Memorable liner notes - contradiction in terms??

[K1969]

You know it's not the best LP in the world when the most memorable thing about it are the liner notes. Mort Fega, New York DJ in the 60s, found it such a drag to shamelessly sing the praises - on commission - of any-old LP in its liner notes, that he used this as his inspiration for, well, the liner notes, to Jack McDuff's 1969 LP Gin and Orange:

"...you don't know how I feel about liner notes on the back cover of albums. For the most part I think they're a drag!!!. The record companies pick out a guy..pay him a few bucks to do it, secure in the knowledge that he's going to say only nice things about it. It doesn't matter what he thinks of the album. He's being paid and you can bet your ass he's going to say, if not great things, at least good things. I've written my fair share over the years, and I suppose I've been as guilty as the rest (I did send one back once and asked them to get someone else to do it because I couldn't, with any conscience, sign my name to it.....and the guy called me up and asked if i was crazy or too well off to use the money that it would bring, but I've become more selective of late and I REALLY have to dig a guy's music before I want to put the "MF stamp of good listening" on it."

And on he went, neatly segueing into why he can't find a bad thing to say about Mc Duff's below par (IMO) LP.

Edited March 19, 2007 by K1969

[Teasing the Korean]

I love reading Leonard Feather liner notes, and seeing how far he can get before he mentions how he himself inspired a certain tune, visited an artist at the hospital, and on and on...

[marcello]

I remember this one from Harry Abraham, mentioned here:

The cover and liner notes on this album are a bit odd. The front and back cover are suppose to be a sexy image of the exposed torso of a young woman covered with sweat. However, it looks like she’s got hair all over instead. The liner notes by Harry Abraham, a DJ at WHAM radio station, talks about how this “is not the greatest Jazz album.” He goes on to say that this is mostly a cover album of Top-40 songs of the time, but that it’s a step above other Soul-Jazz-Funk organ albums glutting the market in the 1970s. That’s a mixed review if I ever heard, and a strange thing to put on the back of an album you’re hoping to sell. The songs are mostly uninspired and don’t make for much of a listen, so Abraham obviously knew what he was talking about. The best song is a Foster original called Some Neck, which is a short funk piece.

and here...

"Let me begin by saying that this is not the greatest jazz album you've ever heard." So states critic/DJ Harry Abraham in the liner notes on the back of Sweet Revival, Ronnie Foster's second album as a leader. Abraham was obviously trying to deflect criticism that this record is, in his words, "a commercial album that could have just as easily been titled 'Ronnie Foster Plays the Top 40 hits of the Seventies With Horns, Strings and Voices,'" but nothing he could write would make this album acceptable to jazz purists.

Harry was a hoot! Great DJ, by the way.

Edited March 19, 2007 by marcello

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I really like a lot of Amiri Baraka's sleeve notes; particularly the somewhat eccentric ones.

"Moody's workshop" has a wonderful chunk:

That must have been the first time I heard Moody, in a group (on Moody speaks and Smokey hollow jump) that included Izzie Goldberg, the great Jewish trumpet player, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown and Hank Jones. Moody made a lot of records with "Izzie" and later, with the first fabulous big Goldberg band. Ow!, Ooopapada, Two bass hit, I still play all the time.

MG

[Teasing the Korean]

All time favorite liner note quote: There was a group in th 60s called the Love Generation, sort of a B-list soft-pop aggregation who made three albums for Imperial. On the liner notes of their first album, the writer states that during the recording of one of the songs, an "impromptu party broke out, with 7-Up, pressed ham sandwiches, and flowers flowing freely."

[John Tapscott]

I love reading Leonard Feather liner notes, and seeing how far he can get before he mentions how he himself inspired a certain tune, visited an artist at the hospital, and on and on...

Gene Lees is far worse at that sort of thing than Feather ever was. Actually, I think Feather's liner notes are decent in general, but Gene Lees' notes are as much about himself as the artist and the music.

