Big Beat Steve

Yes, I downloaded the discographical listings for several labels earlier this year and had no problem acessing other labels either. Checked again a couple of days ago and everything seemed fine. I hope they will stay accessible for a long time to come!

Beyond the Basie Orchestra, I'd been exposed to him early on on the "Pres and Sweets" LP on Verve. Nice enough by any yardstick. For "starters" (or to refresh memories), I'd suggest this as a taster: https://www.discogs.com/de/release/9854593-Harry-Edison-Seven-Classic-Albums (yes, this sort of compilation is understandably frowned upon in some circles, but to listen in before upgrading it's not the worst starting point.) I wouldn't really describe his style as "sweet", BTW - that term brings to mind lots of other trumpet men, starting with a sizable deal of the output of Harry James, for example (yes I know he could do differently too - particularly with his post-war big bands). And, re- the starting post, why would it be "generally true of the swing guys" that they did not produce "great albums"? Could it be that such statements maybe come from where the inclinations are above all towards "modern jazz" (hard bop and beyond)?

Thanks, everyone, for your input. Visibly a case of "to each his own" (quirk). I can see that it is nice to have the insert with the Japanese pressing, and whenever they were still present I of course kept these in the sleeves of mine (if only for reference to the lineup and recording date that often weren't specified explicitly on the original covers reproduced faithfully (warts and gaps and all) on the JPs. (And yes, the thumbnails of other LPs available are instructive and sometimes fun too.) But this, now ... ... isn't this a bit of over the top? Mythic art object? Aesthetic completeness? Though I realize tastes and approaches do differ. Yet to me they aren't really part of the cover artwork either. At least not on facsimile reissues (which is all I have in the way of Japanese pressings). After all they were never present on the US originals so accurately reproduced for reissue in Japan. In fact it is for this reason I at first found they actually detracted from the original artwork. But collectors ARE a strange breed. I remember on one occasion at our annual local record clearance sale day there cropped up a whole bunch of some visibly new (but slightly water-damaged) original late 50s copies of some (fairly unimportant) Mexican combo on the (U.S.) HIFI label. I did buy two copies of them (at 1 EUR each), though, because they all had their unopened original plastic inner sleeve with all the HIFI label imprint running round the entire cirumference - just to salvage these inner sleeves and put them inside the covers of the HIFIJAZZ LPs (Richie Kamuca a.o.) I have on my shelves. As a sort of final touch of orignality ...

Which reminds me of another question that probably has been dealt with here before, but still ... What's so special about these OBI strips and where's their interest enough to (apparently) often make its presence a make-or-break criterion in the sale of Japanese pressings? After all it's just a colored strip of wraparound paper with mostly "unitelligible foreign hieroglyphs" on it that adds ... well .. WHAT exactly to the enjoyment of either the music on the LP or the glossy, well-reproduced facsimile cover of the typical Japanese pressing? What do they do to REALLY enhance the LP itself? After all it is obvious to anyone from the fine print that we're in the presence of a Japanese pressing. 😕 When in place they detract from the enjoyment of the cover art IMO, and when put inside the sleeve so they are out of the way some will certainly groan and consider them devalued because the OBIs then have to be folded and creased to put then inside the sleeve ... I realize us collectors are a quirky breed who mostly have their own quirks about what details they value higher in their personal collections (I for one, for example, would place extra value - though not too much so - on a cover that has a record shop sticker or stamp from a long-defunct "cult" record shop from way back in the day ... And no doubt others would favor other details. Maybe original rice paper inner sleeves, particularly with the label imprint of the record company ... or inner sleeves with thumbnail pics as adverts for then-current LPs from the label's catalog (all of which I'd understand and sort of sympathize with) ... or whatever ... But THIS - the OBIs? Seems to me that some time a couple of decades ago someone out there launched a mass trend trendy enough for all too many to feel compelled to hop on the bandwagon ...

Just wondering ... Seeing that description and the imagery it is supposed to project, would you go along with Stan Kenton's/Bob Graettinger's CITY OF GLASS? Or would this be too far out?

