Swinging Swede Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 I’ve wondered all this year why Verve and EMI don’t utilize the Basie centennial to put out a bunch of titles, as record companies did when Ellington turned 100 five years ago. I mean, if not this year, then when? They won’t get a better opportunity. Well, as usual it is the Japanese that come to our rescue. I just noticed on hmv.co.jp that Universal Japan on August 4 (the month Basie was born) is coming out with no less than twelve Basie Verve albums, eleven of which as far as I know are new to CD! (if we count official releases at least; the earliest of these recordings are in the public domain now and have recently come out on other labels) Here is the list: The Count! (1952) The Swinging Count! (1952) Norman Granz Jam Session #3 (1953) Norman Granz Jam Session #4 (1953) Dance Session (1953) Dance Session #2 (1954) Hall Of Fame (1956) One O'Clock Jump (1956-57) On My Way & Shoutin' Again! (1962) Basie Land (1963) Basie Picks The Winners (1965) Basie’s Beat (1965-67) One O’Clock Jump was a VBR some years ago. There is also a release the same day called Cheers For Basie!. I don’t know what that is; maybe a compilation or a tribute. (Now we can only hope that we will see some Roulette releases too. It would be inexplicable if we didn’t.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Yes, this is great news (but not so for my wallet). As for Basie's Roulette output, I think that "Basie Plays Hefti" would be a great candidate for reissue. I am surprised that it has not yet been released on CD (other than on the Mosaic). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Great to see all these Basie Clef/Verve titles turning up. It makes me wonder if a Basie Clef/Verve box would be something that Mosaic might consider, especially since it is Basie's centenary and Mosaic seems to have gotten so much access into the Verve vaults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 And I do believe that this very year a Verve Jam Sessions box is scheduled, which would have quite a bit of Basie and Basieites involved! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Which one has "Hey Jim" on it? That's the one I gotsta get! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 You will find it hereon: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Then hereon it shall be! (gotta be REAL careful how I spell that...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 So if I wanted 3 or 4 of these, which are the "best" ones? Thanks for any help, advice, etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Lightning Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 I really LOVE "Basie's Beat" and also "On my way and Shouting again" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Lightning Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Are the "Dance Session" sets are the same as "sixteen men swinging"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 If you meant the 70s two-fer, I think so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMP Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 "On May Way & Shoutin'..." has always been one of my favorites - I'd put it at the top of my list. (Some of the arrangements have a slightly more "modern" bent than the Basie albums of that period.) (Key word: "slightly.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Lightning Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 If you meant the 70s two-fer, I think so. I was referring to the 70s twofer. Thanks Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 If you meant the 70s two-fer, I think so. Excellent---I've already got that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjluke68 Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 I copied On My Way myself to CDR a few years ago; GREAT LP! I believe all of the music on one of the Dance Session LPs was re-released as King of Swing, so that's been out in the US in the past year or two... I'd like to see a Verve/Clef/Mercury boxset - $$$ but well worth every penny... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Yes, a lot of Sixteen Men Swinging was on that Verve LP By Request "King of Swing." I'd like to see someone put out Basie's "The Happiest Millionaire" . . . seriously! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swinging Swede Posted June 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Actually, the material on the Dance Session albums and on Sixteen Men Swinging is not quite the same, although there is a lot of overlap. The Dance Session albums have together three tracks that aren’t on Sixteen Men Swinging. On the other hand, Sixteen Men Swinging has eight tracks and an alternate that aren’t on the Dance Session albums. Those eight tracks were originally released on a Clef album simply titled Basie. I suppose the playing time on the 70s LPs was a lot longer than those from the 50s. But it gets even worse discographically. Although Dance Session and Dance Session #2 were 12” LPs, it didn’t take long before the same material came out on two other Clef LPs, which not only had different album titles, but also different configurations! The new Clef albums were titled Basie Roars Again and The King Of Swing, and each had half of Dance Session and half of Dance Session #2! The aforementioned Basie got the new title The Band Of Distinction, but at least kept the track configuration. The problematic thing with this is that Verve a couple of years ago released an LPR of The King Of Swing. So if you got that one you already have half of Dance Session and half of Dance Session #2! Frustrating, isn’t it? So what to do now? There is of course a possibility that US Verve at a later point will release an LPR of Basie Roars Again to complement the earlier LPR, and thus make the Japanese Dance Session