Dusting off the past

[Christiern]

As some of you know from reading my posts, I have a lot of old stuff in my closets (particularly one in the hall) and I sometimes excavate and post little things that I have dusted off.

Thanks to my friend, DEEP, who transfers them to disc for me (I no longer have a working reel-to-reel), I have been able to enjoy some of my old broadcasts or, rather, the live music I featured. From my days at WHAT in Philly, I have on air sessions with Lonnie Johnson and Elmer Snowden, and from my WBAI days and 5 or 6 am session with Walter Bishop, piano, Frank Haynes, tenor, Eddie Khan, bass, and J.C. Moses, drums. This group was playing at Minton's at the time, they came straight from the gig to the tiny studio on East 39th Street.

The session continued at daybreak with the Clifford Jordan Quintet, Jordan on tenor, Roy Burrows, trumpet, Ronnie Matthews, piano, and Khan and Moses. The sun was out when my co-host, A B Spellman introduced Ronnie Matthews with bassist Michael Fleming, and Moses on drums.

The WBAI tapes are from the 1965 Fourth of July weekend.

There is also a Scranton PA concert that I will never forget, because Eura Bailey (Pearl's sister) talked me into drinking straight bourbon on an empty stomach (we left NYC at the crack of dawn, in a snow storm, thinking we would have time for breakfast. Unfortunately, I was the MC--fortunately, the entire band made the same mistake, but the guys were used to it--they handled it well. It was an off band: Herman Autrey, trumpet (you may remember him from countless Fats Waller sides), Budd Johnson, tenor, Ray Bryant, piano, Elmer Snowden, guitar/banjo, Tommy Bryant, bass, and Jo Jones, drums. Eura did some vocals.

By the end of the concert, I was totally out of it--haven't been that drunk before or since. On the way home, Ray--who was driving--literally carried me into a roadside diner and filled me with black coffee.

Wish I could share some of this music here. There is a lot more in that closet, including Herbie Hancock's first encounter with an electric piano--he was accompanying Joe Williams.

[mikeweil]

Oh how I envy you - great stories! How about a CD series of that music "Christiern Jazz"?

[RDK]

Hey Chris, don't know how you'd feel about a site such as this, but this is a wonderful on-line repository of old radio broadcasts. Could use some jazz there though...

[bertrand]

Chris,

I hope we can hear the Frank Haynes one day. It's not like his stuff is crowding the bins.

Bertrand.

[Dan Gould]

Very cool. How's the sound quality, Chris? I have some experience dealing with 40 year old reels. In fact, I can handle making those transfers if Danny gets too busy.

[Dan Gould]

Oh yeah - any other old concerts you can think of lying around in the closet? Or are those three the cream of the crop?

[Christiern]

I have more in the closet, this is just what happened to fall to the floor when I opened the door the other day. One problem is that DEEP doesn't have a 10 1/2" reel machine, and much of my stuff is on those reels. There are also numerous interviews in the bunch--so far I have found Jimmy Rushing, Lil Armstrong, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Russell Procope, Archie Shepp, and Ornette. Somewhere, hiding in the dark, is an interview I did with Billie Holiday in 1959.

I am in the process of setting up a web site, so I think I will be able to upload some of these sound to it and give a link.

In the meantime, I'll figure out how to post a modest sample. I don't want to eat up Organissimo's space, but someone--Dan, I think--asked about the sound quality; the answer is that it varies, but I have heard a lot worse on reissues.

I checked out the site, RDK, but it seems dedicated to Top 40 airchecks.

[BeBop]

"So, can we look forward to a blindfold test disc", he asked excitedly.

[Dan Gould]

One problem is that DEEP doesn't have a 10 1/2" reel machine, and much of my stuff is on those reels.

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I'm confused ... is this one of those really small type of reels, or one of the larger ones or what? I transferred a lot of live recordings for Marty using his reel-to-reel, I can check whether his could handle those or not.

[Jim Alfredson]

Chris, we're on our own server. Post away. In fact, if you wanted to host your site on the big O server, let me know. We can work something out.

[Dan Gould]

One problem is that DEEP doesn't have a 10 1/2" reel machine, and much of my stuff is on those reels.

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Chris, I've sent an email to the nyc.rr.com address regarding the potential availability of a 10 1/2 inch reel machine.

[Christiern]

Thanks, Dan--it will be returned, so please re-send with a 3 before the @

Jim, thanks for the offer--let me think about it for a couple of days. In the meantime, I will try to post a small audio file as a sample.

[Jim Alfredson]

I have a 10 1/2 reel to reel. What size tape? My machine is for 1/4".

[Christiern]

1/4" @ 7 1/2 and 15 ips

[Jim Alfredson]

I can do that.

[Christiern]

Great. Let me take a look at some reels and give you an idea of what I have.