The below 4-CD-plus-book set may not be the bestest recent one in terms of filling a widely-felt gap or objective per-CD value for money but IMO it must rank among the best in terms of "labor of love" without regard to economics and probably slim chances of making money with such a "niche within a niche market" project. The book alone is a magnum opus for such a set and does a good deal to offset the hefty list price. (And I'm not saying this because I luckily scored a copy of this at a giveaway price early this year. )

Last afternoon's local purchases: Mary Lou Williams, The Asch Recordings (2-LP box set on Folkways FA 2966) Fairly reasonably priced (for our latitudes ) at 15 EUR. (Box VG+, haven't played the records yet but they look totally unmarked) And then, a chance purchase ... Emmett Miller Acc. By His Georgia Crackers Crackers (green vinyl on The Old Masters TOM-1) for a mere 2,50 EUR in close to NM condition from the Special Offers bin. 😃 Actually an item that had crossed my mind a couple of weeks ago after I had re-read Nick Tosches' "Country, The Twisted Roots of Rock'n'Roll". He dwells at length on and enthuses about Emmett Miller (as does Allen Lowe in some of his writings) as a unpigeonholable one-of-a-kind early country-cum-blues-cum-jazz "crossover" artist and even mentions this TOM reissue in his book. So, having found one or the other early jazz TOM LPs at my "go-to" record shop in their Sale bins, I wondered, "Would it be totally unlikely that a copy of that one comes my way there before long too"? Well - lo and behold, there it sat now, waiting for me to give it a new home ... (among a handful of other TOM LPs featuring 20s jazz bands, but I skipped these for the time being). (Yes I know Miller's music has been reissued elsewhere since, too, but this would have meant mail-ordering from who knows where ...)

And if it was just "the man in the small print on the label" himself? Heinie Beau? The leader of the backing orchestra. He was a reed man and a seasoned session man, certainly well-versed enough to do his "white Maxwell Davis a.o." act here.

You are referring to the "Tribute to Cannonball" LP?

Great news! Will be keeping an eye on this and preordering. 10 months till publication might be an unbearably long time, though.

Side 1, track 3.

Yes - it's like you say. Though, what puzzles me was and is that my books, records and CDs are in a room indeed lit by daylight, but not exposed to direct sunlight, except in very rare occurrences during limited periods of the year. And still they tend to fade. Some worse than others (FWIW, as an OT remark, I've found the covers of many books by the University of Illinois Press are particularly fade-prone). BTW, while we're quoting song titles in our posts ... , should I spin THIS ... https://www.discogs.com/de/master/673133-Shelly-Manne-His-Friends-Modern-Jazz-Performances-Of-Songs-From-Lil-Abner ... later today in deference to that song quote in your post, I wonder?

😁 Certainly a nice compilation and a nice try to (re)create a period-looking cover, but with this subtitle Bear Family shot themselves right in the foot. (Sez me, the collector not only of music but also of collectible cars, as well as "linguist" ). Some English native speakers will probably have wondered about what the "tuned cars" may be doing there in the title. To explain: In German, the (Anglicism) term of "Tuning" refers to hotting up an engine or car, whereas - as you in the US will certainly agree - in its original english core meaning, "tuning" just refers to setting up ("tuning up") an engine (or suspension, for that matter) properly so it works perfectly as it should. Bear Family rather ought to have written "Hopped-Up Cars" (to use a period term) here. Oh well ... True, unfortunately, but CDs need not even be located right by the window to see the booklets inside the jewel cases fade over time. My music rooom that holds most of my collection has a fairly large window (and yes, "My Window Faces The South" ). But my CDs are a good 4 meters (more than 13 ft.) away from the window at the back wall of the room (and part of the CDs are on a rack at right angles to the window), and the net curtains at the window are always drawn. Yet certain colors (red, in particular, as you say) of the spines did fade. I've noticed this particularly on the Chronological Classics CDs. BTW, I've also noticed this on certain orange or similarly-colored LP spines. Although, as in the case of certain book dust jackets or paperback covers, I tend to put this down more to printing ink quality. Because some suffer, and some don't.

