Big Beat Steve

"The Panic Is On" triggered my interest in the first place for the zany cover art, of course, but the contents ARE nice. Some 20 years ago I found the three-EP set of this particular album. It lacks one of the tunes of the LP, sadly, but so far I have resisted the urge to shell out for a high-priced LP. If and when I come across the FS vinyl reissue at a really good price that will be fine enough for me.

That pic rather says he played with Chico Hamilton at that age? And Eric Dolphy played with Hamilton too. That might make a difference (style-wise). And at (almost) the other end of the spectrum, he played with Harry James at that age too:

ALSO - yes. On a case by case basis. But I think what was hinted at here (and in reviews I read not terribly long ago but cannot pin down right now) was simply that overall, blues singing was not his real forte compared to his ballads. And of course it also depends on every listener's definition to what extent part of his recorded legacy will be considered either as "blues singing" or as "blues-tinged ballad singing".

So did Paul Robeson. But does that say anthing about the achivements of someone "singing songs" in the field of blues singing? (N.B. Joe Williams singing songs does not make him a songster, though - right? 😉)

If everything you say is accurate (and I have no no reason to believe it is not) then, on a general level, I dread the thought of what "side effects" biographies like this are going to have in the longer run. If they are taken as "the gospel" by those who aren't collectors and fans of the subject of the bio anway but relative newbies or "re-users" with no real in-depth prior knowledge who use the biography as reference then the risk is real that the errors and outright blunders will be repeated and therefore perpetuated in other publications and finish being "carved in stone". To the detriment of "those who know" (and above all, who know better). And who (among those who may have the authority to do so) is going to put matters right in a way that gets widely noticed, then?

I've been under the impression that this evaluation of his work has been repeated more than once ? So it's not quite THAT heretic, it seems. And there is a point to it, IMO.

Discussed not too long ago in another topic IIRC. Sadly, measly playing time (to put it mildly) on these 4 CDs.

As much as I am a fan of Swing (i.e Swing-style and Swing-era jazz) and interested in exploring the whole scope of artists, I never could quite figure out what to make of Billy Butterfield and where he fit into the overall picture of the era when Swing was the thing. To exaggerate a little - among white trumpeters, was he one who really had his heart in blowing "hot" (and may have been hampered by commercial considerations of the A&R men only) or was he apt to drift off into "Charlie Spivak territory" 😉 at any moment? I haven't done a closer check of the recordings where he might pop up as a soloing sideman in the Swing era (Bob Crosby, above all - his stints with Shaw, Goodman and Brown seem to have been brief). But his mid-40s Capitol leader dates do not seem to have been graced with widespread reissues (of his original releases, the track listing of the 10" in the "Classics in Jazz" series looks the most promising). And it IS amazing that Mosaic did not see fit to include even ONE single track of his Capitol leader recordings in their 12-CD "Classic Capitol Jazz Sessions" box set. 🤨 Did they consider him THAT "run of the mill", "neither flesh nor fowl", "commercial" or whatever, even if they had extracted his swingingest sides only? (Including at least a selection of his more swinging affairs would have been a service to collectors because a few of the others they included on that set have been around the reissue block in lots of different guises before) So ... what I did pick up through the years as I came across his leader dates on vinyl are these (which feature non-commercial transciptions from his 40s Capitol period but do mix hot and sweet/sugary and seem to have a few overlaps, FWIW): https://www.discogs.com/de/release/5594803-Billy-Butterfield-The-Uncollected-Billy-Butterfield-And-His-Orchestra-1946 https://www.discogs.com/de/master/1175995-Billy-Butterfield-And-His-Orchestra-1946-Instrumentals-Never-Before-On-Record (Incidentally, when I first became more widely aware of him in a radio show here - in the early 80s - that did a special on him, I found out later that his leader recordings featured on that show were taken from the above Hindsight LP (that was then fairly new on the market) - as if they had none of his other leader dates in their archives) And among the later dates that he participated in, the "Session At Riverside" album on Capitol is certainly worth (re-)exploring too: https://www.discogs.com/de/master/659782-Various-Session-At-Riverside

I'd have said an English-inflected pronounciation is a toss betwen "Boo-di-meer" and "Beoo-di-meer", but anything else is out IMO (or would at least sound very odd).

The appreciations of others may differ but disc 4 (1959 quartet) and, in particular, discs 5 and 6 (1966 orchestra and tentet) of the Joe Castro box set released on Sunnyside have quickly become some of my favorite Teddy Edwards.

