Woody Herman in the LP era

[Teasing the Korean]

9 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I think the only Woody Herman I have is a UK album on HMV called Songs for Hip Lovers.  I assume this was on Verve in the US, given Norman Granz's involvement.  It is arranged and conducted by Marty Paich, whose writing is hit or miss for me.  I got it primarily for the cover art, which is hopefully posted in the Album Covers with Moderne Furniture thread.

EDIT:  I see that the UK album is a different photo shoot based on the US album.  Different models, different chairs.  I like the UK better.  

Oh, no, this is a vocal album!  And the vocalist is...Woody Herman!

[Gheorghe]

I have only this one. Great guest artists. 

This was recorded shortly after I saw the same band (without the guest stars) at Velden Jazzfestival in July 1979. I have not heard so many big bands in my live. I think one year before I had heard Thad Jones-Mel Lewis and that was about all. Or a bit later a star studded Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, that´s sure. 

I remember the Woody Herman Herd of 1979 was the last band at the last evening of the festival. I was not so much into that older big band stuff then or now, but it did swing and they also included some Chick Corea tunes in their program which astonished me since this was a quite very old man on the band stand. He had great soloists, I think Nick Brignola was on bari. Well, I had to get a bit accomodated to the quite corny sounding clarinet of Woody himself. But yeah, it was a good festival finale anyway. 

[JSngry]

 

[Mark Stryker]

Some folks have mentioned Nick Brignola in conjunction with Woody, but there may be some confusion. Nick Brignola did play baritone sax with Woody in the early '60s. I don't know how long he was on the band. However,  a MIKE Brignola was on Woody's band for a much longer tenure in the 1980s. If you saw Woody in those years, it was Mike not Nick you heard. I don't believe the two bari-playing Brignolas were related. 

[JSngry]

Mike did the hiring for the band. 

[jazzcorner]

These 2  shouldnt be missed in the collections

 

[Big Beat Steve]

The first one of these two is a compilation reissue of the Second Herd on Capitol (1948-50). Basically it is a reissue of the Woody Herman volume in the early 50s Capitol "Classics in Jazz" series, with the contents expanded from 8 to 12 tracks (Music to Dance to, Not Really the Blues, That's Right, and Lollypop were added). All these 12 tracks (+ The Nearness of You and The Great Lie) also are on (Japanese) Capitol ECJ-40012, and all 12 (plus The Great Lie) also are on the "Early Autumn" LP (Capitol Jazz Classics Vol. 9) that BillF showed in July and that is most frequently available as the Dutch pressing in our regions but also came as a US pressing.
So these "Capitol Greatest Hits" have been around in various guises.

As the for the "Hey! Heard the Herd?" LP - this at first sight this looks interesting ... But the track listing made me wonder ... And a check in the discography confirmed my hunch: These are reissues of recordings by the Herman band done for Woody's short-lived MARS label in the earlier 50s. Mars then came under control of MGM, as did Verve somewhat later. And then MGM slyly recycled these Mars recordings on its Verve "subsidiary" - with cover artwork that, seen at a glance, seemed to fit in with the contemporary NEW recordings by the early 60s Herman band on Philips.
These Mars records are a headache for vinylists. Their reissues have been scattered in all directions through the years so you end up with tons of duplicates but still don't have all of them (if you - very likely - cannot find the Mars originals). So at any rate anyone considering this Verve LP should check first what he has on other LPs covering the Mars period.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Big Beat Steve

[jazzcorner]

On 10/30/2023 at 2:46 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

The first one of these two is a compilation reissue of the Second Herd on Capitol (1948-50). Basically it is a reissue of the Woody Herman volume in the early 50s Capitol "Classics in Jazz" series, with the contents expanded from 8 to 12 tracks (Music to Dance to, Not Really the Blues, That's Right, and Lollypop were added). All these 12 tracks (+ The Nearness of You and The Great Lie) also are on (Japanese) Capitol ECJ-40012, and all 12 (plus The Great Lie) also are on the "Early Autumn" LP (Capitol Jazz Classics Vol. 9) that BillF showed in July and that is most frequently available as the Dutch pressing in our regions but also came as a US pressing.
So these "Capitol Greatest Hits" have been around in various guises.

