Fer Urbina

Before I kill this thread completely , in Jazz - A Quarterly Of Music #2 (Spring 59), there's an interview with Carlos Montoya, and it says that "Carlos just recorded the first jazz flamenco record for Victor, with Osie Johnson, Barry Galbraith and Milt Hinton". Montoya recorded quite a few albums for RCA. Is it From St. Louis To Seville? Anyone heard it? F

I'm no flamenco expert, and I'm certainly no purist, but generally I tend to prefer flamenco on its own, no jazz added (that includes Miles's Sketches of Spain). For me there's too much substance and nuance in Flamenco (I'm thinking of Camarón's singing) for it to have it mixed heavily with other stuff, rather than having a few drops added. The way foreign (non-Spanish) media mistake Flamenco with Mexican music and even Salsa is hilarious. F

PM sent (one never knows, do one?) F

There's the Living Era 2-CD set "Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five - Summit Ridge Drive" (CD AJS 2007). As you probably know the Sanctuary Group has been recently purchased by Universal and it's likely that their reissues will become scarcer. According to the booklet, this set has the complete 1940 sessions, the complete 1945 sessions, plus the 1953/54 sessions with Joe Roland, either Farlow or Joe Puma on guitar, and Hank Jones on piano. More info here and here. F

His Aeolian Drinking Song could be one of the earliest modal jazz recordings (?) In any case, it's a tune based on one scale. Scott himself plays with passion (although he seems stuck with the scale) but this set up pushes young Bill Evans to do quite interesting things in his solo. There's also a passage with Evans and Scott playing 4/4 while drums and bass are on 3/4. F

Smith was with Andy Kirk, but he played pedal steel (or something sounding like that). As for the dates, his big hit was "Floyd's Guitar Blues" from March 1939. On May 1939 Allan Reuss played electric on Jack Teagarden's "Pickin' For Patsy". Around that time, 1939-1940, Bus Etri (Charlie Barnet) and Hy White (Woody Herman) also recorded solos on the electric guitar. First recording of a regular electric guitar appears to be by George Barnes accompanying Big Bill Broonzy on March 1, 1938 ("Sweetheart Land" and "It's A Low-Down Dirty Shame"). First session with Eddie Durham playing *electric* (as opposed to resonator or closely miked acoustic) took place later that month, with the Kansas City Five. F

He's often mentioned as the first or (more to my way of thinking) one of the first. Knowing the vagaries of the recording industry to a certain extent my belief is more like - Nobody really knows who is the first. Records are produced and one producer (or company, or arranger) doesn't know what an another is doing. Then most records sink like rocks. There really is no way of determining who is first. Although I think it's a pointless question, who was first, bearing in mind what Charlie Christian *recorded* from 1939 onwards (he was surely playing his stuff earlier), there's some consensus around George Barnes, early 1938, IIRC. Durham uses some sort of amplification in the Lunceford recordings, but I don't think it's an electric guitar in the conventional sense. F

This came up in another thread. Are you Americans familiar with the Fast Show? It was a quite succesful sketch show on UK telly, and one of the regular sketches was " Any other suggestions of jazz parodies... when did Downbeat "kill" George Crater? F

I wholeheartedly agree! If the world is going to electronic transmission of music, covers and liner notes are the components still missing. The way I see it, at least in the case of Blue Note, the covers and the liner notes are, at least partially, covered in the CD reissues. On top of that, there have been books devoted to the Blue Note covers, which are anything from iconic to nice to look at, but hardly revealing as to what was recorded, and , where, when and by whom. Personally, I also appreciate the fact that the discography would be more expensive if it carried images... and if IIRC, at least in Japan there was a Blue Note discography which included record covers, although in black and white. F

To be honest, I don't know. But, for instance, in the Capitol and ABC-Paramount/Impulse CD-ROMs, a quick search gave new (more complete and precise) information about around half the sessions (out of, say, 10) I checked. The Blue Note discography done by Cuscuna is a singular case: he not only has had access to the Blue Note files, but he has listened to the tapes, sorted them out, has reissued stuff, has actually produced things... this is probably as good a piece of research as it can get. In any case, the offer is still up if anyone has a session they want to check (the more tricky or controversial, the better). F PS Thanks MG... For anyone interested in the Fast Show's Jazz Club, check

OK, here it is. According to Ruppli, this 2008 edition "updates the [2000] book with many corrections and additions". He explains that this is Michael Cuscuna's research, who deserves all the credit for it (other contributors are thanked too). Cuscuna also signs an 8-page history of Blue Note. The index: Preface iii Acknowledgements...................................................v The Blue Note Story................................................vii List of Abbreviations Used.......................................xvi Part 1 The Original Blue Note Sessions (1939-1967).....1 Part 2 The Liberty/United Artists Era (1967-1979).....205 Part 3 The EMI Era (1983-1999)..............................303 Part 4 Purchased Sessions......................................447 Part 5 Reissues from EMI Labels..............................459 Part 6 Leased Sessions...........................................637 Part 7 Single Numerical Listings...............................663 Part 8 Album Numerical Listings...............................691 Part 9 Compact Disc Numerical Listings....................757 Index of Artists......................................................855 Addendum.............................................................902 Let's run a couple of searches. F