It sems like I made a mistake in not adding any smileys. (I am aware of what you allude to. To refresh my memories of the album - which I had heard at a fellow collector's home years ago - I did listen to the album on Youtube again before sending my post.)

The entry for 20 September 1947 in the discography below should provide at least a very partial reply: https://www.jazzdisco.org/this-is-jazz/discography/ Seems like most of what the Rudi Blesh All Star Stompers played on that day remained in the can as of the date of this discography.

I wonder how Adorno is supposed to advance the biography and understanding of a specific MUSICIAN? In a way that could not be stuffed about just as well into a biography of many other musicians from roughly that time frame.

1) Only too true ... 2) True and sensible too. Same here, but trying to hold out sometimes just is in vain. 3) A fact already bemoaned by the (printed) All Music Guide long ago (referring to U.S. CBS, as opposed to what French CBS actually DID reissue in a comprehensive manner - see my first post) ... But nothing has changed since, it seems.

I am just making assumptions about the "typical" listening environment with this kind of devices. With no judgment intended. And no, I am no high-end geek either. And you are taking some remarks a wee bit too seriously. And my reply as to these P.D. reissues - I can only comment on Definitive CDs. Those I have are all in all really quite OK soundwise and I cannot complain about the value-for-money results. The Definitive package you mention seems to cover the ground of the second Columbia 10-LP set, so expect the Definitive remastering (whatever remastering of their own they may have done) to be based on that one. The "Essential Count Basie" CDs on CBS ("Columbia Jazz Masterpieces" series) seem to run to only 3 CDs so cannot have covered the whole ground of the 1941-51 period. So prior remasterings reused by Definitive as a basis must have come from elsewhere. BUT - in case you haven't noticed yet these P.D. reissues are a red flag to quite a few around here as a matter of principle (for various reasons I won't comment on). So mentioning labels like these might incur a risk of getting replies to the tone of "they are no good because they are P.D. labels that take advantage of European P.D. laws so they cannot be good anyway" (and "buying them is unethical", etc. etc.). This won't help you either.

A side note/question: What did you do, then, between 1970 and the advent of CDs? Cassettes only?? Anyway ... if what you listen to is these digital "environments" you mention, why do you bother worrying about those P.D. sets at all ? Presentation doesn't matter anyway, then, so either grab those that suit you (fidelity isn't that bad these days with the typical P.D. sets - and somehow I cannot imagine that an iphone or "recent walkman" will be hooked up to a high-end audio system day in, day out ). Or maybe there is a straight digital source to obtain the tracks you are after?

Is there much of a problem in obtaining one of the Columbia/CBS sets? Or are you totally averse to vinyl? There was a series of six 2-LP sets in the CBS Jazzline reissue series that is pretty well done (covering the ground from the Jones-Smith inc. recordings to the 10 April 1951 session. And there were two 10-LP box sets of the complete Columbia recordings in the CBS Special products line that include more alternate takes - sometimes up to 4 or 5 versions of one single tune (that you either think you need or you don't). I have no problems with the Public Domain reissue sets as they are totally legal in Europe. (As for the USA, well ... ? ) But are they that impossible to avoid in THIS case? Particularly since it is not likely that the Public Domain labels have unearthed sensational new first-generation sources or improved vastly on the masterings.

Ocium seems to have a good reputation in R&B circles for their compilations (see "Blues & Rhythm" mag, for ex.). But make sure you won't get your fingers slapped by the usual suspects by endorsing that label here. It is a Public Domain label based in Spain (regardless of who it actually belongs/belonged to - it's the modus operandi). Nuff said, isn't it? As for this actual reissue - no, it doesn't include all leader dates by Al Sears. His entire output on Herald and on the RCA subsidiary Groove is missing. In short, if you (i.e. those trying to round up ALL his reader dates) can either live with skipping the first two tracks done for International or search them out on an older (French) Riverboat LP, then a more comprehensive picture is provided by the two Westside and Bear Family CDs I mentioned. BTW, is this Ocium reissue an actual CD or a CD-R?

