Herbie Nichols ob Savoy

[Head Man]

I have an LP on Savoy with one side by Thelonious Monk from 1955 and the the other side by Herbie Nichols from March, 1952 with Danny Baker on guitar, Shadow Wilson on drums and Chocolate Williams on bass and vocals.

Does anyone know whether the Herbie Nichols session has ever had a CD release?

Edited December 23, 2011 by Head Man

[mjzee]

Yes, on here:

The Modern Jazz Piano Album - Savoy

[jazzbo]

And later, twice.

Edited December 23, 2011 by jazzbo

[Head Man]

Thanks guys!

I'll look out for cheap copy of one those!

[jeffcrom]

I have an LP on Savoy with one side by Thelonious Monk from 1955 and the the other side by Herbie Nichols from March, 1952 with Danny Baker on guitar, Shadow Wilson on drums and Chocolate Williams on bass and vocals.

Does anyone know whether the Herbie Nichols session has ever had a CD release?

Just to correct a common error:

That's not Danny Barker on guitar. Not only does it not sound like Danny, he told me that he had never recorded with Nichols. Thinking about this session, I pushed the issue a little bit. Danny was polite, but firm in his insistence that he had never recorded with Herbie Nichols. He was friends with Nichols and though he was a genius, but they didn't record together.

I think this attribution comes from the fact that Nichols said in an interview that he had recorded with Danny. Here's what I think the explanation is - Danny did say that Nichols had played on one of Blue Lu Barker's sessions on which he (Danny) didn't play. If Danny called Nichols for the date, Nichols might well have remembered it as a "Danny Barker" session.

Norman Lester is credited as the pianist on both of Blue Lu's 1946 Apollo sessions, and Danny is credited on guitar. But it sounds like two different pianists to me, and doesn't sound like Danny - so I think one of the pianists might be Nichols.

Okay, those last two paragraphs are speculation, but the first part is straight from the horse's mouth.

[djcavanagh]

The other Savoy cd that had both the Monk and Nichols sessions is this one:

I don't think that the first cd linked to here contains all of the tracks (not sure about the two that Lon linked to but suspect it might be true there too). My cds are in London (I'm in Chicago) so I can only go by what is on my ipod and I have five tracks (I seem to recall a couple of alternates and Discogs seems to back this up) and Good Story Blues doesn't seem to be on the Modern Jazz Piano cd.

Also from memory there is another Savoy cd with a different cover.

I'm a big Herbie Nichols fan and there obviously isn't much out there but to my mind this is the least essential of his recordings that I've heard (the vocals don't do too much for me). That said, I hope you track it down.

Denis

[jazzbo]

There's one alternate I believe missing from the Savoy / Denon cds. I've been able to live deprived that way for a decade or more. I love Nichols too.

Edited December 29, 2011 by jazzbo

[romualdo]

Count me in - another Herbie Nichols fan (received his Biography, "A Jazzist's Life" for Christmas 2010)

There are 7 titles from the March 6, 1952 session - two with Chocolate Williams vocals ("My Lady Gingersnap" & "Good Story Blues")

"The Modern Jazz Piano Album" CD (SV 0272) contains 4 titles

'S Wonderful (mst)

Nichols & Dimes (mst)

Who's Blues

My Lady Gingersnap (vo)

"I Just Love Jazz Piano" CD (SV 93014 - remastered & rereleased in 2001) contains 4 titles - note that the 90's version of this CD (SV 0117) did not contain the alternate take

'S Wonderful (mst)

Nichols & Dimes (mst)

Who's Blues

Nichols & Dimes (alt)

"Thelonious Monk/Herbie Nichols" CD - not sure of CD details (released in 1986) but I presume it is the same as the LP (Savoy SJL 1166) - contains all 7 titles

'S Wonderful (mst & alt)

Nichols & Dimes (mst & alt)

Who's Blues

My Lady Gingersnap (vo)

Good Story Blues (vo)

Have I missed anything?

[king ubu]

"Thelonious Monk/Herbie Nichols" CD - not sure of CD details (released in 1986) but I presume it is the same as the LP (Savoy SJL 1166) - contains all 7 titles

'S Wonderful (mst & alt)

Nichols & Dimes (mst & alt)

Who's Blues

My Lady Gingersnap (vo)

Good Story Blues (vo)

Have I missed anything?

That's the one I've got (LP version), and here's the cover:

Looking for it, I just found another cover...

listed on Paris Jazz Corner with the following info:

Savoy 1955-62 (réf. 550106)

Avec la participation de :

Thelonious Monk (piano), Herbie Nichols (piano), Danny Barker (banjo), Art Blakey (drums), Gigi Gryce (saxophone), Percy Heath (bass), Shadow Wilson (drums)

33rpm, stereo, occasion, 12.00 €

[15.48 US$, 1,204.80 ¥]

French 1989 Vogue Pressing

But then the question that just arose: Jeff - or anyone else - any clue as to who the guitar player is, then, if it's not Danny Barker?

[jeffcrom]

"Thelonious Monk/Herbie Nichols" CD - not sure of CD details (released in 1986) but I presume it is the same as the LP (Savoy SJL 1166) - contains all 7 titles

'S Wonderful (mst & alt)

Nichols & Dimes (mst & alt)

Who's Blues

My Lady Gingersnap (vo)

Good Story Blues (vo)

Have I missed anything?

That's the one I've got (LP version), and here's the cover:

Looking for it, I just found another cover...

listed on Paris Jazz Corner with the following info:

Savoy 1955-62 (réf. 550106)

Avec la participation de :

Thelonious Monk (piano), Herbie Nichols (piano), Danny Barker (banjo), Art Blakey (drums), Gigi Gryce (saxophone), Percy Heath (bass), Shadow Wilson (drums)

33rpm, stereo, occasion, 12.00 €

[15.48 US$, 1,204.80 ¥]

French 1989 Vogue Pressing

But then the question that just arose: Jeff - or anyone else - any clue as to who the guitar player is, then, if it's not Danny Barker?

I have no idea and don't know if anyone else does at this point.