Fer Urbina

Thanks, Brownie, I was afraid I was making things more complicated. According to Cliff Englewood's post with the tunes in the JSP set, all the tracks from the Esoteric/Fantasy CD that feature Christian are in the JSP set (as they are in the Definitive set), that is, the Fantasy CD has three other tracks without CC, with Don Byas and Dizzy Gillespie, I think. Again, none of the above (Fantasy, Definitve, JSP) have the "Stompin' at the Savoy" included in Masters of Jazz, vol. 9. Another thing that has been corrected in the last few years (it was first suggested in the early 1990s, IIRC), is that the pianist in "Swing To Bop" (Topsy - from Minton's) would be Kenny Kersey, not Thelonious Monk. As for the JSP and Definitive live sets, I know that in the Definitives there is nothing new compared to the Masters of Jazz. I guess that the same goes for the JSP. For the studio tracks, the Legacy set, in spite of the silly packaging, and the small mistake of the "... New Baby" takes, is incredibly good, especially regarding SQ. Another good thing is that they have un-done all the splicing that was made for the old LPs, especially with "Breakfast Feud". However - and obviously - the Legacy set doesn't include the non-Columbia stuff (the Edmond Hall session with CC on acoustic guitar for Blue Note, the Lionel Hampton small groups and one of two Metronome All Stars sessions on RCA) plus items with no relevant guitar solos such as a session with Ida Cox (originally on Columbia, the complete session is on an old UK Affinity CD) or the one with Eddy Howard (for Columbia, you can find it here http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:djftxqugldae). In any case, best place to check on line is Leo Valdés's site. F (ex Christian fanatic)

COLUMBIA - Only studio tracks, and not all of the music, IIRC. I think the "Benny's Bugle" rehearsal sequence is not complete in the Sony/Legacy set (it is in Jazz Unlimited JUCD 2013). Also, the takes of "I Found A New Baby" are incorrect: alternate is master and viceversa. There's some rehearsal material, but the crown jewel IMHO is the complete warm-up leading to the Smooth One/Air Mail Special session, from 1941. LIVE MATERIAL - Bear in mind that there are no "new" tracks on any of the reissues. Goodman and co (most of the music is by Goodman's combos) played on radio and concerts the same tunes they recorded, so you may find different solos, but not different tunes. The exceptions are the Minton's/Monroe's stuff and the Minneapolis 1939 jam session with a teenager Oscar Pettiford on bass, Jerry Jerome on tenor and Frankie Hines on piano (three tunes, "Tea For Two", "Stardust" and "I Got Rhythm" - Rhythm is actually two takes which are usually spliced together, and Tea normally has the first bars of CC's chordal intro and a few bars of Jerome's tenor solo cut off). The guys at MoJ did all the recollection of rare broadcasts and put them together on CD, in chronological order along with the studio tracks. Then came the Definitive and JSP boxes (in that order, IIRC). The MoJs corrected the speed and pitch of the music from Minton's (thus Swing to Bop goes down to Bb from B natural), but they used an annoying source with fake applause added. "Incidentally", the Definitive have exactly the same versions (corrected pitch, fake applause...). Many moons ago did A/B the MoJ and the Definitive, not noticeable difference in SQ. Haven't tried the JSPs, but I suspect they'll be more or less the same. On the Minton's stuff, there's one extra track in Masters of Jazz, volume 9, a "Stompin' On The Savoy" from Minton's never before released (volume drops down to zero for a few seconds). Don't know of any other issues that have that one. In the second edition of his bio, Broadbent also proposes that on a "You're a lucky guy" from Minton's, where someone shouts the names of Lester Young and Benny Goodman, Christian would be on bass (he also played bass). My personal favourites from the live stuff are the "Tea For Two" from Minneapolis, the live "Honeysuckle Rose" with the Goodman Sextette from the Spirituals to Swing concert, the three tunes from same with the Kansas City Six, a "Sheik of Araby" from April 12, 1940 where he does a wild lick that surprises Lionel Hampton, and a very fast "Benny's Bugle" from May 1941. F

I wouldn't necessarily trust an Hampton's words on that, especially if the interview is from c. 1945-7, when bop was being "sold" as a trendy fashion (the glasses, the berets, Monk being the "high priest of bop", etc). IIRC Hampton even explained the difference between "be-bop" and "re-bop" in terms of one being related to harmony and the other to rhythm. Hampton was quite a businessman and a showman. That said, he had a formidable natural talent, and he probably was one of those musicians who are able to say something interesting in any given situation. F PS I've always linked the whole-tone scale thing mentioned by Larry to Duke Ellington. Did anyone do that before Duke?

In my book "broken chords" is exactly what you said about Danny Barker, as opposite to "block chords". F

PM-ed about Mal Waldron with Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin - The Quest Booker Ervin - The Blues Book Chet Baker Quartet - Russ Freeman, Chet Baker (Pacific Jazz 55453, red cover - still sealed!) F

OK. Have listened to the second volume of the AVIDs and the sound is very good, very clean, no click or pops. Source records are said to come from a big fan of Hampton's. The stereo simulation is not too intrusive, and there is a nice separation of instruments (quite easy to follow the different horns in Benny Carter's arrangements in the "When Lights Are Low" session). That said, for some reason I'm not wholly confortable with the sound, I'd probably rather have a direct transfer from clean 78s (what Schaap did for the BG Carnegie Hall concert should work marvels with clean, nice 78s, right?) Half the liner notes are by Brian Priestley, very informative, as usual. Tune selection include a couple of broadcasts, very good sound too. All in all, for that price (in the UK), I'd definitely go for these. F