@Late: Al Sears honks far less on "Swing's The Thing" (which is NOT meant to detract from the record at all - in fact I have a hunch many around here are wary of the entire honking saxes scene, come what may 😁- and regardless of how much "free screeching" they enthuse about elsewhere ... ). It's just a different bag that's stimulating in a somewhat different way - just like the later Willis Jackson recordings AFTER his "honking" period. (BTW, Illinous Jacquet - probably THE firstest among the first-generation honkers - also did an LP with the same title of "Swing's The Thing" in the later 50s. Did they all try to distance themselves from honking with this sort of title - as if someone had asked them one time too often "So honking is the thing with you??" 😄) The "Jazz Archives" compilation seems to be a bit of a hodgepodge to me. The Duke Ellington sides (including the Ellington sidemen small groups) have been around in various other repackagings. So if you have any sizable number of these you'll tally up overlaps. And his King leader session IMO is best collated (and in its entirety, above all!) on the "Groove Station - King/Federal/DeLuxe Sax Blasters Vol. 1" CD on Westside WESA 823. Which places the Al Sears tracks in the actual context where they (better ) belong. At first sight the one major benefit of the "Jazz Archives" compilation is that it (almost) avoids overlaps with the "Sear-Iously" CD on Bear Family BCD 15668 that has all his Coral, RCA and Herald leader sessions from 1949 to 1956. (Have you checked out THAT one ?)

I have about nine 78s - most of which came my way as chance purchases, admittedly. On UK HMV and Parlophone, German Odeon, Electrola and Philips, and one oddball (?) item which is a TURKISH pressing (Keep A Song in Your Soul / I Was Made to Love You) of what would have been on HMV release, so the script above the familiar Nipper logo reads SAHIBININ SESI. (Easy ...: Sahib = Master as we all know from various older movies with Oriental settings ). As for the total counts you all rack up here, I feel like a bloody beginner ... 😄 My total adds up to 87 LPs worth of Ellington (2-LP sets counting as two) plus three 2-CD sets, all in all covering the period from the beginnings up to Newport 1956 + 58 plus a few 1959 and 1962 items. And apart from a scant few other 45s there's these: 😉

Not all that comparable to the excerpt featuring Wayne Shorter but not quite as subpar IMO as the devastating review by Nat Hentoff in Down Beat reads.

Is this THE Johnny Eaton of the below release? https://www.discogs.com/master/1321415-Johnny-Eaton-And-His-Princetonians-College-Jazz-Modern

The internet says this (whatever this may mean in terms of 100% accuracy): "In 1989, Miles Davis was rumored to be HIV-positive, which he denied. He had been a heroin user for many years, so the infection would have likely been from dirty needles. In 1991, at the age of 65, Miles Davis had suffered repeated bouts of pneumonia. While in the hospital, Miles suffered a stroke. He died September 28th, 1991. The official cause of death was respiratory failure caused by stroke. According to his biographer Quincy Troupe, Miles was taking medication for HIV at the time of his death. That could explain the chronic pneumonia that led to his death. Either that or the lifetime of heavy cigarette smoking."

"The Hip" doesn't have an index, and no mention of these two names in the other two. Kookie certainly would have been too lightweight for these authors/books anyway. You'd probably find more references to him in these series: 😁 No idea if this series of weekly pulp fiction pocket books published here in the early 60s ever went beyond #40 nor what the exact U.S. equivalent/original (if any) of this series was, but I bought a set of about 30 between #2 and #39 at a giveaway price at a vintage fleamarket 3 1/2 years ago just for the fun of it. No highbrow fiction, of course, but an entertaining "period" read if taken in moderate does. Amazing, BTW, to see some of the tunes on the Lux and Ivy Dig Beatniks compilation. And "Flipsville" by Stormy Gayle (that's a pseudonym for which artist, really?) has received spins on the rockabilly record hop circuit for decades (as part of certain stroller sets) ever since it was reissued on the V.A. "Desperate Rock'n'Roll" Vol. 16 LP (Flame 016, a UK "grey area" label, of course ... 😉).

Suggested (background) reading on this subject matter: https://www.amazon.com/Hip-Hipsters-Jazz-Beat-Generation/dp/0571138098/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=3BIN4XKZQPY5P&keywords="The+Hip"+Hipster+Jazz+and+the+beat+generation&qid=1672482351&sprefix=the+hip+hipster+jazz+and+the+beat+generation%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Beats-Kerouac-Illustrated-Journey-Generation/dp/0762430486/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2Q47NUVXBHJF7&keywords=The+Beats+Mike+Evans&qid=1672482275&sprefix=the+beats+mike+evans%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/0199939918/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=3DWBW0636AB0G&keywords=Dig+sound+music+in+hip+culture&qid=1672482078&sprefix=dig+sound+music+in+hip+culture,aps,154&sr=8-1&language=en_US&currency=USD