Big Beat Steve

Uh oh ... now I see which RCA series the LP mentioned by Chewy comes from - if THIS is what the LPT series was (The "treasury of immortal performances" blurb rang a bell but I admit I did not bother to check at home). I have a Bunny Berigan LP from that series. Picked it up very cheaply at one time just for its "50s pressing" status but it did look like a slapdash affair to me, not many tracks (not more than 10), and the track programming looked like this series was just aimed at casual listeners who'd like to revisit the swing era (only some 20 years past at the time these LPs were issued) without getting too deeply involved.

Just to get this straight, Chewy: I am no expert on RCA reissue policies, I just tried to sum up some general observations from what I've come across in the way of older LPs and from what I've seen in older record catalogs. What I meant to say was that in the 50s and 60s truly coherent and comprehensive reissue programs of older jazz (swing era and before) were MUCH, MUCH rarer (if not to say inexistent) compared to what happened from the 70s onwards. The collectors who did not have access to the 78s had to make do with whatever they were able to get, and since a lot had been out of print since the days of 78 rpms they of course were glad to get their hands on, say, a 16-track LP compilation or a couple of 4-track EPs by their favorite swing-era artist. Then maybe another LP by the same orchestra or artist came along somewhat later in a different "reissue series" (in the case of RCA, for example, Victor may have run one scheme, Camden may have run another) and of course there were bound to be duplications and overlaps. Actually reviewers in jazz mags used to complain about this a fair bit, their key quibble being that while a new reissue LP was quite welcome it was a pity that the same core of tracks tended to get re-reissued ever so often whereas other (not any lesser) tracks tended to get overlooked constantly. A familiar complaint ... Of course there were exceptions. The owners of the Decca catalog used to run quite thoughtfully programmed LP reissues in the 60s on their (black and gold) European Brunswick label, for example, in the mid-60s. And 2-LP sets DID exist right from the 50s but they were indeed much less common than from the late 60s/early 70s.

Not all hope is lost for worldwide collectors if you prefer to get that music on vinyl. Those Lionel Hampton sessions were reissued on two 3-LP sets ("Historical Recording Sessions") on FRENCH RCA as late as the mid-80s (Vol. 1 is RCA PM 42393, Vol. 2 is RCA PM 42417). I bought these sets new in 1986 or 87 and they should turn up in secondhand bins or the usual internet sources every now and then, at least in Europe. Haven't seen a copy for a while (and did not pay attention as I have - and treasure - mine) but when they come up they should be rather affordable - far below any Mosaic (even secondhand) rates.

Not weird at all, just another example of the helter-skelter unorganized piecemeal reissue policy of the majors in the late 50s and 60s. Throw a platter with 10 or 12 or 14 or 16 tracks on the market just like that, without regard to previously and/or concurrently issued tracks, and still the collector will probably have been happy. After all back then many issues were marketed on domestic markets only; U.S. or U.K. or Continental European issues did not nearly as often find their way onto other markets as they do today so a lot of duplication/triplication/quadruplication of reissued titles occurred (even with releases issued within a couple of years on one and the same market). Of course international exchanges did not exist ot the extent they exist today either. Enjoy the music but if you want to have the music in a more cohesive/comprehensive fashion then you will eventually end up with having all the tracks on other reissues too (even if you limit yourself to older vinyl only).

So it seems I have an unheralded classic among my 78s? Will have to spin this one again ... But what's the story with Dodo on this one? Are the label credits a spoof? Penthouse Serenade says the backing is by the Frank Davenport trio (with Davenport on celeste), and Snowbound (which mentions Lucky Thonspon on the label) says it's one "G. Style" on piano. A pseudonym for Dodo?

Saw him live at a festival in the U.K. in the late 90s, and what a show! I am glad I queued up afterwards to get his signature on the covers of a couple of 50s Capitol albums I had brought along. R.I.P. As for his roots and what JSngry said about his playing, check out a sample of this on the Little Jimmy Scott CD (Specialty SPCD 2170-2) which has Sam Butera as a special guest with the Paul Gayten band on two lengthy tracks recorded at a live jam session in 1951. He sure cooks up some heat on "Dueling Tenors".

