Big Beat Steve

True - I've been using that solution too. Works well and shifts quite a bit of muck if the discoloration of the pad is anything to go by.

You are bound to get yourself right in the line of fire of a LOT of swing fans but IMO you are sooooo right. I have always found that clobbering on the bass drum for the basic rhythm very annoying (but probably listeners had different ears 70 years ago, at least white listeners not exposed to Jo Jones ). I think you've got a good point about Allen Reuss but the interplay of the various sections should not be overlooked either (remember the sections are for a lot of what makes the bands swing EASILY - as opposed to bands like Glenn Miller's that, while technically perfect, were and are perceived as rather mechanical by many).

Neither have I. As I am listening to my 80s reissue LP of this record on French RCA with its somewhat nondescript cover (though there have been lots worse) I'm really wondering why these companies could not have used the original artwork for their reissues to add a little respect for the original production (like the Japanese have beein doing for such a long time).

It must be really (really really really really) old then! 4 Aug. 1955! THAT old??? My, my!

I wouldn't want to argue with that either. But unfortunately it's happening everywhere. I know of lots of other long-established small enterprises that secured the income of their owners in other trades but that had to give way due to all sorts of real estate redevelopment plans. Or ask Sidewinder about the change of the Docklands in London, etc. etc. Maybe we did get sidetracked because it was easy to boil this down to another variant of the story of the death of the "brick and mortar stores". However, I really feel there are two sides of the coin. If I correctly understood the gist of what Chris said above, some changes in Harlem are certainly for the better. Now how can you improve things substantially (and improvements of this sort invariably cost money) without allowing money to overrule EVERYTHING? Not an easy one to answer once you have reached a certain level of business interests at stake.

No, Sidewinder, Honest Jons is at the upper end of Portobello Road and has been there for a very long time AFAIK. The Compendium Bookshop was more or less opposite the Camden Lock on Camden High Street (quite a bit away from Portobello Road). Always a great selection of both music books and mags. As for the possibilities of the internet vs. whatever brick and mortar collector stores could ever have offered in the way of long-OOP items, you are right that even "way back when" the really desirable items would have been reserved for a certain "in crowd" (befriend the owner/clerk to get a chance to at least get a look at those goodies ). In retrospect, this was one all too common trait of those shops that meant they ultimately dug their own grave. Who would have gone back there once he discovered other international sources via the internet where he might just chance upon somebody clearing out his/her granddad's attic via an internet auction? But it's not only a matter of vinyl but also of all sorts of printed matter connected with our hobby. Would I ever have been able to get all those books/mags after having visited ANY number of fleamarkets, garage sales, specialist shops, collector's fairs (most of them outside the country where those items were originally sold anway)? And at an overall better price? No way!

The writing must have been on the wall for a long time for those "authentic" neighborhood stores, especially those that cater to a niche market in culture. When I noticed (to my great disappointment) in the fall of the year 2000 that the Compendium Book Shop (where I had done a lot of my music book buying for years whenever I was in London) in the Camden Town district of London had closed down for good (with a very bitter sounding notice to the former clientele, blaming it on real estate developers etc., still displayed in the bare shop windows) I realized a page had been turned for good. On the other hand in that same year I had just signed with eBay and the years that followed showed that internet opened up a whole wide world of buying opportunities that no array of brick and mortar stores catering to the "collectors" segment could ever have supplied. Within a scant few years I managed to complete gaps in my collection by buying items many of which I had never ever been able to see for sale anywhere (despite mail order and visiting specialist shops and fairs wherever I went) for almost 20 years before. Not to mention geographical boundaries. One rare book I had been searching on the web for many months finally came my way from an eBay seller from South Dakota! Not likely even the keenest overseas collector would pick that area as his favorite hunting grounds during a U.S. visit ... So the internet that contributes to the demise of those specialist shops is a mixed blessing but on the bottom line it is a tradeoff of the new vs the old where not all of it is really bad. What I do regret, however, is the colorful neighborhood atmosphere that goes out the window at the same time. But often we are only to blame ourselves. The prices in those small shops are often higher than those in the huge retail outlets so the consumers' urge to save as much as they can on standard items is another step towards the demise of those small shops because they just cannot survive on the special items (that only they carry and that are the main impetus for visiting these shops).