As the for the "Hey! Heard the Herd?" LP - this at first sight this looks interesting ... But the track listing made me wonder ... And a check in the discography confirmed my hunch: These are reissues of recordings by the Herman band done for Woody's short-lived MARS label in the earlier 50s. Mars then came under control of MGM, as did Verve somewhat later. And then MGM slyly recycled these Mars recordings on its Verve "subsidiary" - with cover artwork that, seen at a glance, seemed to fit in with the contemporary NEW recordings by the early 60s Herman band on Philips.
These Mars records are a headache for vinylists. Their reissues have been scattered in all directions through the years so you end up with tons of duplicates but still don't have all of them (if you - very likely - cannot find the Mars originals). So at any rate anyone considering this Verve LP should check first what he has on other LPs covering the Mars period.

Can recommend this Mosaic box:

 

[Big Beat Steve]

No doubt that's a useful recommendation for those who do not have much at all from those (split) periods (and do want ALL the vocals too ).
But for those (like me, admittedly) who have a pretty fair chunk (and are no obsessive "upgraders-by-way-of-Mosaic" ) it is over the top and inefficient moneywise. What also turned me off from being a completist (though I still regret the fairly silly programming of previous Mars-label reissues that kept re-recycling mostly the same tunes) is that I'm inclined to find it to be true (from the few tunes I've heard) what Russ Chase wrote in his liner notes to the Giants of Jazz (GOJ-1022) LP of "Woody Herman Live in New Orleans" (Oct./Nov. 1951), i.e. the MGM sides being "not as exciting" as previous and later recordings.
I can see why the programming of that Mosaic box happened the way it did (sidestepping the Columbias and Capitols) but it does reek a little of "and then there also were ..." and if you already own a certain percentage of the contents you tend to think twice.
 

[Gheorghe]

Just a thought: 

As the title of the topic is "Woody in the LP Era". Did he really live long enough to get much involved in the CD Era ? I think the last time I saw him on stage (strangly enough not with the Herd, but with an all star combo of I think 8 players, among them Buddy Tate, Scott Hamilton, Al Cohn, Jimmy Bunch I think was on piano......, Woody played a lotta fine clarinet), and I think this was at the very end of his career. I´m not sure if I saw many CD´s then, it might have been around 1985/86......., at least the later Woody Herman albums I had purchased all was LPs.........

[Big Beat Steve]

I do think the thread starter meant to say he would like to focus on recordings FIRST released in the LP era (i.e. roughly post-1949). I.e. NOT on "The Band That Plays The Blues" nor the First Herd and a good part of the Second Herd (whose original releases predated the vinyl era and therefore were on 78).

Edited December 1, 2023 by Big Beat Steve

[Rabshakeh]

That's right. I just meant not a recent box set or double CD compilations, really. I like to listen to The Musical Event, as it appeared at the time, whether that is an original LP or a classic comp that made a splash in the LP era. 

[Gheorghe]

Anyway, though his kind of jazz may not be my very first choice, I always enjoyed to see him live. Sure, this was the later period of the 70´s and 80´s , but the band sounded modern, they played then modern tunes like a lot of Chick Corea. Even the last time when he didn´t have much left to live and had a mainstream combo, he was astonishing strong on clarinet, even if the clarinet is not my very favourite instrument. But he had it, and he even sang a song, really nice. 

[Big Beat Steve]

Kudos to Woody Herman to the way he hung on. To be brutally honest, in a way poor Woody lived a life of sorrow in his later years. His former manager had mismanaged his business side and badly screwed up Woody's tax statements which left Woody with really huge tax debts that forced him to carry on working and touring to the end. Beyond what the historians have written about this sad side of his final years more than once, I remember a few hints to this effect by a former employer of mine (quite a character and a big jazz fan since back in the early 50s who became close to several touring jazz celebrities) who had sort of befriended Woody Herman and from time to time hosted him at his home during German tours of the orchestra. After Woody had passed in 1987 my boss (in those few talks touching on our common musical interests) could not help heaving a few heartfelt sighs of relief that "now Woody had finally found his well-earned rest."

[sidewinder]

I remember reading in Time magazine in the mid 80s an article which interviewed Woody about his tax disaster. A sad story.

Edited December 2, 2023 by sidewinder

[Gheorghe]

Yes, those last years were really sad, there was also a long interview that German writer Gudrun Endress made with Woody Herman for Jazz Podium. 

But he was really a showman. On stage he gave it all and always smiled to his audience. 

[sidewinder]

Even backstage Woody still had a broad smile on his face - which I think was genuine. Can picture it now over 45 years hence !