Actually that LP is spinning on my turntable right now. To give you another impression in a listener's (not critic's words, "Yardbird Suite" obviously is a tune linked with one particular artist and HIS treatment(s) but here where the treatment by necessity (with THAT instrumentation) has to be different it all sounds "just right" and not forced at all and you are not led into making comparisons with the '"master" version (at least I am not). Of course Phil Woods is key factor in it too.

I have an original of that LP and like it VERY, VERY much. And this despite the fact that I am not a fan of flute jazz at all. I often find it - well, Im going to be rude here now - rather "effeminate", especially when played by those who "double" on flute (their main instrument being one of the saxes). Offhand I wouldn't be able to dissect Eddie Costa's playing (that said, I am somewhat of an Eddie Costa fan too) on this record (would need to give it another spin) but IMHO on this one the interplay of the entire group really is fine throughout and everything falls into place nicely. As for your final remark about Eddie Costa's piano and vibes style, I agree - his percussive approach really hints in that direction.

I know ... but I guess I did not put in enough smilies to make that clear. My answer was not so much directed at you but at those who still sneer at the sax "noises" made by the R&B honkers and shouters (because they feel it's much too lowly for their appreciation) but enthuse in their self-cultivated wisdom about the "sublimity" of the noises of a certain type of "free" jazz ;) Noise vs noise if you want ... Anyway, as for the TV show, no idea if the clip does not provide any details, but if you look at the R'n'R movies of about 1955-56 where a lot of black backing bands composed of R&Bers and jazzers (cf. the Alan Freed movies) are present, there still must have been a market for that in the mid-50s. Maybe among white listeners/watches who'd only just then caught up to it whereas the heyday among the black audience had been a bit earlier in the 50s? That Willis Jackson clip would not have been totally out of place in those movies.

Normal. Totally normal. This was still his R&B period, or at least he quickly revived it once more for that TV appearance. Just as great in its own right as everything else. BTW, if this is "exhibitionistic", then what are certain "free" saxophone noises of a a decade or two later? Cacophony? Or is it fine to wisely nod your head in inner amazement at how a "free" player "reveals the utter torture of his self" or "shrieks out the pains of this world" (or whatever other wise judgments there may be) whereas it is strictly a NO-NO if the energy outbursts of the honkers appeal straight to your inner guts for sheer exuberance, joy and excitement? :D

A bit like the collection of one Robert Nieus of Namur (Belgium) that found its way here through a wholesale jazz store purchase by a local secondhand shop a couple of years ago. As quite a lot of them ended up in the Special Offers bin they now are in the hands of several collectors around here (including mine ) plus probably a lot more casual buyers. Not that he stamped them as brutally as this Mr Gordon but he used an glued-on sticker with his name and address stamped on PLUS another sticker with a (file) number on them that are quite impossible to remove (the stickers, that is), at least not without leaving traces. Though I can sympathize with the idea of marking one's records; ever since starting buying vinyl in the mid-70s I've marked my LPs with my name at the upper edge of the back cover, probably spurred by the fact that I'd often witnessed my schoolmates' LPs borrowed by somebody else somehow never made it back to their actual owners (not me ). So I wanted to make sure that if that fate ever befell one of my LPs at least the ball pen indents would still be indelible even after the culprit had tried to erase my name. And somehow the habit has stuck ... No doubt this might reduce the value of my collection when my heirs dispose of it one day but what the h.... ? At least I've refrained from doing it the way it seems to have been a habit with U.S. owners, in particular (judging from the number of LPs like that I've come across through the years), i.e. the owners scribbling their names with a FAT felt tip pen right into the LINER NOTES on the back!

Like Jaki BYE-ARD and similar to Don BYE-AS.

I wouldn't even DARE to imagine how this came out if pronounced by an English-speaking person of NON-Scandinavian descent. As far as I can see a passably correct pronounciation would be pretty hard or even impossible to transcribe in "writing" anyhow.

You just beat me to it .. And here is the photo I mentioned above: http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=j...c0d86fbef5c408e

I agree about O'Neill Spencer but don't think that second trumpeter seated next to Hot Lips Page is Frankie Newton. He does not look like Frankie at all in the first picture. BTW, sometime late last year somebody posted a link to the online LIFE photo archives where this and other pics from this session (and a LOT more) are accessible. Anybody have a link to that site on hand? I do not have it bookmarked here. This site might prove useful as it includes other pics from that session, including one where "the man between Lester Young and Jo Jones" can be seen quite clearly between Pops Foster, Prez and Buster Bailey (cl) - proving that Buster Bailey was present at that session too, though not in the above picture.

