Big Beat Steve

I don't understand how that can be; have I been confused all these years in my belief that, all things being equal, the faster the better, like in tape? Or is it just a case of all things not being equal? I don't know; I just summarized what those who promoted that speed said in contemporary media. I have my doubts too.

Ray's Jazz Shop in London (which happened to have some in stock at the time I passed by there in the late 90s) described the items in this section of their record bins as "Rare As Rocking Horse Manure!"and the discs were priced accordingly. Snapped up one of them (the one feat. George Wallington) on eBay a couple of years ago at a decent price but otherwise those I've seen and watched there usually went for 100+ $. Too much for my wallet. Fidelity of those 16rpms was said to have been better than on the corresponding 33rpm LPs but I cannot really judge. Those of my record players that will still play 16 rpm aren't the highest of fi.

For jazz fans, apart from about 5 Prestige 16 rpms (each of them combining 2 LP's worth of material) in the late 50s there were two French Vogues with Sidney Bechet recordings at the same time but that was about it AFAIK. In addition to spoken word recordings (religious, etc.) at 16 rpm, there also seem to have been a good many kids' records at that speed (if internet auctions are anything to go by ).

Harold, please be more specific: What's the name of this album??? Thanks. Nice Work is the latest incarnation I'm aware of. As Chuck alluded to earlier - the Vanguard issues divide the sessions up in maddening ways, but in this case it has all the tracks by this band other than one - which appears on another reissue in this series - I believe a Ruby Braff. Amazing Vic Dickenson's Vanguards are given such endorsement all of a sudden (not that he wouldn't deserve it....). But if I think of how it took me YEARS and YEARS to at long last manage to sell my duplicate copy of that 70s Vanguard/Vogue (U.K.) 2-LP reissue of his 50s Vanguards 10in LPs (had inadvertently bought it twice - different pressings with different covers) then this makes me wonder ... Back to topic - I liked all I've heard of Ruby Braff too, but any comments on that late 50s Ruby Braff LP for EPIC with that funny B/W cover showing that Granny clapping enthusiastically to Ruby's horn blowing (forget the exact title - I think it's "BRAFF!" only anyway)?

Sure he's goin' strong. Saw him twice in the past 10-12 years over here in Germany and he was great each time! His records of the 90s/2000s (those I've heard anyway) sometimes are a bit funked up in the backing (signs of the times... those young dudes in the backup bands just dont know how to cut some greeezy down-to-earth R&B anymore ) but Big Jay hisse'f still cuts it every time. BIG JAY IS DA MAN! As for Big Jay at Birdland ... you got me doubtin' there. Will have to check his bio (Nervous Man Nervous) and the LP liner notes tonight ...

As this issue had been discussed in another thread I had made a mental note to get this one and last Saturday finally managed to get a copy at a major newsagent at our central station. Agree all the way with John L (though I've only worked my way to the middle of the Goodman article so far and have only had a brief glance at the rest so far). This issue will find a welcome niche next to the 20th and 38th DB Anniversary issues as well as the the early DB yearbooks on my bookshelf.

Stonewall, that was not even THAT uncommon, at least not in Europe. Philips made a car turntable (45 rpm) called AUTO-MIGNON as a spinoff of their "MIGNON" 45rpm players (that were marketed as a battery-operated carry-along for beach parties etc.). In both cases you slid the record into a slot (much in the same way you do with cassettes/cartridges) and the record would play. This was widely available as an accessory for any marque of cars for quite a few years in teh 50s/early 60s. Nice gadget but HEAVY (literally) on groove wear of the records, probably even worse than jukeboxes. And yet these things have been fetching big money among car (and car audio) collectors.

One sales gimmick that does not seem to have been mentioned here yet and that I remember from the mid- to late70s when Quadrophony seemed to be all the rage was another highest-of-fi attribute (promoted at about the time Quadrophony was tha latest rage) called "Kunstkopf" (Dummy Head) here. From a recording angle it may have been viable but somehow those sales blurbs of this being the ULTIMATE in stereophony (making "ordinary" stereo records appear extremely old hat next to this "Dummy Head" thing and Quadropphony) appeared a bit strange to me, especially as the LPs that you could buy to take in this sound experience were VERY few. And who'd want to HAVE to listen to his music with HEADPHONES all the time anyway?