releases superfluous, but we can’t be certain of that. The Japanese are at least consistent in that the Dance Session albums were the first 12” LP releases of this material. Why US Verve chose what basically is a reissue version instead I don’t know. I was unaware of this mess when I posted the list above, and had assumed that they had completely different material. I only came to this conclusion after doing some discographical research today. I hope I got it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 I'd like to see someone put out Basie's "The Happiest Millionaire" . . . seriously! Have you heard this? It's a Dot session w/Illinois Jacquet guesting. Somebody pulled it out of a cutout bin and gave it to me for a birthday present when I was 15. Sorta one of the albums that made AFRIQUE such a pleasant shock, if you get my drift. Not bad, but my guess is that this Verve stuff will have, uh... "broader appeal". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Mr. Swede, thanks for that clarification. If I remember correctly, the liners to 16 Men say something about "collecting" the material from the DANCE SESSIONS albums, or something like that. It's good to have that clarification! It's kind of amazing to me how, other than APRIL IN PARIS, the Joe Williams stuff, and the Newport side, so darn little of Basie's pre-Roulette Verve stuff has been in general circulation over the last 35-40 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 I've got the Millionaire. I dig it. LOCK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 (edited) I'd like to see someone put out Basie's "The Happiest Millionaire" . . . seriously! Have you heard this? It's a Dot session w/Illinois Jacquet guesting. Somebody pulled it out of a cutout bin and gave it to me for a birthday present when I was 15. Sorta one of the albums that made AFRIQUE such a pleasant shock, if you get my drift. Not bad, but my guess is that this Verve stuff will have, uh... "broader appeal". My bad - the album to which I'm referring here is HALF A SIXPENCE. All those "Happy White People Movies With Money In Their Titles" kinda blur together after a while... Edited June 5, 2004 by JSngry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Found this site w/a lot of cover scans. Cool! http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicHall/2651/...GRAPHY/top.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 This one's better: http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/bigband/favorite/list.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swinging Swede Posted June 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Mr. Swede, thanks for that clarification. If I remember correctly, the liners to 16 Men say something about "collecting" the material from the DANCE SESSIONS albums, or something like that. It's good to have that clarification! It's kind of amazing to me how, other than APRIL IN PARIS, the Joe Williams stuff, and the Newport side, so darn little of Basie's pre-Roulette Verve stuff has been in general circulation over the last 35-40 years. Yes, it is odd. Although the CD format has been around for 20 years now Verve has, except the recent LPR of The King of Swing, for some reason not released any of the many albums covering 1952-54 – the early New Testament period, which I think has to be considered fairly classic. Now these recordings are falling into the public domain, and other labels have been quick to release them in the last year or two (and more will come soon). What has Verve been thinking? As for the contents of Sixteen Men Swinging, it does collect the complete December 1953-August 1954 sessions. The Dance Session albums did however have three tracks recorded earlier. I put together a little discographical list with the tracks involved in the various albums discussed above, and which albums they were on. Maybe it can help to sort things out for those interested in discographical details. DS1 = MGC 626 Dance Session DS2 = MGC 647 Dance Session #2 B = MGC 666 Basie [= MGC 722 The Band Of Distinction] BRA = MGC 723 Basie Roars Again TKOS = MGC 724 The King Of Swing SMS = VE2 2517 Sixteen Men Swinging NYC, July 22-23, 1952 You're Not the Kind (DS2, BRA) Los Angeles, CA, July 13, 1953 Plymouth Rock (DS1, TKOS) Blues Go Away (DS1, BRA) NYC, December 12, 1953 Peace Pipe (DS1, BRA, SMS) Straight Life (DS1, BRA, SMS) Bubbles (DS1, TKOS, SMS) Softly with Feeling (DS1, BRA, SMS) Cherry Point (DS1, TKOS, SMS) Base Goes Wess (DS1, BRA, SMS) Right on (DS1, TKOS, SMS) The Blues Done Come Back (DS1, TKOS, SMS) NYC, August 16, 1954 Slow But Sure (DS2, TKOS, SMS) You for Me (DS2, TKOS, SMS) She's Just My Size (DS2, BRA, SMS) Soft Drink (DS2, TKOS, SMS) Two for the Blues (DS2, TKOS, SMS) Blues Backstage (B, SMS) I Feel Like a New Man (DS2, TKOS, SMS) Down for the Count (B, SMS) NYC, August 17, 1954 Stereophonic (DS2, BRA, SMS) Sixteen Men Swinging (alt) (SMS) Sixteen Men Swinging (DS2, BRA, SMS) Ska-di-dle-dee-bee-doo (B, SMS) Perdido (B, SMS) Mambo Mist (DS2, BRA, SMS) Eventide (B, SMS) Two Franks (B, SMS) Ain't Misbehavin' (B, SMS) Rails (B, SMS) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swinging Swede Posted June 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 (edited) By the way, what remains after the Japanese batch is the following: Basie Rides Again! (1952) Basie later retitled The Band of Distinction (1954) There are also several 60s albums done for other labels but now owned by Universal. Maybe the Japanese will do a second batch!? [update: Basie Jazz (1952) deleted from the list since all its material later was split between The Swinging Count!, which now is being reissued, and Basie Rides Again!.] Edited June 6, 2004 by Swinging Swede Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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