Big Beat Steve

Maybe they have their sights set on sales on the Japanese market too - where they seem to prefer CD reissues in the strict format of the original LP contents? If this was an aspect then it would be to the detriment of collectors elsewhere because this results in rather skimpy playing times per CD. And therefore the claim that this is a "4-CD box" is grossly misleading (even if you assume a CD reissue won't go all the way to the 80-minute limit).

What I consistently like are the box sets by BEAR FAMILY and (by deduction because they adopt a similar concept and presentation) those that I have seen and handled on Be!JAZZ and Be!SHARP. Which I guess shows that accompanying documentation in the box sets matters to me. (Which means that on THIS account Mosaics are up there too - but their outward presentation can make you feel depressive in the long run. I remember I once saw a wall of them at the home - or rather attic - of a very advanced collector. Not an appealing sight, that wall of blackest of black spines ... ;)) Re- the radio-type Mercury set, yes this was extremely impractical. I remember seeing them new in a local record store. I was tempted but given the price I took my time to decide (particularly because there also was wuite a bit of overlaps with what I already had on vinyl). And what was more, somehow those they had on display seemed to budge in all directions when you wanted to open them to look inside. And then, when I went back there one day the only one left was badly cracked and split. So no deal, sadly.

You are lucky this is a book that was originally written in German. So the author's writing style (whatever and however it is) comes across as intended. Hannibal has published a huge lot of music biographies but is fairly notorious for rushing out translated versions that are ho-hum to read in their German translations. Music matters are no easy subject at all to translate properly and with an insider's feel from English into German but this is no excuse for awkward, stiff and convoluted wordings that just "don't sound". Their German version of Sally Placksin's "Women In Jazz" reads rather well but i was definitely underwhelmed by their Woody Herman and Dexter Gordon bios.

According to Wikipedia he played in London on several occasions in the 80s and 90s. For another European stint, see here: http://www.teddyedwardsnow.com/p/live-at-de-tor.html "Dexter Gordon + Teddy Edwards + Spotlite" no doubt equals "Dial masters".

Well, I could not vouch for the entire Enlightenment catalog (who could?) and I do not have any post-1947 Teddy Edwards on vinyl to compare but I did an aural comparison of the Lou Donaldson box yesterday as I have vinyls of several of the Blue Notes on the set (US Capitol und Japanese Toshiba reissues) and honestly, I cannot find anything really wrong with the sound of the Enlightenment box. I am not making any guesses as to where their "remasterings" come from, but for the price (secondhand, in particular) of a P.D. label reissue they serve a purpose and do their job for the money. And if at the same time they push a pin into the balloon of those consistently overpriced "go-to-because-theres-no-alternative" Blue Note reissues (secondhand included) then that's not the worst thing in the world either. 😄 Let's face it, like other P.D. packagings of the kind they are an exceedingly affordable (tangible, not download etc.) option to those to whom Hard Bop is not the topmost priority of their purchases for ownership in a better packaged reissue format (because funds are limited with everyone). Just like there are those out there who drool about Hard Bop and its offsprings in the first place and everything else is less essential to them and who therefore are content with buying bulk reissue packages such as the Proper boxes for earlier jazz (styles and recordings) - and as seen on this forum there must be quite a few of them around. So yes, their approach is mirrored in what Enlightenment et al. offer. And on top these are actual CDs, not CD-Rs. (Something that you apparently cannot be sure of anymore with a "legit" label such as Concord as the owner of Prestige etc., FWIW) And if one's purchases evolve later on these boxes can always go into the car to feed the car CD player. 😉 😁 Next to rice and granola, yes - in a way ... Reflects on the flood of jazz releases that hit the record racks in the 50s and was lamented by many at the time. Though, actually, as you no doubt imagined, the "bulk" rather referred to the contents in relation to the (undoubtedly basic) packaging of this (or Real Gone Jazz or others of the kind) vs that of more refined (but much more costly) reissue box sets or individual CD reissues that work out a 4, 5 or 10 times the price. But as long as the purchase price breaks down to what it is per CD and since we are told by many that CDs have no resale value anymore on the collector market anyway this is one way to limit your financial outlay and "value for money" isn't totally subpar as long as you remain aware of the limitations. Particularly if your (not endlessly unlimited) funds for full-price items tend to go elsewhere as a function of your priorities (see above 😉).