According to some sources it transpired later that it wasn't Dizzy after all who had thrown the spitball but rather JONAH JONES!

If you want an excellent introduction to West Coast jazz then I can recommend a couple of books that are well worth getting: Ted Gioia - West Coast Jazz, & Robert Gordon - Jazz West Coast (Catchy titles, eh!) They whetted my appetite, but a word of warning - following the album recommendations will seriously damage your finances Good suggestions (of course ...), and you're right about the hole in your pocketbook too... :D And for those who happen to understand French, the book "West Coast Jazz" by Alain Tercinet (Ed. Parentheses ,1988) is good'un with PLENTY of evaluations and recommendations too. A few recommendations that might otherwise tend to get overlooked too: Marty Paich on Mode, Bethlehem and Tampa Bob Gordon - Meet Mr Gordon Jack Sheldon's records on PJ V.A. "Modern Jazz Gallery" (Kapp) "The Complete Nocturne Recordings Vol. 1" box set (Fresh Sound - and NO grey, shady boot here! Fully endorsed and supported all the way by Harry Babasin himself!!) And have Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars been mentioned yet?

That's the date of the Dizzy band concert at Salle Pleyel in Paris. Issued on Vogue and on Swing and lots of (re-)issues - but Hank Mobley???? According to Walter Bruyninckx' discpgraphy, "Embraceable You" was (re-)issued on relatively few discs so is not included in all the reissues of that concert. But the saxophonist is listed as being Bill Graham each time.

"Callin' The Blues" is very nice but I am not familiar with all of Tiny Grimes' late 50s/early 60s "Mainstream" records so I cannot say how it rates compared to his other recordings from that period. Beyond that, it all depends how you like your small-group guitar swing. Tiny Grimes' career has several distinct periods. His 1944 small group sessions (often reissued due to the presence of Bird on some them) are definitely worth listening not only for Bird, and those who dismiss those tunes (including Tiny's singing) as "flash-in-the-pan" ditties (if it weren't for the presence of Bird) are rather high-brow snobs! And he did not do badly at all at those mid-40s Art Tatum Trio sessions either. And for those who like their small groups with a fair more bit of grits and steam, his recordings from 1947 for Atlantic, Gotham, etc. (fittingly often billed as "Tiny Grimes & His Rocking Highlanders") are all-plugs-pulled R&B with tight interplay between his well-amplified guitar and the tenor sax and pure energy that clearly show that rock'n'roll as "invented" by the Whites (???) in 1954 must have been old hat to the ears of quite a few. Even his slows have a very intense atmospheric after-hours quality. And those groups gave John Hardee, Red Prysock and Benny Golson some early exposure. And then there was his late 50s "Mainstream" period (see above), and all three have their merits in their own right IMHO.

And how often before? Seems like Prestige runs a very close second to BN in the number of times the same stuff has been rehashed in (allegedly) different packaging and mastering that might actually (lo and behold!) be FRACTIONALLY different ("better" or not seems to be a matter of taste and ears anyway ).

Thanks, but the part that I thought was racist was what he said about the background singers, not the concept of "race records." Even that part should not be considered too racist. Because if you use that yardstick there'd be nothing but discriminatory statements in the music biz whenever a new musical style or trend comes along. Take a look at how "rural" vocal styles were enforced for "rural" audiences and some singers were considered not "rural enough" or, in more recent times, take a guess at how punk rock singinig would sound to ears tuned to, say, the Carpenters, or other middle of the rod pop (or pap? ) This could go on and on, so take it as a historical statement (and fact), see it in the context of the times and leave it at that. No excuses needed IMHO.

