kenny weir

Sun Ra - Exotica Sal Nistico - Live At Carmelo's Decoy with Joe McPhee - Spontaneous Combustion Lockjaw Davis/Johnny Griffin - Complete Sessions Allen Lowe - Mulatto Radio

Hello! I have so very little of it that the Savoy box is an automatic buy for me. And I love the Dial effort. But it got me also thinking about the Savoy gospel catalogue. Too much, yes, for anything comprehensive save for single artists such as the Caravans. But I'd be very happy with a smart overview - 10 cds would not be too many!

After reading the Wills bio, I then reread the Brown book. Allen, it may not be what you specifically mean, but ... There's a story about the band not being able to make a gig and handing it on to a local black outfit, earning them $100 a head and a happy management, too. There's also reasonably detailed reference to them learning from various contemporary records as they are released. Finally, there's the story of their Chicago recording trip under the Kapps during which the band went to various clubs, including seeing Carroll Dickerson and hanging out with Duke Ellington. The frustrating thing about BOTH books is that while they deal with such things as booze and divorces and so on, they are tantamount to hagiography to the extent attribute to their subjects the title of Sole Creator Of Western Swing. Given these two books and the oral history book are all there is - AFAIK - it's disappointing.

John Morthland, in The Best of Country Music, cites an unknown source as having the leader of the Hi-Flyers, Andy Scarborough, as claiming his group "was the first to play 'takeoff' solos ... he claims the group was doing so in the 20s, though there is no recorded evidence backing him up". Another group on my to-do list! And comparing Milton Brown and Bob Wills, Morthland says: "Brown's music was nonetheless hipper, more urbane." Such comparisons will always be moot, of course, in light of Brown's early death. However, having just finished reading the Wills bio and playing most of my San Antonia Rose Bear Family box in the process, I can't say I agree. Wills' achievement is staggering. Am playing at the moment an Arhoolie CD by Beto Villa - the horns sound like they could be straight from classic Wills! Though given the 48-54 recording span, I'd say it's murky who influenced who!

A real, real beaut in every respect. Recommended! While I still tend to believe you (see our earlier discussion of this series in this very topic), there are a few BEWARE's. This past summer I bought the JIMMY SPELLMAN CD from that series (BCD 16528 AH) mainly because this is one artist where you are unlikely to have too much on previous hillbilly bop/rockabily compilations. So I bought it unheard and on the strength of it belonging to that series (and of course the dynamic cover photo also conjures up images of music with a "GO" ). But sorry to say, if the music on that CD is meant to REALLY "shake the shack" then this just is lame. Really ... A handful of uptempo, rocking tracks but all too many MOR C&W, pop, ballad, tearjerker, teen angst and other relatively subdued ditties (often marred by saccharine girl choruses which does not improve matters one bit in a series such as THIS) that really won't shake even a splinter of that proverbial shack. Fine for those who love those "country weepers" and teen ballads that were recorded and released aplenty in the 50s but beyond that ...? I dunno ... So how am I to know there aren't more like this buried in this particular series BEYOND the "name" artists (i.e. with those artists that you would welcome as "discoveries" because they would not overlap to any significant degree with previous reissues and would therefore fill another gap)? Really, really sorry to say this about a thoughtful and meritorious reissue label such as B.F. but as far as "The Great Rocking Unknowns" seem to go, we really seem to be well past the "scraping the barrel" stage when it comes to rounding up previously unreissued or unheard-before UPTEMPO material that warrants a FULL CD by such an artist. Steve the Shack series discs I have in my shopping basket at cdconnection are all well-established artists. I figure these discs are probably the best single outing for guys I don't need/want a box set on: Cowboy Copas, Hank Thompson, George Jones, Little Jimmie Dickens, Johnny Horton and so on.

Sad to say, my financial situation precludes record purchases at present, including the above Allerton & Alton. Happily, I seem to have accumulated so much vintage, jazz, old-timey, bluegrass, western swing, Hawaiian and more in recent years that I've got plenty to be going on with. The J Miller Cajun set and Bristol sessions set remain top of my list. The Gonna Shake This Shack series also has plenty of titles I desire. Melbourne's Hound Dog's Bop Shop has closed at Christmas so any purchases of these kind of sets will be online for me from now on. Denys stocked so many BF titles - including surely the biggest selection of box sets in a retail operation outside the warehouse in Germany - I wonder if BF will doing anything in Australia to plug the gap in Australia.

Yes, I'd find that damn disappointing, too.

It's funny I forget about them! I was even born in Abbeville. They are sort of obscure. That is kinda funny, hey! My first go round with cajun, the Broven book and various trips to Louisiana, they were definitely under my radar.

Did the obvious thing and looked up the western swing entry at wikipedia. It mentions this 1929 recording: Pretty damn cool! He worked with Dalhart, too! You know you're getting arcane when the youtube clip you call up has ... 70 views!

"Western" and "Southern" and "Southwestern" are three things that too easily get lumped together by those who don't/won't know any better. It's...complicated, to put it mildly. I'll refer to you to this quote from Vernon Dalhart, as found in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Dalhart Lots to think about there...lots. Yes, lots. I love doing so! My impression has always been that despite his southern ancestry, Dalhart was a straight pop singer who became a country singer by happy opportunism. Thanks, Neal. Have most of those folks in tha racks, too, as you know. What about the 1939 stuff by the Alley Boys of Abbeville? Hard-swinging stuff, that!

Yes, agree. But Jones AFAIK is unrepresnted at present on CD. Allen what you say about the Brown book is utterly true, as it is pretty much all books on such figures. The Wills bio has a great 1944 photo of some of the Playboys sitting in a NY club with Red Allen, JC Higginbotham, Ben Webster and others. But it's been so long since I read it I can't recall if it goes further than the author's early words on Bob picking up the black spirit while picking cotton. Gagging material a bit, that, even if true. Yes, have their stuff, too. 1939 but unable to find out anything about history to that point. Very jazzy and swinging! I was really struck by how flowing a lot of their stuff was time-wise. Seemed a bit unusual for the genre at that time, which has me wondering if they should be considered real "western swing", or maybe "country jazz" instead... But in the end, who cares, right? Yes, there's debate about that - same with Smoky Wood. As you say it doesn't matter, but still interesting. But western swing is such a brilliant invention, like Allen and J.A.W. I am forever left wondering about dynamics and culture that produced it - not just musical, but also social, cultural and - yes - racial.

Hi J.A.W. - I have cuts by all those artists. I'm just wondering where and when and by whom it all came together before the landmark recording sessions. Maybe the unrecorded Doughboys with both Wills and Brown. I did some research about that many years ago, but I don't have my notes anymore, so I'm afraid I can't help you. Any idea if there's a (good) general history of Western Swing? Never could find one. Nope - no such thing, more's the pity.

Yes, have their stuff, too. 1939 but unable to find out anything about history to that point. Very jazzy and swinging!

Hi J.A.W. - I have cuts by all those artists. I'm just wondering where and when and by whom it all came together before the landmark recording sessions. Maybe the unrecorded Doughboys with both Wills and Brown.