Randy Sandke did at least three Bix tributes on cd: The Bix Beiderbecke Era (Nagel Heyer) on some of the selections he harmonized the original Bix solos for three trumpets/cornets - marvelous! Re-Discovering Louis And Bix (Nagel Heyer) The Bix Beiderbecke Centennial All Stars Celebrating Bix! (Arbors) all three albums are highly recommended! Thanks! You can another one I just got in the mail: Randy Sandke's New Yorker's Stampede (Jazzology), with a few tracks from the Bix legacy... and a picture of a young Sandke sporting a haircut not to different from Bardem's in No Country For Old Men... (what a name for a jazz club ) F

For Bix tributes I'd recommend Randy Sandke. I can't remember which CD(s), I think he's played in two, at least. Beautiful tone and phrasing. F

(I still hope that Crouch's Bird bio will come out, but thanks for this)

I guess this is good news, but now that Sony and BMG are together, I was hoping for a mid-30s to 1942 complete Columbia/RCA big band set. I have the old The Birth Of Swing 3-CD set (BMG ND90601(3), from 1991). I remember reading a review saying that it was a great idea but it sounded like it had been remastered under water. A very accurate description. F

No wonder you were blown away! I'm listening to that session right now (hadn't listened to this for a while, I was writing off the top of my head) and even though the ensembles are a bit loose for my taste and there are rough spots here and there, some of the solos are very good. Also, not to be overlooked in this kind of vintage, the sound is excellent (I have the Genius boxed set). And Jo Jones... maybe the hi-hat went out of fashion just because no one could play it like him. Another thing about this session, because it is a small combo and the sound is so good, it's very convenient to appreciate the details, like how Jo Jones plays differently depending on the soloist. I'll shut up now and keep on being blown away. F PS The thing about the Spirituals To Swing tracks is that both Prez and CC are magnificent. Also, there's no piano and the rhythm section are Jo Jones, Walter Page and Freddie Green..., and the excitement, I guess, of playing Carnegie Hall, second or third time for the Basie-ites who had already hit the big time, but only second time for CC, and on top of that with his idol (Prez)... as far as I know that combo was not programmed (there are stories of Goodman not being happy about having "his" new star play without him on stage) and it was a group of musicians, all black, that knew each other from way back...

Anyone knows anything about Crouch's Bird bio? F

Mmm... for the Prez-CC combination I prefer the live tracks from Spirituals To Swing 1939 (even though CC half misses his cue to solo on "Way Down Yonder...", you can hear him turning up his amp). As for small groups, the October 28, 1940 has a very promising line-up, but personally I think that some of the tunes recorded by Goodman and his Sextette featuring Jo Jones and Basie are tighter. Personal favourites are both takes of "I Found A New Baby" and Jo Jones' hi-hat on... I think it is "Gone With What Draft", the one where CC plays Eddie Durham's guitar break from Jimmie Lunceford's "Avalon". F (Edit to exchange a set of cymbals for a hi-hat.)

Hi - Best online resource on Charlie Christian is Leo Valdés's site (http://home.elp.rr.com/valdes/). Don't miss his discography. Prez and CC recorded twice together, one live (From Spirituals To Swing, Christmas Eve of 1939), one in the studio (October 28, 1940, a pick-up group that possibly fed the rumours about Benny Goodman taking over Basie's band... it didn't happen). The details you're looking for are here. IIRC Chris Albertson was involved in the first issue of those studio recordings. F

Hi Jazzdisco.org are unlikely to be better than the Ruppli-Cuscuna books, and the latest edition on CD-ROM is very likely to improve on the previous books (from what I've seen in the Capitol and ABC-Paramount/Impulse CD-ROMs). Are you interested in a particular musician or session? I'll have the CD-ROM soon, we can run a few searches and compare if you want. Best, F

Hi again The new edition of THE BLUE NOTE LABEL 1939-1999 by Michael Cuscuna & Michel Ruppli on CD-ROM is €60, including p&p, registered priority airmail (you can order direct from Names&Numbers) . The discography is presented in searchable .pdf pages, simple but effective enough IMHO. F

Hi If it is the Michel Ruppli - Michael Cuscuna book, you'd rather wait for the new edition on CD-ROM, which is about to be published by Names&Numbers in Holland. Do remind me if I forget to post the price and contact details to get it (they do PayPal). I have checked Ruppli's new Capitol and ABC-Paramount/Impulse discographies on CD-ROM (also by Names&Numbers) and they're very good, and comparatively cheaper than the books. F

Hi Bluenote82, Not really. We don't have statues of Satchmo, Dizzy, Red Allen, Fats Navarro... (you get the idea). Wynton is good friends with the Vitoria Festival guys, which is fair enough, but I wouldn't take that as a musical accolade. F

Not similar, but a statue nevertheless. It's in Vitoria (Spain's Marciac, jazzwise). Possibly the only statue of a jazz musician in Spain... and they had to use Mr. Marsalis as a model... As they used to say ages ago, "Spain is different". F

McKusick film here Apparently there's a feature-length documentary coming. F