Your loss ...

It definitely did not. I have a few of these Cool'n'Blue CD's, and the booklet to the Teddy Edwards CD which has a release date of 1994 lists the Serge Chaloff CD among the previous releases in that series (actually one of the earliest), so the date of 1992 given by Swingin' Swede could well be correct. The 2005 date therefore might be a repressing date. BTW, the entire Savoy "Pumpernickel" session (with alt. takes) is on the well-known "Brothers and Other Mothers" 2-LP set which I trust cannot be THAT rare in secondhand circles.

I just wonder where the "plays Alto(s)" etc. stuff has been taken from. This WAS reissued before, e.g. by U.S. MCA Impulse (MCA-29069) in the 80s. (And there must have been other reissues) Lots of possibilities of doing a needle drop even without having to dig out an original.

By all means get the "Boston 1950" set on Uptown (if you haven't done so already). As for the three CD's you're listing, aren't they for complete novices only? Hey, all of those tracks have been all over the place in countless other compilations so should be present in relatively advanced collections of serious collectors anyhow. Maybe you might want to check your collection to see how many duplicates you might be running up with these. The three final tracks on the Cool'n'Blue CD must be from the "Stars of Modern Jazz" concert at Carnegie Hall, Christmas 1949. The line-up includes Miles Davis, Sonny Stitt, Benny Green and Curley Russell (all names are indicated on the cover you scanned). The entire concert has been out on IAJRC 20 (LP) (and certainly elsewhere), so again nothing exclusive here. (P.S. Ha, Swingin' Swede beat me to the Xmas info while I was typing mine from the LP cover )

Merci, Michel!

Thanks for clarifying this, Jazztrain. The Japanese Prestige book I quoted from states in conjunction with these three twofers: "Original Jerry Valburn recording". (Hence my statement above) Evidently the book' authors are in error, considering what the liner notes say, and more than just slightly misleading.

@Chris Albertson: I got the name of Jerry Valburn from "The Prestige Book (Discography of all series), Jazz Critique Special Edition 1996" published in Japan. On page 294 (listing of the Prestige twofers) the name Jerry Valburn is mentioned as the source in connection with the twofers 24073, 24074 and 24075 that contain the Carnegie Hall concert recordings which (according to Bruyninckx) were first issued on those twofers at all. Now if the Japanese slipped on this one and the name of Jerry Valburn is incorrect in connection with these recordings, then I do stand corrected, but it's the Japanese who are to blame. @MG: Your reference to michel Ruppli is quite correct, of course. I know leased or reissued recordings not originally done for the respective label are listed separately by Ruppli (and I was thinking of his discographies as a model, of course), hence my surprise that any Ellington entries should appear anywhere in a manner that would make it even possible that they were the earliest recordings done for Prestige (as Chewy's post suggests).

In case you're referring to Prestige 7645 containing Ellington recordings of 1933, these were originally released on Columbia. In 1933 the Prestige label was a VERY long way away. And in case you're referring to the 1944/46/47 Carnegie Hall concerts issued in the 24000 twofer series, these were originally recorded by Jerry Valburn (when Prestige did not exist yet either) but not released on Prestige (or anywhere else) before these twofers came along. And when did these come along? In the 70s - at a time Prestige had been around for more than 20 years. Whoever presented a label discography in such a manner that recording dates could be understood to give the impression the dates indicate the first recordings FOR RELEASE ON THE LABEL (without regard to recordings leased from other companies or simply being reissued) sure made a fine mess of it. And where does Fletcher Henderson come into all this? (Except that he also is on Prestige 7645) Now this sure is some weird post... :D

Nah, that's Jimmy Wright from L.A., a WHITE drummer who had a scorching R&B band (his Rhythm Makers, the bandleader's name was also spelled Jimmy WRIEGHT on some releases) that tore up the West Coast from '53 to '56. Porkey Harris who received featured billing on some of the tunes was his guitarist. Regular saxists were Art Reed and Russ Young. But Chuck Higgins also recorded with him. Check out his "Let's Go Crazy Crazy Baby" LP on Saxophonograph BM-1301!

