Quincy Jones unissued session

[brownie]

There is an all star session led by Quincy Jones that was recorded for Epic in February 1955 that remains unissued (with one exception).

Epic commissioned Quincy Jones back then to record a big band date. The budget was quite high ($3,000 was the quoted figure at the time).

Quincy Jones had the following lineup:

Ernie Royal, Bernie Glow, Al Porcino, Jimmy Nottingham, tp,

JJ Johnson, Jimmy Cleveland, Kai Winding, Urbie Green, tb,

Herbie Mann, fl, Dave Schildkraut, as, Al Cohn, Sonny Stitt, ts, Jack Nimitz, bs,

Horace Silver, p, Oscar Pettiford, b, Osie Johnson, Art Blakey, dr.

The band recorded four sides.

The session remained unissued until one track 'Grasshopper' appeared years later on a Columbia 'Giants of Jazz' LP anthology.

Anybody heard this? Any good? Any idea why the rest of the session remained unissued?

[JSngry]

Do you know if Blakey & Johnson played together or seperately?

The reason I ask is that after hearing all the outtakes from Blakey's Bethlehem big band date, I get the distinct impression that coming in and reading charts (or perhaps even preparing to do so, if the material was available to him in advance) was not his forte, to put it politely. If Quincy wrote charts that required a lot of specificity as far as kicks, fills, etc., then perhaps Blakey didn't catch on fast enough to make continuation of the session practical from an economic standpoint. The band was probably contracted for the one date only, so besides the money, there would also be the scheduling issue. But that's just an uneducated guess.

Or maybe Blakey was too preoccupied planning to kill Bird to focus on the charts...

That's one helluva trumpet section - 3 lead players!

[brownie]

The session was mentioned in a story by Leonard Feather if I remember well. Art Blakey and Osie Johnson are listed as drummers. The session is mentioned in the Tom Lord discography with the same two-drummer line-up.

Will go back to the original story and report.

Will have to check on Art Blakey's state of mind at the time. The session was recorded just a few days before Bird died

[mikeweil]

Sure would make a nice Legacy CD I would buy without hesitation!

[brownie]

The session was written about by Leonard Feather in one of his columns which appeared in the French review Jazz Hot in 1955.

Feather mentions that the Epic producers allowed Quincy Jones and his sidemen to take two hours to record each numbers instead of the regular four sides by three-hour session.

Why couldn't Columbia release this now?

[sidewinder]

Anybody heard this? Any good? Any idea why the rest of the session remained unissued?

Just come across this - probably ancient history by now.

I have the 'Black Giants' 2LP set (a very nice compilation from CBS) and the track 'Grasshopper' is indeed included. Very nice, typical mid-50s Quincy and if the rest of the tracks are up to this standard it is well worth an issue. Sound though I think was in 're-channelled stereo' - they should have left it in mono.

Horace Silver is indeed on piano and he features strongly on 'Grasshopper'.

What a shame that it is not listed for the forthcoming Quincy Mosaic set - although a 'Single' release could be a possibility I guess.

Edited June 21, 2007 by sidewinder