Too bad there never was a "Bert Kaempfert plays the John Coltrane Songbook" LP. I sure would have liked to see your (or, even more so, any Free Jazz collector's) reaction to THAT, then ... 😉 Somehow I feel that a dislike of the above version would not so much be a matter of "Boomer vanity" (seeing how often "Boomers" are used these days as a sweeping put-down, is this the new "Old White men" target? 😁 Used particularly by those who are old enough to belong to exactly that group but desperately go out of their way to distance themselves from that generation ...) but rather because music tastes do differ. And if the style of, say, Percy Faith and the like, is not your cuppa at all and if you are not into an analyzing or music theoreticizing mood then this just isn't for you. And maybe this also is so because there have been oh so many orchestras from the 60s and 70s who have traded their fare of watered-down, inoffensive orchestrated instrumental or vocal choir-laden versions of current pop and rock hits over and over and over to the elder set of record buyers and listeners but in doing so have driven away the younger set who by force were exposed to them at the time as well. And this had happened even earlier on (anyone remember the Modernaires' inept attempts at grabbing a bite of the 50s (semi-)R'n'R market? Not one of the more enlightened moves of Alan Freed - or was it Coral that pushed them down his throat?). Covers like this just were perceived as "not the real thing". Neither would, for example, most German listeners "not that advanced in age" have embraced the James Last Orchestra covers of then-current chart hits. Pretty much regardless of whether the musical craftsmanship was fine after all (because the arrangers and musicans who did this kind of "orchestrated rock for the not so rock-minded" often did have chops). It just was a different playing field that those who preferred the stylistically real thing just did not warm up to. And who is anyone to blame them? After all there was and is only so much time to be able to spend on listening to so much music ... "Advanced Easy Listening"? Reminds me of a radio program that was aired here on Sunday evenings in the mid-to late 70s called "Schlager für Fortgeschrittene" ("Pop music for advanced people" - Gheorghe should have a word to say about this as IIRC he remembers that program hosted by one Gerhard Bronner too) and had me thoroughly baffled at my teen age as I kept wondering about this music sounding exceedingly odd by "pop" standards and falling straight into any crevices BETWEEN any musical cateogries I had become aware of at this tender age of 15-16: "Is there actually anyone out there who actually buys THIS?" Unfortunately I do not remember the artists usually featured, except the Swingle Singers, and - I think - some more ethereal Bossa Nova vocalists. Later on most of it of course made much, much more sense to me. But my stylistic core interests still were elsewhere though the scope broadened considerably over time.

@TTK: As an approach that makes "mere mortals" (who do not usually tread where you move permanently 😉) aware of recordings and records that do deserve a second look and listen, even if they would still not fall into everyone's area of core interest from then on. But interesting enough to explore them further and add to one's own awareness. Such as in the case of your Bachelor Pad Mid-Century Modern music (some of which no doubt would fall into the Easy Listening category too, and some of which, when following up your posts and/or recommendations, can be approached from a new listening angle).

That's (also) because Easy Listening acquired a sort of "cult" niche status in some circles long, long ago - not because it was taken all too seriously by record collectors (but rather had an "easygoing" fun aspect to it). And this even applied to the generation that you might lump in with your "younger days". One example I remember was that at what actually were R'n'R (i.e REAL pre-Beat(les) era R'n'R) record hops back in the 90s where other (more or less related or contemporary) 50s/60s genres got played too, the typical Elvis 60s movie score tunes (starting with "Viva Les Vegas" and the like) were commonly refered to as "Easy Elvis". 😄 As for the basic definition (and excluding the TTK approach which has its points) I somehow tend to agree with Dan Gould's coarse-brush working definition of "uninteresting music" which WOULD put Easy Listening and MOR in the same bag. As people outgrew overproduced, overblown string-section orchestra instrumental music of the 50s and 60s and went on they (or the next listener generation) often ended up (in the 70s) with MOR artists that were neither flesh nor fowl (to the rock audience anyway, and to quite a lot among the pop audience too). And extending the definition (or looking at the question of how long Easy Listening and its target audience has actually been around), wouldn't the sweet or Mickey-Mouse bands of the 30s be the Swing Era equivalent of Easy Listening?