[Teasing the Korean]

I love reading Leonard Feather liner notes, and seeing how far he can get before he mentions how he himself inspired a certain tune, visited an artist at the hospital, and on and on...

Gene Lees is far worse at that sort of thing than Feather ever was. Actually, I think Feather's liner notes are decent in general, but Gene Lees' notes are as much about himself as the artist and the music.

You're absolutely right. It's just that I probably have more albums with notes by LF, he's an easier target.

[medjuck]

I have a vague memory of a Lee Wiley album with notes by George Frazier (sp?) that were very personal and pretty good writing.(I realize thatt a vague memory contradicts the "memorable" part of the topic but thaqt's my fault not the notes'.)

Edited March 19, 2007 by medjuck

[etherbored]

Gene Lees is far worse at that sort of thing than Feather ever was. Actually, I think Feather's liner notes are decent in general, but Gene Lees' notes are as much about himself as the artist and the music.

i'm more inclined to indulge gene lees on the basis of his actual first person connection to the music rather than than leonard feather (and we certainly don't need this to deterioriate into a feather bashing thread).

[Shrdlu]

I have always liked albums to have liner notes, and usually really enjoy them. I'm talking mainly pre-1970 albums.

There were lots of good writers, and several really good ones, and for some reason they never annoyed me. It was only recently that I heard that we aren't supposed to like certain note writers.

Without apology, I like Leonard Feather, Nat Hentoff, Joe Goldberg, Orrin Keepnews, Martin Williams, Gene Lees, Dan Morgenstern, and on and on. And I was upset when, a few years back, some people really attacked some of these writers, especially Feather. Maybe, if you were at the heart of the industry, you got to see things that we record buyers didn't know, but I'd rather not know. Like a friend of mine said about another thing, "If there are errors, I'm blissfully unaware of them."

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I have always liked the notes to "Double cross" by Hank Crawford - written by Burt Burdeen. He was given a 10 day deadline to produce the notes but, during that time, the record didn't arrive. So after complaining about this and waffling a bit, he left a blank space for the purchaser to fill in his/her own comments, making a few suggestions about avoiding hyperbole. He finished by saying, "Use good penmanship", which I always thought was a nice touch.

MG

[AllenLowe]

you have to realize that there was a time when reading liner notes from certain writers was one of the best ways to learn about jazz - as there was no net, few publications and not a lot of books - in the late 1960s I learned more from the notes of Martin Williams (Saxophone Colossus) and Dan Morgenstern than from anyone else - as a matter of fact, Morgenstern's notes to a Decca reissue of Louis Armstrong's (Collector's Items, containing 1930s tunes) almost single handedly rehabilitated Louis's later reputation -

[Shrdlu]

That's a great point, Allen. I was in Australia in the 60s when I bought a lot of my LPs, and there was hardly anyone around to tell me what was what, and liner notes were very helpful. There weren't all that many jazz books to help, either.

The two guys you mention, Dan Morgenstern and Martin Williams, were extra informative. The tradition lives on, too, as Dan did the notes for the "Fats Waller, The Early Years, Part 1" 2 CD box (mid 90s release, now, sadly, OOP), and they are fantastic.

The old LP liner notes are just a part of jazz history, and are an inseparable part of my experience. It's family, in a way. That's why it hurts now to see attacks on Leonard Feather and others. And it does hurt. (Guess I'm an old softy. I don't apologize for that. I never was one for the stern academic debates.)

BTW, to get back to the starting point of this thread, I don't recall seeing many notes that were praising mediocre music. I guess that's because the LPs that I bought were all good - and there were so many albums that were good. There are still some that I haven't yet gotten around to hearing.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

BTW, to get back to the starting point of this thread, I don't recall seeing many notes that were praising mediocre music. I guess that's because the LPs that I bought were all good - and there were so many albums that were good. There are still some that I haven't yet gotten around to hearing.

