing since none of the other majors were nearly as well represented in the lot. Seems like the previous owner was a sort of Capitol nut too. So now I have plenty of Kentons (not that I would mind), Les Pauls, etc.

True, but what can you do? Even that MCA pressing STILL is quite listenable. Only the vinyl itself which is uncommonly thin compared to a early 60s DG pressing that ought to go in such a laminated cover DOES bother me indeed.

Valid thoughts ... Apart from "first pressing" obsessions (that often are dictated by monetary considerations too, let's face it ), I think any later reissue that comes along with more or less awkwardly modernized label and/or cover designs makes long-time collectors wince. I must admit that "modern" (and therefore "period incorrect") labels do not bother me as much as clumsily "updated" cover artwork. So if the cover artwork of the reissue matches the original one then I usually can live with somewhat modernized label designs (as in the case of many Fresh Sound vinyl reissues). Here is one that OUGHT TO bother me, though: Well, it doesn't really bother me because the record came my way dirt cheap as part of a stack of Basie LPs at a local record fair a long time ago. Yet it's a puzzling combination: Thick laminated U.S. fold-out cover that says "A product of ABC-Paramount Records Inc." in the small print on the back yet the record label gives a copyright date of 1980 and says "Mfd. by MCA Records Inc". etc. Did they ever use up leftover Impulse/ABC Paramount covers for those MCA pressing runs?? To me this looks more like somebody at some point in the past replaced the shot original record with a new, more recent pressing, disregarding any authenticity criteria. OTOH it is amazing that the cover is NM - so is it likely the record would have fared that much worse? Who knows ... maybe somebody stepped on it ....

It's like a George Washington letter with Warren G. Harding's autograph across it. Nice comparison, Ptah! As for the predictable Wynton bashing that's been mentioned above, before opening the link inserted by Brownie I read the subsequent comments, wondering what W.M. may have signed. Maybe books not even written, contributed or promoted by him? Understandable reactions, then. But 78s NOT EVEN REMOTELY related to whatever he recorded himself or had a hand in producing?? (He hadn't even been imagined by his ancestors at the time of release of those records anyway ...) Totally mindboggling indeed, and in the light of this I find the above comments very, very moderate in tone and not in a "bashing" mood at all. So I agree with Kevin B all the way. Says a lot about the state of mind of those involved in these items up for auction to even have DREAMT of seeing ANY sense in signing them this way!

So this label indicates Capitol pressings from a certain time frame, not regional differences, right? Can't recall having seen many rock/pop Capitols with that label (the then current rock music that I came across somehow never was on Capitol, it seems) but I'll always associate this label with THAT Capitol Jazz Classics series: Almost all the volumes from that series that I have are Dutch pressings so I associated this with DUTCH Capitols, especially since the only U.S. pressing that I have (see below) has that Capitol logo in various places on the cover but a totally different label (with a production date of 1972). So what's up with that? Was that green-purple label used longer outside the U.S.? (I doubt all the Dutch pressings I have date back to the very early 70s or even beyond)

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/artist/Lillian+%22Lil%22+Green/a/albums.htm Or for those who are primarily into vinyl, the album shown here is a good starter: http://www.wirz.de/music/grlilfrm.htm

So this would amount to what at other times music scribes have described as "journeyman musicians"?

I can't seem to find my Art Pepper two-fer now but I think it consists of the same material as two Blue Note Art Pepper CDs: 1) THE RETURN OF ART PEPPER: The Complete Art Pepper Aladdin Recordings, Vol. 1 2) MODERN ART: The Complete Art Pepper Aladdin Recordings, Vol. 2 They are not Blue Note recordings, per se, but apparently Blue Note acquired the licensing rights. There is a Blue Note LP, OMEGA ALPHA, LT-1064, which has some additional Pepper Aladdin recordings not on the CDs. See my reply above (post #19) which gives the reply in a nutshell. Blue Note never acquired any licensing rights, it's just that Blue Note and Aladdin ended up under the same company roof so whoever did the reissues had access to multiple labels' material.

Actually I was thinking about posting about these UK Vogue doubles yesterday. They did catch my fancy early on (as they were priced VERY affordably) when I had the occasion of shopping for jazz LPs during stays in London while still in school in 1975-77. Not all of those "Vogue Jazz Doubles" were double LPs, reqally. Aside the from Clifford Brown 3-LP set (still a favorite of mine today) I remember buying 2 LPs by Django Reinhardt in the form of 2 separate LPs held together by a sort of "Obi strip" proclaiming "Vogue Jazz Double". The Gene Norman Just Jazz Concerts 3-LP "box" set was nother one not strictly a "twofer" (or "threefer"). But music that (for a long time) was rare and inaccessible. As for the double LPs, the Basie Roulette reissues were a very convenient way of obtaining this music while it was OOP almost everywhere else. The "Bebop Keyboard Masters" twofer also is a nice one, and sensibly programmed. I have mixed feelings about the "West Coast Scene" series, however (there indeed were three of them). Vol 1 reissued LPs credited to Marty Paich and Jimmy Giuffre issued originally on GNP (the programming of which which makes sense), but Vol. 3 IDIOTICALLY enough included ONE side each from four LPs by Med Flory, Lou Levy and Herb Geller for the Jubilee label, i.e. ONE HALF of each of these LPs only!). I had bought the set (secondhand) as this was better than nothing but soon found out the others were around (thank you, Fresh Sound!) but of course it did take some time to convince myself to buy the full LPs for "half" the music. (BTW, anybody dead keen on wanting Vol. 3 ? It still occupies my garage sale LP box ). So all in all, those Vogue Jazz Doubles were nice IMO but the programming sometimes was a bit helter-skelter. "Stitt for Starters" (1952-55 Roost sessions), for example, is a good introduction (as the title implies) but another nightmare for those who want the music in a complete run on VINYL.