I was surprised to find out in the last few years there are more (mostly relatively youngish) 78 rpm collectors here in the greater area than I figured. Not very many overall and sometimes with rather specialized niche-within-a-niche collecting tastes but they ARE there. To the point that at least one place out of town does attract enough interest to stage record hop evenings where the DJ spins strictly 78s only. (Something that has been happening in certain "in-crowd" collecting hipster circles in our capital Berlin for some time. But down here ? ) Otherwise, similar to what you say - I myself usually limit myelf to 78s that have never been reissued on LP or CD (or at least not on easily accessible reissues) - or ocasionally others that are so dirt cheap that you cannot resist, even if you have the reissues. But I don't go out of my way anymore to search high and low for 78s.

Am I mistaken or took it a comparatively long time for the Savory set to get sold out? Was this maybe too specialized fare for the typical Mosaic clientele geared more towards more (or much more) modern jazz? At any rate, glad I got it when it was brand-new.

Well worth reading any time. I am in the middle of it right now (taking it in in small instalments over time ...). I must admit that, given the prohibitive price for the printed version everywhere, I at long last went a different route. In January I took out a copy from my regional State library (through interlibrary loan), took it home, ran it through my photocopier (which yields very decent photo reproductions too) and made my personal paperback out of it ("for permanent reference").

The "French thing" did not strike me as that odd. Everyone has his own preferences or areas of interest that keep them occupied. Some who take a look at the "Eurojazz" corner of my collection would probably shake their heads in puzzlement at the comparatively large amount of Swedish jazz I have accumulated. The author of the page you linked, for example, might just as much have enthused about early post-war jazz from a different country once he has been exposed to it and found something that kindled his interest. You just never know ...

I thought so too - about someone just becoming interested in the area. (Which in itself is a good thing.) Maybe I'm too perfectionist or just too finicky, but is this reason enough not to check your facts sufficiently before you expose your "facts" publicly?

Nice attempt, and some interesting pointers (if sometimes more as a "heads up"), but what was he thinking when he mixed Jutta Hipp and the Hans Koller record released on Vogue into the FRENCH scene? And what about his claim that Jutta Hipp did NOT record as a leader during that period?? Basically it is nice when people put their thoughts about subjects off the beaten tracks of the usual onto the web. This can be stimulating. But if you do so, do your HOMEWORK first and check your facts.

And sometimes still are - one owner's generation later. That Buck Owens Taiwanese pressing Capitol bootleg LP that I scored at a clearout sale at "our" local record shop 1 or 2 years ago certainly did not have a German original owner.

But Zweitausendeins was a different "kettle of fish" in the record store pond altogether. Their primary objects were (I say "were" because in my hometown, for example, the shop is long gone) books that no longer were subject to price maintenance as well as selected foreign books at cut prices (sale iat the time of going OOP?). And boy, did I find and buy music, art photo and mid-century modern books there over time - and saw a handful more music books there that I wished I had not bought full price elsewhere not all that long before ). And the same applied to records (in the pre-CD or very early CD days) and then CDs. All of them new, not secondhand. E.g. over here they were very heavy on OJC items (vinyl first, CDs later) when these were all over the place on the market, except that Zweitausendeins seemed to be able to negoticate better price deals and sometimes carried some more obscure items from that series. And they also carried plenty of those public domain CD reissue labels. Niche music and artists, yes - but niche LABELS? Some, from time to time - but not very many overall.

I could have sworn it was a mention in Ted Gioia's book that made me aware of the Tom Talbert orchestra of the late 40s, but he does not figure in the index. Neither is he in the WCJ books by Robert Gordon and by Alain Tercinet. I had to think hard what made me search for the CD I linked, and I guess it must have been his entry in the "Bebop - The Essential Listening Companion"guide by Scott Yanow (et al.). At the time I became aware of him (a good 20 years ago) I also must have read about him onlline, and this made me spring for this CD with his early recordings on his Sea Breeze label. Re- drummer Jimmy Pratt, his name rang a bell. To the best of my recollections (confirmed by some indications on the www), he worked in Europe (including Germany) for several years in the late 50s and the 60s. So to some extent he is a "name" over here.

Never got around yet to finding a decently priced copy of the "Bix Duke Fats" vinyl, but FWIW the below one (from his "key progressive" period) is very recommended listening too: https://www.discogs.com/de/release/6325343-Tom-Talbert-Jazz-Orchestra-1946-1949

You sure do get around, man!

Re-surveying recent posts in this topic, I wonder: So what are your impressions of this book? Any comments, opinions, advice, etc.?