[Tom in RI]

A place where a lot of great live jazz shows are posted is Dimedozen.org. They are in their second incarnation. I know several board members here are there also. That would be a great place to post your shows if you are able to share them.

[AllenLowe]

hey Chris - if necessary, I'd be willing to take a crack at digital transfers of those tapes, to see if they can be re-eq'd or otherwise improved -

[Ted O'Reilly]

It's hell keeping original recordings retrievable.

On 1/4" tape, I have mono, full-track stereo and quarter-track stereo (variously at 3.75, 7.5 and 15 ips), on 3-, 7- and 10.5 inch reels

I have 1/2" tape on 10.5 inch reels, with four tracks, and eight tracks.

I have digital audio recordings on VHS cassettes (known as PCM), and 1/2" Beta (Sony F1), and I have 3/4" Beta cassette masters. I have audio on Stereo HiFi VHS audio--an under-recognized format.

I have DAT recordings, on tape so narrow you wonder how it works. Some are recorded at 44.1 kHz, some at 48 kHz. I have ADAT 8-track cassettes that need the other 2 ADAT cassettes to make up a synchronized 24-track master.

I have audio cassettes on regular, ferri-chrome, chrome and metal tapes. (I never did buy the Sony Elcassette, thank goodness!)

I have (endless loop) broadcast cartridges that run at 3.75 ips, similar to Country Music's favourite format--the 8-track that'll only run in a semi, it seems.

I've just found that my single Edison cylinder shattered when it fell last week. On disc I have 78s in lateral and vertical cut, 10" and 12"; 45 rpm singles and EPs, mono and stereo; 10" and 12" LPs in mono and stereo, and Gil Evans' "Svengali" in 4-channel discrete.

I have CDs, CDRs, SuperAudio CDs, DVD Audio, and MP3 recordings on CDR and DVD.

I listen to radio on AM, FM, various short-wave bands, and am considering Satellite Radio, which is just being licensed in Canada. TV comes in off an antenna, via cable and satellite dish. And of course, Video is on Beta, VHS, DVD and godknows what new standard they'll soon be sending out.

It strikes me my grandfather was born before useful electricity, and as a child only ever heard live music and live theatre. I further wonder if I'm much better off than he was.....

[Jim Alfredson]

I should mention that my deck is quarter-track stereo. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

[Ted O'Reilly]

I should mention that my deck is quarter-track stereo.  I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

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It probably does, Jim.

Most broadcast (professional) tape machines were 'full-track', using the whole 1/4" width in one pass. Home (Revere, Wolllensak, Sony etc.) and semi-pro machines (such as Revox) were usually fitted with quarter-track heads, so you could double tape use. But at the same time, it's like writing half-size. And a bonus is that it took twice as long to find the little snippet you wanted to use....

If you play a full-track tape on a quarter-track machine you're likely to get good reproduction of the Left (top) track, and not-so-good sound from the Right track which is buried about, but not quite, half-way down the face of the tape.

A quarter-track tape, recorded one direction only, may be playable on a pro machine, but not if it's been recorded in both directions. The wider tape heads will pick up the second recording and play it backwards at the same time as you hear the first material...

[AllenLowe]

For stuff as important as this, Chris, I would be careful, as it's irreplacable (as you know), and you want to get the best possible results; I would contact someone like Doug Pomeroy, who's in Brookly and who is a master at transfers of all kinds -

[Ted O'Reilly]

For stuff as important as this, Chris, I would be careful, as it's irreplacable (as you know), and you want to get the best possible results; I would contact someone like Doug Pomeroy, who's in Brookly and who is a master at transfers of all kinds -

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There's a good guy here in Toronto, too, and his prices may be a bit less given the dollar exchange. He does a lot of work for Naxos among others:

Graham Newton

P.O. Box 672

Don Mills, ON

M3C 2T6

gn@audio-restoration.com

www.audio-restoration.com

(416)444-3444

[Ted O'Reilly]

For stuff as important as this, Chris, I would be careful, as it's irreplacable (as you know), and you want to get the best possible results; I would contact someone like Doug Pomeroy, who's in Brookly and who is a master at transfers of all kinds -

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Oh, one more thing: many reel-to-reel tapes (especially the back-coated Ampex 406s and 407s) had a 'lubrication' that has now turned gummy, and the oxide can stick to the back of the next layer, ripping it off. There are techniques to literally bake it and dry it out, so if you think the tape is stuck to itself DON'T TRY TO PLAY IT if it's valuable. Get in touch with someone who can save it...Pomeroy, Newton, some archivists, etc....

[AllenLowe]

I'm not certain but I think that was a problem post-1970 - with new tape formulations - also, I'll add, and hope not to offend anyone, that Graham Newton's transfer work is inconsistent -