FWIW, Ozzie Cadena is a staunch defender of mono. Savoy did have a stereo series, though, it's called "World Wide". IIRC, it started c. 1958, towards the end of Cadena's time there. I'm fairly sure that series was done by RVG too. F

Just got Hampton's volume 2 on Avid. Have yet to listen to it, but in the back it says Not a good start, at least for me. We'll see. F

Where he really cracks the whip is in Coleman Hawkins' The Hawk In Paris I can't recall whether this LP is as lame as it seems, but he starts saying One and 1/2 stars. That said, there were around 400 record reviews in Downbeat in 1956. The book says "all records not initialled by Jack Tracy or Ralph J. Gleason are reviewed by Nat Hentoff". So I guess he did the lion's share of those reviews. Somebody had to, I guess F

Review by Nat Hentoff in Downbeat (1956 - don't have the exact date, got it from the 1956 DB record review book). Hentoff gave it three stars (Handyland, USA got five). F PS Typo edited.

PM sent F

RE: Klook's Clique I'd need to listen to it properly, but I've played it in my PC and it sounds good enough to me (not an hi-fi fanatic). My only (minor) criticism to this set, interesting as it is for having not so common material, is that it's not very representative. There's no Teddy Hill at all, no Minton's (Klook smokes playing with Charlie Christian), no Modern Jazz Quartet (his part in La Ronde). By the way, I've read above that Klook didn't have as much technique as Max Roach, which is probably a futile argument. Just listen to him in Bud Powell's Monk album (recorded in Paris, a trio with Pierre Michelot), on the first track, "Off Minor", he only plays the snare drum with brushes, absolutely nothing else, IIRC, and he keeps it varied, interesting and unobstrusive. What a drummer! F

Gatemouth's first album for Alligator is actually a compilation of material licensed from Black and Blue. "Pressure Cooker", IIRC it includes some Louis Jordan tracks. From allmusic I very much like "Real Life" too, with a smoking "Take The A Train". And the original "Okie Dokie Stomp" (Peacock) is essential. F

I can't remember exactly, but I think RVG worked out a weekly routine by which Prestige, Savoy and Blue Note used different days to record at his studio. If someone has the patience it shouldn't be too difficult to work out a RVG discography for, say, the mid-to-late 50s and see what his weeks were like. A hard job but someone had to do it, I guess F

I think that part of the problem with the Savoy/Denon CD reissues is that they reissued 1950s Savoy LPs and 1980s Ariola compilations without paying attention to repeats, etc. And in any case, Savoy had a story of repackaging and being generally cheap since they got started. Talking about repackaging, nobody's suggested a Savoy RVG series yet? F

I don't know which are Avid's sources, but I seem to recall that they got good reviews for their Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall remaster (I guess taken from the original LP). I also guess that the RCA 6-LP set was later reissued verbatim in twofers in the French RCA "Jazz Tribune" series, both on LP and CD? F

Avid (UK) seems to have the bulk of the late 30s-early 40s small groups in two double-CD sets (50 tracks each). Lionel Hampton, vol. 1 Lionel Hampton, vol. 2 From their own website, at £5 a set p/p included in the UK, they look like a steal. That said, I don't have the faintest idea about their remastering, liner notes, presentation, etc. Anyone? F From what I've read in Leo Valdés's site, the Avids include alternate takes, and they may have taken the music from a 1976 six-LP box set, The Complete Lionel Hampton • 1937-1941 (Bluebird AXM6-5536). F

Avid (UK) seems to have the bulk of the late 30s-early 40s small groups in two double-CD sets (50 tracks each). Lionel Hampton, vol. 1 Lionel Hampton, vol. 2 From their own website, at £5 a set p/p included in the UK, they look like a steal. That said, I don't have the faintest idea about their remastering, liner notes, presentation, etc. Anyone? F

If you find a good-sounding reissue of the RCA small groups from the late 30s-early 40s I'd try it. Hampton didn't leave Benny Goodman till 1940, so most of the groups are pick-up bands, some of them include Red Allen, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Hinton, Cozy Cole, the Nat Cole trio, a reed section of Benny Carter-Chu Berry-Coleman Hawkins-Ben Webster... A personal favourite is the stuff he does at the end of "I Got Rhythm" with the Goodman Quartet at the Carnegie Hall concert (the "famous" one from 1938). F

Movie came out couple of years ago on DVD (in Europe, zone 2/PAL) with some interesting extras (related to this kind of films... interesting). The music on the film is note exactly the same as in the record, although the title track has the same qualities as described by "Teasing". Lowe did two albums for RCA called "TV Action Jazz" and "Themes from Mr. Lucky, The Untouchables & other TV action jazz" with the same kind of music and similar line-ups. There was a debate about the use of jazz on this kind of films and TV series on Down beat (Henry "Peter Gunn" Mancini of all people seemed to be against and got quite a funny reply from Alfred Hitchcock). The album "Blues for a stripper" is exactly the same record as Satan in High Heels (first reissued by Charlie Parker Records themselves). F

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Actually, that's not the original cover, but something made up in "Andorra". Although Oscar Pettiford is in it, it was never "his" Manhattan Jazz Septette. This is more like it (couldn't find a better image) F

Hi Jazzdisco.org is not as reliable as Mike F's site, that's for sure, but at least in my experience they do reply to emails (I tried contribute@jazzdisco.org). I asked them about the provenance of details of a Bill Evans session and they provided full details of their sources. Not completely reliable, but useful and helpful, I'd say. F

(More, more!) F