Some time back, Chris Albertson confessed that he had written some sleeve notes using the pseudonym of "Fred Nurdley" when he wasn't greatly taken with the music. I have one of those; "Arriba! con Montego Joe", which features Leonard Goines, Al Gibbons, Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez, Milford Graves & Robert Crowder. He did a good job on it but, reading it knowing that was Chris in "don't like this" mode, you can see and mentally add in the bits that he DIDN'T write.

MG

[Teasing the Korean]

...That's why it hurts now to see attacks on Leonard Feather and others. And it does hurt. (Guess I'm an old softy. I don't apologize for that. I never was one for the stern academic debates.)...

As the disembodied field of energy who brought up Leonard Feather in this discussion, I should clarify that I didn't intend my statement as a condemnation of LF. I simply find it funny that he always tries to work his way into the action.

[K1969]

And I was upset when, a few years back, some people really attacked some of these writers, especially Feather. ...

...That's why it hurts now to see attacks on Leonard Feather and others. And it does hurt. (Guess I'm an old softy. I don't apologize for that. I never was one for the stern academic debates.)...

As the disembodied field of energy who brought up Leonard Feather in this discussion, I should clarify that I didn't intend my statement as a condemnation of LF. I simply find it funny that he always tries to work his way into the action.

This thread has taken a surprisingly serious turn!! I was rather expecting to see a bunch of humourous quotes from quirky sleave notes. I didn't even know that this polemic about vereran writers existed (which goes to show just how little I do know - what exactly was it all about?) But I found Teasing the Korean's comments about Feather just amusing, almost - dare I say it - affectionately so.

Any way here's another case of memorable liner notes - memorable because they were all wrong!

When Ira Gitler was asked to write for Bobby Hutcherson's LP, San Francisco, he was obviously given a promotional tape with an incorrect track running order. Not only did Gitler's tape and running order not correspond, but later on when the LP was released, the track running order was again changed, leading to the total confusion of neither name, description (solo order, tempo etc) nor the music corresponding . As was usually the case, the LP begins with its fastest and funkiest track, but for Gitler it began with a very dark, moody and cerebral piece that you'd normally expect at the end of side one. It's only possible to join up the dots thanks to the descriptive detail that he expends on each track. You can tell that Gitler too found that the sound in his ears bore no relation to the titles he had: "(Joe) Sample's Jazz is an odd title for such an atmoshperic piece"; a vibrant latin hard bop track logically called A night in Barcelona, for Gitler, had "a strong rock beat with the floating modal feel of John Coltrane"; a track called Goin' down south which, as the title would suggest, is a down home style, feel good groove, to Gitler was the dark, cerebral piece referred to above, provoking the ascerbic comment that "Goin' down south is a trip for the mind. It's probably more rewarding than taking your body". Had he been given the right running order, these words would never have come to him.

At least then, out of respect for the musicians, he was seriously trying to couple seemingly incongruous music with titles. Only one out of the six tracks happens to have the correct description, title and running order, and again to his credit, Gitler recognises the fit of the "soul excursion on Hutcherson's aptly namedUmmh"

So I guess the irony is that Gitler - and the thankless task of sleeve note writing - comes out of this quite well. Proof that sometimes at least, they did thier best to empathise with the material they were writing about - even when it had nothing to do with the titles.

Edited March 20, 2007 by K1969

[Chuck Nessa]

IIRC, when Coltrane's Ascension was first issued the DownBeat review (I think) complained about the liners giving the wrong solo order. This was solved when the correct take was later substituted.

[Guy Berger]

I've always liked Ralph Gleason's notes to Bitches Brew, though I'm not a huge fan of his liner notes in general.

Guy

[Shrdlu]

...That's why it hurts now to see attacks on Leonard Feather and others. And it does hurt. (Guess I'm an old softy. I don't apologize for that. I never was one for the stern academic debates.)...