Interesting story indeed, TTK. However, since all this is HISTORY, there is no ned to duck away and feel uneasy when certain terms come up. As others have pointed out, "Race Music" was "THE" standard term from the 20s to the late 40s for what became to be known as "black music" (i.e. originally "R&B"). "Race" definitely did not have the negative connotations that are attributed to that term to day, and it was not intended to be pejorative. Remember the general term "the race" was even used by African-Americans to denote THEIR "race" and their successes, as borne out by numerous press statemens in the BLACK (and probably black-owned) press of the day, e.g. in "black" music trade papers which here and there refer to this or that accomplishment by black artists as being "a tribute to the achievements of the race" (my italics but the way the term was rused obviously indicates they used this term not in a pejorative sense). About having "white singers in the group otherwise no one will understand what they're saying": A common statement at the time (apparently - at least to white ears - there can't have been enough Bon Bons around ); Bullet Records owner Jim Bulleit is reported as having been in utter amazement at the success of his singer Wynonie Harris because to him what Wynonie sang was totally uncomprehensible and "nothing but noise". Any why do you think Stan Freberg, in his early-50s spoof of "Sh-Boom", lets his protagnonist shout encouragements of "Mumble! Mumble!" to the studio singers because what they sing "gotta be unintellsheeble" (for the target audience anyway) :D Now for your questions: 1 - Can't have been Steve Sholes either. He was as white as they come too (and was he involved with the Bluebird branch?). But no doubt research (is there a written history of the RCA label) ought to bringt up the names of those major A&R men involved in reecord producing from the late 30s to the early 50s. I guess RCA will be among the better-documented labels. 2 and 3 - A label discography should help (RCA Bluebird MUST be documented in full), but from there it's anybody's guess. Session file sheets would be the next step to research. But given the wide scope of music recorded there, it might well be that some music that may have been fairly hot for a time back then but from today's collecting vantage point might not fit any categories (not jazzy enough, too pop-oriented for R&B or country music collectors, too black or too country-ish for pop collectors, etc.) and therefore might have been off the radar of reissuers. But a LOT has been reissued, though far from all, I guess. Anyway, the clues you have are very meagre, I am afraid, so I think researching the name(s) of African-American A&R men working for BB at that time would be the first step, and then the session files (they should list the A&R men names too) would be the next. Who knows, maybe you ARE lucky and the backing singers did NOT always go uncredited. Good luck!

Sounds like some scientific ivory tower inhabitants are concerned about their ivory tower being reduced to an easily accessible ivory condominium.

That's something I was wondering about too when I saw that pic; This will answer it: http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/record.php?record_id=4853 Evidently a collation of the Swingin' and Plays The Duke albums - so the Mercury cover shot of the Swingin album resembles (but is not identical to) the earlier Mercury B/W album cover.

Right on, Niko! At any rate, "Jutta" is NOT to be pronounced the way it unfortunately has been preserved for posterity in the grooves of the "Hickory House" LP on BN when Leonard Feather introduced her by mumbling something like "Choodah".

Like you can read above - forget them. They were released way after the vinyl twofers and really are a letdown because of their incompleteness, though you might be lured into thinking you get the real thing because they reproduce the LP cover artwork. Actually some of those 2-LP sets are among the VERY FEW LPs that I ever got myself a second (NM) copy of (when the occasion arose DIRT CHEAP in a secondhand record shop) because the original ones had been played so often that (though there still are no audible concerns) the scuffs get a bit more visible and the surface less glossy).

Having had a look at various IKEA shelving (I need to set up a new CD rack as THAT one is overflowing here but the ones IKEA used to handle have been discontinued) I'd go with the BILLY instead of the Expedit too. Those BILLY things commonly are the laughingstock of designer furniture-minded people but they are VERY sturdy and really look sort of timeless once they're full. I have several of them in use (not for LPs - these are on an even sturdier modular shelf system that unfortunately has VERY few distributors here), and most of them are loaded to the max with car mags, parts catalogs and workshop manuals so there's some weight there too - no flexing, no sweat, no worry. In fact, as my music room had reached the point of overflowing some time ago too I even had to fill an 80 cm wide shelf in one of those BILLY bookcases next door with 78rpms (!) - it's more or less crammed full now - and I don't feel uneasy about this either.