That is ... if you disregard (or ignore 😉) CD reissues in "bulk" reissue packages on Public Domain labels. "Teddy's Ready" is also included in the "The Complete Recordings 1947-1962" 4-CD set (10 albums on 4 CDs) on Enlightenment EN4CD9128. https://www.discogs.com/release/12798607-Teddy-Edwards-The-Complete-Recordings-1947-1962

Also recommended: His easily accessible recordings collated on the JAZZ BEHIND THE DIKES compilation. This series has received regular spins here for some 25 years (and the 2 CDs reissued by Philips in the 90s triggered my interest enough to get the vinyl twofer as well - for a change of format). The Rob Madna tunes are among the more individualistic sessions on these compilations. But FWIW the others deserve a listen too IMO - and overall these artists that made jazz their favorite idiom are not any more "derivative" - to quote a period reviewers' favorite "one-putdown-fits-all" blast 😉 - than many U.S. jazz recording artists a notch or two below the topmost-level jazz stars of that era.

Nice surprise ... 😃 My copy (ordered through Amazon) was delivered to my doorstep today (though the announced delivery date had been Jan. 2 or 3). Very pleased! Indeed it's lighter than one should think with such a tome (though it's no India paper). So my reading leisure is secured though the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays (and beyond). I had scheduled the Teddy Reig " Reminiscing in Tempo" bio (that my wife is going to give me tomorrow 😉) as my end-of-year reading matter but now there's competition ... But at any rate this fat book is going to push my music book bookshelves in my music room into overflow mode (as everything is a tight fit on the shelves already anyway). Yes, luxury problems, I know ... 😄

Totally different and unrelated label. Nothing to do whatsoever with the reissue label that EKE BBB showed a CD reissue listing here 2 years ago. @all: Seems like people are actually talking about at least two or (including the one that Gheorghe mentions) three unrelated albels. This is getting confusing. The "King Jazz" label with the Mezzrow-Bechet mid-40s releases was a real label and has OFTEN been reissued, including several pressings of LPs on the Storyville label (which seem to be the most orderly vinyl reissue versions to me). That these releases ended up on the more recent reissue label of the same name seems to be just a coincidence. so the connection made in the quote in the opening post to this thread long ago certainly sounds like bogus to me. As for the sound of the reissues, what could one reasonably expect if the originals were on Paramount or other "acoustic era" 20s labels? Takes some determination not to consider this typical sound "edgy" 😁 - particularly if you're not fully used to listening to jazz recorded and first released in the pre-LP era (and, as has often happened, reissued from less than pristine 78s) anyway. But it CAN be done if you are a fan of the MUSIC. 😉

The cover pic had me stumped too as I was 1000% sure I have seen that pic before. I searched again and finally did locate it. It is in "Rockabilly - The Twang Heard Round The World" (by Greil Marcus, Peter Guralnick et al.). The girl is Alis Lesley ("the female Elvis"), an actual recording artist (and her name was real and NO nick imitating the King's name) but of course "a flash in the pan" compared to "the boy from Tupelo". Otherwise, no photo captions throughout the book? What were they thinking?? 🤨

Any mid-40s Don Byas on all the indie labels he recorded for in the U.S. will be fine. They have been reissued in quite a few different packages and accessiblity varies so I find it difficult to give directions. IMO his European (French) recordings of the 50s are an acquired taste. He did an awful lot of ballads which usually were well-done too but may not be everyone's taste in such heavy doses.

What I've been wondering those past few days is - what would the price have been if that massive tome had been published by Scarecrow Press? $199.95? 😄

Thaks a lot for the download link, Ghost! But 416 pages of footnotes? That Is a lot! Actually by conventional book layout criteria, this would make it a 1200-page tome!! One that would indeed be almost a case of 50% text and 50% footnotes on many, many pages ... And no ... on second thought, making a printout of the PDF would be unwieldy, to put it mildly .... This would indeed yield another book ...

Ouch ... now that's a new method I would not have expected ... I suppose an easily follow-upable link is provided in the book? I already see myself printing the footnotes out and filing them with the book (which should be here by about Jan. 3). I am like you in that respect - I find footnotes are part of the essence of most books and they often touch on things where I've wondered why and how the author did not find them important enough to include them in the main text. Though I understand not every author or publisher would want the footnotes on the relevant pages (particularly if this would mean 1/2 page of text plus 1/2 page of footnotes throughout the entire book - there ARE books like that ...) but on the other hand having to leaf constantly between the main text and the notes at the end of the book can become a real nuisance too (I've worked my way through a music book like that recently). Wait and see ...

Point taken. 😉I tried it. With a colleague's Kindle. Albeit briefly. Yet underwhelmed. So .. to brighten things up on a calmer note, check this below for your amusement (skip the ad if it displays). Even though German and not English, the punch line should be obvious ("lady sooo overjoyed with the happy ending of the book she just finished", and then ... 😄).