As the disembodied field of energy who brought up Leonard Feather in this discussion, I should clarify that I didn't intend my statement as a condemnation of LF. I simply find it funny that he always tries to work his way into the action.

Hey, I didn't think that you were having a go at Leonard, TTK. It is others who have done that.

[Shrdlu]

This thread has taken a surprisingly serious turn!!

Sorry, man. It's a good thread topic, and you haven't said anything wrong. Keep on going.

I'm glad that you are not up-to-date on the criticism of the liner writers and record producers. Let's move on from that and forget it.

On the subject of mismatched liner notes (but nothing like that fiasco with Ira Gitler!), a lot of the Limelight LP notes were out of synch with the records, which is ironic when you consider the level of production of the album jackets, which were the most sensational that I have ever seen. The note writers were sometimes sent copies with the tracks in order of recording at the sessions, and, of course, the tunes were rearranged on the vinyl. So you had to do a lot of page turning to read along with the music. (And, ha, ha, those covers had a LOT of pages!)

[Teasing the Korean]

Funny thread on Stan Kenton liner notes from one of those "other" jazz forums:

http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=13693

[Big Beat Steve]

you have to realize that there was a time when reading liner notes from certain writers was one of the best ways to learn about jazz - as there was no net, few publications and not a lot of books - in the late 1960s I learned more from the notes of Martin Williams (Saxophone Colossus) and Dan Morgenstern than from anyone else - as a matter of fact, Morgenstern's notes to a Decca reissue of Louis Armstrong's (Collector's Items, containing 1930s tunes) almost single handedly rehabilitated Louis's later reputation -

Totally agree.

I would like to add the liner notes to the Prestige reissues from the late 60s/70s as well as the liner notes to the Onyx and Xanadu LP's the layout of the back covers of which closely matched those of the Prestiges. Often very informative and a prime source of information.

I'd like to add certain liner notes done by Alun Morgan for various reissue projects to that.

However, liner notes that are clearly aimed at the discerning collector are one thing, but liner notes intended to "sell" a brand-new release are quite something else altogether, especially if you go back into the 50s and early 60s. And maybe one should not expect too much from the sales babble on those "new" releases anyway. Some labels just provided useful info, others didn't, and in that case the scribes called in to splurt out the words just did a hack job and nothing else.

[AllenLowe]

just to add a liner note highlight, if you can, find Dan Morgenstern's notes to the Lester Young LP that has some late live recordings from Europe and the US (I think it's an Onyx though it might be a Xanadu) - a masterpiece of distilling and demolishing certain received ideas of jazz criticism. I love good liner notes and wrote about 20 pages for my own recent cd; I also think it's ironic that, with all the criticism of the reduced graphic possibilities for CDs, that they have opened up a new market for extensive and detailed liner notes that are, in general, a real improvement over LPs.

As for Feather, well...

he was not a nice man, and his ego really took over at some point. he was also the only person who could take a talent like Hot Lips Page and produce a dull session with him...but he did some good things and apparently was very helpful to a lot of women musicians. I had only one or two encounters with him, and they were not pleasant.

Edited March 21, 2007 by AllenLowe

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Anyone have any sleeve notes written by Dzondria LaIsac? Whoever he/she was, they appeared on Duke/Peacock LPs in the early '60s and they're so bad - so effin' awful - that they're magnificent. I just checked and I can only find 3 here, but there were quite a lot.

MG

[Shrdlu]

I remember those late 60s Prestige notes, Steve. They were outstanding! At that time, Prestige reissued a lot of sessions in their 7000 series, and, in many cases, rearranged them much more logically and conveniently than when they first came out. This made it necessary to have new liner notes. I was disappointed to see that the OJC CDs went back to the original LP arrangements, as I think many of those later 7000s were superior.

As a quick example, they put out the entire Dec 24 , 1954 Miles Davis session on one LP (the famous "Bags' Groove" session, with Milt and Monk).