Ok, now I see clearer. In fact I DID take note of a news item that said recently that the last British WWI veteran had died at 111 (I think). But would I remember the name(s) after ahving read the news item? But to get back to your original post which might (for good reason) be looked at from a different angle: Run the gamut of the MUSICIAN obits on this forum and you will see that views and replies often quite clearly reflect the interests of the forum members, and some of them who've left the building get short shrift (underservedly) just because their main period of activity falls outside the era of jazz the majority around here seems to be able to relate to. Now what does THAT say about celebs and who in the jazz or pop/rock world would be seen as a celeb so everybody jumps at his obit thread? It would have been very interesting, for example, to see if the number of views and REPLIES, in particular, would have changed significantly if that recent obit thread here on one "Gordon Waller" (who, I hear some say??) would have included a statement to the effect of "one half of Peter & Gordon" in the title. :D Most music fans beyond 40 (or 50?) would probably remember Peter & Gordon but their REAL and full names? Until I viewed that thread I had not made that connection either.

Hope you got the 2-LP set. Savoy released a CD version of this in the early 90s (same cover artwork'n all), and its contents were truncated compared to the original LP with a couple of tracks missing.

Please set me wise, Bev (I did not look up that latter topic right now so I am really starting from "scratch"): Those latter two names do NOT ring a bell with me at all. Imagine me as being somebody very interested not only in U.S. but also European jazz but (as far as collecting in strictly "collector" sense of the word goes) with a major emphasis on the jazz styles, periods and musicians of the early 30s to the early 60s. What would I have missed under these aspects and what glaring non-knowledge would I have to admit to within my key period of historical interest if I did not know these names? I'll be glad to learn and add to my knowledge but could it be that those just were bound to be off my radar, given my key areas of interest? OTOH, whoever (even if not pop-minded at all) could have AVOIDED having heard about Michael Jackson on NUMEROUS occasions throughout the past 30+ years? So this explains that ...

As with all those radio big bands this demands qualification: Those bands (including the WDR one) CAN be great jazz-wise but they also get to play (and perfom in public) a lot of rather run-of-the-mill mass-appeal MOR "popular" stuff (except that non-jazz big band music today invariably isn't even "popular", except with a certain older and very sedate set, but rather a sort of slightly sophisticated elevator music :D). So don't go by the band name (that can be VERY misleading) but by the program they will actually perform.

Yeah, I had the same reaction with my 'Bitches Brew' (Ray Conniff, Mirielle Mathieau etc.) Ha, same reaction here too ... Must have bought quite a few CBS and Epic LPs in my early collecting days of the mid-70s, and I distinctly remember how it struck me as EXTREMELY odd how they mixed all sorts of music into one mishmash of sales blurb on those inner sleeves. Prog rock stuff - O.K, not my cup of tea in those early rockabilly, Merseybeat, swing and blues collecting days of mine, but I had seen and heard a handful of these at my friends' homes, but then you'd see Johnny Winter or those Bessie Smith reissue twofers (so far, so well) being promoted next to, say, Andy Williams (see above) or horrible pseudo Russian folk warbler Ivan Rebroff or German pop chirps Katja Ebstein or Mary Roos! Aw my gawd - pure shlock all the way and something you as a rock-minded teen wouldn not have touched with a HUNDRED-foot pole ever! To add insult to injury, imagine that kind of crap promo on an inner sleeve of a Link Wray album on Epic in the hands of a 16-year old with a somewhat eccentric (by mid-70s teen standards ) music taste ! :D Totally out of tune and out of style! What crap, I thought - if they can promote EVERYTHING as being the ULTIMATE then what is there that's actually worth listening? I've come across a few more of those sleeves in CBS jazz reissue albums bought secondhand in later years, and each time those mixed reactions from the 70s came floating back. Somehow those 50s and early 60s Capitol inner sleeves with album cover thumbnails from their catalog left a slightly more favorable impression ....