AMEN TO THAT! Elder Don Clementine speaketh righteous words!! :tup

Down Beat reviewed this album like this in 1957: An interesting excursion into the long-line theme development of Brock. His playing is functional and rhythmic, although somewhat florid on ballads such as Willow. Among his most effective devices is the repetition of a riff-like figure, as on Etude, which adds to his drive. On Four Brothers, he captures the feel of four separate entities united rhythmically. Blues, despite the title, is melodic and moving. Caperton and Hanson** back admirably, with Caperton particularly good in solo spots. Overall rating: 3 1/2 stars **Brooks Caperton, bass, and Rick Hanson, drums BTW, there is no need for the second apostrophe (Top's) on the cover at all. In this play on words Savoy simply meant to say he was "tops".

My reply was more aimed at Chewy's reaction that I understood to mean that if Blue Note artists and recordings had crept up on labels like Crown the curiosity value alone would have made them immensely desirable. You know how it is ... great music cropping up on obscure labels, and collectors moaning today "If only he had been given decent recording and pressing facilities... what could he have achieved ... etc. etc."

No so sure. Is Jackie McLean's one shot on an R&B-oriented label (Jubilee - his "Fat Jazz" LP) more than a date that is considered "O.K., good but not overly sensational" by jazz collectors? I cannot see that this relative "obscurity" of a "famed Blue Note artist" gives it extra collector value. Anyway, I agree with your post, MG. The Biharis had found their niche and no doubt their Kent releases and United reissues (which got me hooked onto Modern/RPM R&B in the late 70s too) allowed the label to carry on for a relatively long time.

Good heavens, don't touch on that! Thank goodness the Modern masters were bought by a collector label that knew what they were doing and had the diehard collectors in mind and not by some big company white-collar exec dimwits who'd reissue the big "name artist" sellers over and over again but let the rest gather dust in the basement. I'd dread the thought of seeing the umpteenth B.B. King reissue of his Modern masters but missing all those rarities, especially in the R&B and Jump Blues field. The sad part of it is, though, that as those records are largely in the public domain now it is inevitable that even a collector label like Ace will be ripped off by P.D. labels (even labels touted on this very site as such great achievements and benefits to the collectors) hopping on the bandwagon and cashing in on previously compiled stuff. Hope this won't slow down Ace's activities too much.

Like I said: ACE Records rule! Though this Downhome stuff rather atypical of the Modern label releases.

Yes - the MODERN/RRM label issued a lot of important and timeless R&B music (and some other styles such as jazz and even some Country as well) and are a key label of the 50s but if you want to discuss the label beyond the music you will soon find the Biharis were about as liked and appreciated as Herman Lubinsky of Savoy. In short, I am sure many, many artists felt very much exploited by them - down to the way they usurped writer's credits on most of the original material the R&B artists wrote. All the Josea, Taub and Ling names you find in songwriters credits are cover-ups for the Bihari brothers and the share of royalties they took for themselves. To collectors the label must be a nightmare, especially the CROWN reissues. Just have a look at the way they rehashed previously issued music on their budget LP's, slapping new fake titles to the tracks and thus confusing record collectors forever. Or not even giving proper credits at all, as on those Jazz compilations (e.g. "Jazz Surprise"). I think the only serious source for the timeless music are the reissues that the ACE label from the UK has been doing for a very, very long time. I think they bought the rights to all the masters outright so for once some sensible reissue programming from the Modern/RPM vaults is occurring there (right down to excellent liner notes).

Too bad ... another great one from the Golden era of jazz gone. R.I.P.

A FULL tracklist somewhere? These group credits sound very familiar.