What you say may be true on a GENERAL level but is totally out of focus of what I am aiming at. Even disregarding the fact that the idea of having to read this kind of long, long text on a stupidphone would raise REAL issues not only with my reading habits but above all with MY eyes (and as for full-blown screens - see my earlier post on this), I am and remain geared towards PRINTED PAPER books for those that are keepers and not just casual entertainment literature to occupy your idle hours. E-books in the fields where books I buy are keepers would only and always only be stopgap solutions in those cases where the corresponding printed book simply does not exist. (E.g. as would be the case IIRC with a recently-published e-book-only book on Teddy Weatherford) As for the effort required and allegedly "awkward and expensive hoops" - not so ... I do have the equipment and stamina to do that (once the printout stage has been taken care of) and it is not awkward to me one bit - but rather a creative process, a bit like in the bookbinding trade 😄. In fact I did this often many years ago (before the advent of anything like internet or easily accessible international selling platforms) when long-OOP books on niche subjects were virtually unobtainable unless a library had a copy which you were able to run through a photocopier. Which I often did back in the day (and a.o. my copy of "Jazz Masters of the 40s" - 1966 edition - still sits on my shelf as a homemade paperback based on a photocopy of the entire book I made in 1982 or so. And in other archiving/reference fields this has enabled me to complete missing copies in runs of long-OOP magazines/programs a.o. in a very non-awkward way). In the same manner, turning printouts into paperbacks would be no big deal to me either. So I suggest you leave the judgment of what is feasible and worth doing to me. 😉 What is more, as for "negating" the purpose of e-books, YOU are missing the point about BOOKS, I feel. There are people (and I guess I am not the only one) who insist on BUYING their books and are willing to pay but feel they are being cheated all the way if they are being coaxed into getting access to e-books only through "paying for a license" instead of actual ownership. Particularly since this license, as the past has shown, is revokable so in the long run you risk having paid for exactly .. nothing (and see the "soap" you seem to like so much 😄 slip through your fingers !) And in many cases even the price difference between e-books and the real thing isn't big enough to warrant this temporary license always dependent on external power sources. So we'll just have to agree to disagree. Different strokes ... Ordered one too. Printed version. At 35 EUR for the eternally keepable real thing vs 20 EUR for a kindle license-only read the choice was a no-brainer to me. 😉

Getting back to this (without wanting to derail this thread further either): The key question is: Will this allow me to download e-books in a printable file format so I can print out and make up my personal paperback-style hardcopy later on as I wish? I'd be used to that. I've done it often enough in the olden days long, long before there was such a thing as internet and OOP books (particularly foreign ones) remained inaccessible almost forever without going to totally uneconomical lengths and trouble.

But it's not just that. Do you actually OWN the Kindle copy (if so, you would have to be able to download and save it elsewhere in a straightforward manner) or can it be revoked and made inaccessible on a whim later on? An oft-disucssed problem AFAIK and one that still does not work out in favor of the buyer/customer. As for reading habits and needs as one gets older, YMMV (due to my own experience as I got ahead in years too 😉). As I wear progressives I have no problem adjusting to printed matter and still am very much "paper-oriented". On the contrary, looking at a small screen would make me tire faster. And putting the Kindle on a PC screen just to read - no thanks, there are plenty of readable and read-worthy websites and blogs (such as the recently mentioned jazzwestcoastresearch site 😉) where you do that anyway. So no real incentive to go that route with an e-book as well.

(Wisecrack mode on: 😄) (Mixed-up-numbers-rectification mode on: ‼️)

But isn't that tune called/spelled "Odjenar"? See Prestige LP 7287, where Ira Gitler also explains the origins of the tune's name and makes the link between her and her various husbands. As far as I was able to find out, this also was the spelling of the tune on the original 78. So which spelling of her name is right after all?

Thanks Mjzee. The record is nice to listen to (the description of moments of "coasting" isn't all wrong either) but I was curious about how to view it in its overall context of Webster's output in those years. Therefore my question. And haven't we all become used to taking album titles like "At His Best" (such as this one) with a grain of salt? 😉

Seeing that latter-day Ben Webster in the Netherlands is discussed here: How would you (who are more familiar with his output from these years) rate this one (see link below, recorded on 5 Aug. 1970 at Laren studio) by comparison with his "other" Dutch output? It's an item I picked up some years ago on a whim from the sales bin but otherwise I'm not exactly familiar with his recordings from this period. https://www.discogs.com/de/release/4669279-Ben-Webster-Ben-Op-Zijn-Best Thanx!