How come nobody has mentioned Oscar Peterson yet?

I bought the French-language edition edited and printed in Switzerland (for circulation over a good deal of Europe, it seems) for a fairly reasonable price on a Swedish (of all places...) jazz online site in the early 2000s. A very nice book indeed. More copies of it circulate here at various online antique booksellers but at quite a handsome price. Seems like everybody is fairly aware of the collectors' value of this book these days ... Even a copy I saw at one of the "bouquiniste" streetside antique book stalls at the "Rive gauche" in Paris not long after buying my copy had a price tag that was higher than what I had previously paid from a professional online seller!

Will have to check tonight: Horst Jankowski did a version of "Cute" on his c.1961 LP "Gäste bei Horst Jankowski" (on Metronome) that was used as the signature tune for a regular jazz radio broadcast on the German SDR (Süddeutscher Rundfunk) radio station for a VERY long time and therefore is bound to be fairly familiar to a certain generation (or generations) of radio listeners. As I haven't listened to this LP for a while I don't remember, though, if a bass solo features prominently in that version. Will report back later. Edit: Just saw the original post is eons old. Let us know, King Ubu, if your friend has found the version he is looking for.

In this second picture the second trumpeter behind Hot Lips Page somehow looks like Charlie Shavers but I'm not so sure when I look at the other picture. My fault I missed that alto sax cue for Leo Parker. :blush2: I ought to have known that if I had thought of those 1944 sessions with Coleman Hawkins.

Thought so too but that horn looks like an alto. Is he known to have played the alto frequently in his earlier days?

The older bespectacled man on the extreme left is Pops Foster. I've often wondered about the identity of the other horn men and onlookers as well. Must have been a gas hearing them all on site! LIFE has quite a few more shots from that session. They might help for idientification. 2 or 3 of them look decidedly familiar but I just cannot pinpoint the names. Anyway, the trumpeter up front at the left looks more like Lips Page to me.

Referring to John S and Bill F's posts, could this be summarized a bit like the situation in other European countries (I can speak for Germany, France and Sweden where I do have quite a bit of period jazz mags which cover this subject too - e.g. in their review sections)? I.e. if there was a licensed issue pressed and released locally by a company for domestic distribution there was no direct import of the U.S. pressing (apart from copies that may have been imported privately - a costly enterprise - or brought over by U.S. servicemen, for example).

Yes the UK covers (and French ones, for that matter) were much thinner than U.S. covers. But on the other hand while U.K. covers tend to show ring wear rather fast they show it in the form of the CONTOURS of the LP only whereas ring wear on U.S. covers makes the printer's ink go away faster than you can say "Oo-bla-dee". And the technique of pasting two fairly sturdy cardboard sheets together with only a thin strip of paper along the edges to turn those two cardboards into a real album cover is something that has never looked too clever to me. Those thin paper strips practically BEG for seam splits! IMHO U.K. and other European covers shave fared a bit better in that respect too, including all those U.K. Vogue 12in LP 50s pressings of U.S. Contemporary LPs that I own.

Amazing that this sort of 80s reissue should set one back 4 quid in a thrift shop of all places. I bought my copy (slightly worn cover but pristine and therefore quite playable vinyl) for 2 quid at Mole Jazz (OK, so this was in the late 90s but still ...). And though the Behtlehem originals that this music was on tend to be pricy, these Affinity LPs aren't THAT rare at any rate so you should be able to get another one in better shape.

"Punk" before its time sounds a bit like it, from what I've seen in more recent rebroadcasts of the 60s b/w Beat Club shows (HR3 ran some a while ago). Maybe really too far ahead of their time, considering that U.S. garage punk bands of the 60s went largely unnoticed - especially in Europe - between the last vestiges of rock'n'roll, Brill Building pop, Motown, 60s Brit Beat and the rock acts starting up c.1968. Lack of accomplishment, on the other hand, is something that might be said of other bands of those 60s. But sometimes raw energy, spontaneity and immediacy make up for all that. And as for "LPs that didn't sell", isn't is exactly those items that are sure to fetch TOP money among collectors of the genre and give cult status to the artists (not least of all in jazz collector circles too? )