Ricko

As I'm sure you know the original cd release of the Lp was not taken from the Avakian tapes and offers alternate takes. Were they unedited? Sorry for the delay in response but what I have are the raw session tapes from the Handy album, everything that survives, at least. The "alternates" on the 1997 disc are edited from those tapes. Thus, as I wrote, I have over 30 minutes of takes from "Loveless Love" and "Long Gone" from which Avakian edited out the best six or seven minutes for use on the CD. And even 43 years later, Avakian still believed in splicing as the concluding three-chorus rideout on the alternate "Loveless Love" is actually a composite made from two completely different unissued alternates from the session tapes! Wishing everyone a Cool Yule, Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

More gold, Chris! I know that must look like a lot scribbling to many, but I have the surviving session tapes for the Handy album and this is going to make listening to them even more fascinating. Interestingly, Avakian did so much editing and splicing that all that survives on the tapes are all the scraps he DIDN'T use. Thus, sometimes, in the middle of a song, eight bars will mysteriously disappear, meaning that George liked what he heard in those eight bars and used it on the final product. I sometimes dream that Sony will give the Handy album the deluxe treatment they just gave Kind of Blue, possibly in 2014, the 60 year anniversary. Avakian knew something special was happening and let the tapes roll to catch over 30 minutes of rehearsal and alternate takes on both "Loveless Love" and "Long Gone," something that should really be made public instead of enjoyed in private by freaks like me. If you have any more of these recording notes, Chris, please share them because they might perhaps untangle the mess that is Armstrong's 1955-1956 Columbia period. George recorded so much and seemed interested only in what got released. Even in the series of letters, George made huge errors in that last September memo, saying stuff like he had a "Black and Blue" from Amsterdam (not true) and a "Blueberry Hill" from Chicago (also not true) and that was mere months after those recordings were made. Only in the Milano sheets, the Amsterdam notes and the Handy scrawl is the truth. I, and a few European discographers, might be the only ones left who care, but anything else you have from the period is greatly appreciated. Thanks! Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

And don't forget Hines's work with Armstrong during the same period: December 4, 1928 - No (Papa, No) and Basin Street Blues December 5, 1928 - No One Else But You, Beau Koo Jack, Save It Pretty Mama and Weather Bird December 8, 1928 - Muggles December 11, 1928 - Lillie Delk Christian session with Armstrong and Jimmie Noone - I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby, Sweethearts On Parade and I Must Have That Man December 12, 1928 - Heah Me Talin' To Ya, St. James Infirmary, Tight Like This Not a bad run, eh? Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

So there's nothing in the file about why they couldn't or didn't do a deal? Have you got part 2 knocking about under a pile of other stuff, Chris? MG I don't know, MG, I sure as hell saw everything dissolve before my eyes. Everything was so happy in those early letters, but once that "Six Foot Four" copyright came up, they were doomed. And "Six Foot Four" is such a dopey song! I give Avakian credit, though, for trying to beat Glaser at his own game. By March 27, Avakian felt like he was calling Glaser on "his last bluff." He wrote, "Unfortunately I think Joe will save face by cutting Louis' throat; i.e., keeping Louis off Columbia, which is as ridiculous a thing as Glaser ever will have done because I think he knows perfectly well that Louis badly wants to, and should be, with Columbia." But the truth is, Avakian wasn't helping matters regarding "Six Foot Four," which he now wanted Armstrong's name off of completely. Avakian delivered a hard-line stance and rightly dared Glaser to compare what Decca did for Armstrong to what Columbia was doing for Armstrong. However, when Glaser's accountant Dave Gold returned with the Decca/Columbia comparisons, he came back with the information that Armstrong made more money from Decca (because he had a 20 year back catalogue!), and since Glaser cared so much about the bottom line, well, that was one of the final nails in the coffin. Glaser wrote, "Even though you insist we received more from Columbia, the fact remains that comparatively we received considerably more fro Decca., especially on our worldwide distribution" and "I am not interested in any contract with Columbia." Perhaps realizing he pushed too far, Avakian was backed into a corner. On April 2, he wrote to (Columbia Presidents) Conkling and Liberson, "If we can agree to a compromise on he subject of the 'Faithful Hussar' and 'Six Foot Four' copyrights, there is no further obstacle to making a term contract with Louis Armstrong." But they didn't. At the end of May, Glaser seemed irate about the Newport flap, too, finding out that Avakian was going to take money out of Armstrong's royalties to pay George Wein for the opportunity to record Pops there. Finally, Avakian tried to saving everything by agreeing to publish "Six Foot Four" with International, as Glaser originally wanted, but it was too little, too late. Thus, when Avakian wrote on July 17, "I think we are through, in capital letters and underlined thickly, with Mr. Glaser," that was IT. And it was as the Lewisohn Stadium material recorded July 14 proved to be it. Armstrong was back with Decca by the end of the year. So I'm sure there's a little more that's missed - some phone calls or fiery in-person chats between Avakian and Glaser - but I think overall, Chris's letters chart the downfall dramatically. I still don't know how to feel about it as I worship everything Armstrong did for Columbia. But that contract would have been an exclusive one for 10 years so no Verve sessions, no Ella, no Oscar Peterson, no Decca Autobiography, no Louis and the Good Book, no Dukes of Dixieland sessions, not even Dolly (though, as I've written before, there would have been an Ellington album but it would have been a reversal: Armstrong in the Ellington trumpet section! The mouth waters...). I guess we can be thankful for what we have, though as I'll continue to gripe until Sony/Legacy releases more from their vaults such as the Amsterdam concert Chris posted the notes for. I have that complete concert on CD, taken from a recording made directly from the sound system and it's a dynamite night with the prime edition of the band. Yet it'll continue to rot in the vaults until someone over there comes to their senses. Thanks again Chris and if you keep coming across any more scraps, please share them! Ricky

Granz! The end is near! Avakian recorded the Lewisohn show on July 14 that was it. Granz got Armstrong for a Hollywood Bowl show on August 15 (Armstrong's set still unreleased but it's pretty incredible, surviving in gorgeous sound) and the first Verve date with Ella on August 16. That would be it for Columbia for good and the beginning of the free agent period in Armstrong's career. Even though I know how it winds up, I'm fascinated by seeing how it went down, including these contract disputes. Treasures... Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Perhaps "control" was too strong, but I did use that story about Armstrong phoning Glaser for money to illustrate that Armstrong was no dummy. I got the story from Ernie Anderson, who set it up by writing, "We were on the road one night in Chicago [oops, not Europe, had to dig it out again] when Louis decided to prove to me once and for all that he could get a fair deal out of Joe Glaser. He told me that he was going to do something that he often did when he thought Joe was taking advantage of him." So maybe he didn't "control" Glaser, but Armstrong knew his importance and knew that Glaser would jump hurdles for him because without him, Glaser would be nothing. Regarding what was left behind, Anderson wrote, "But, in some mysterious way, Joe's will made Louis a rich man." Of course, there were catches (it is Glaser, after all): half of what Louis was supposed to get went right back to the agency...with commission! (Ah, Louis, still paying into ABC even when Glaser died.) "Still," Anderson wrote, 'Louis's share amounted to a considerable sum. He told Bobby Hackett, who was very close to him, that it amounted to 'a bit more than two million dollars.' It was not all in cash, one item was a piece of prime real estate on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills." So, I'm sure Louis could have had more if Glaser was an honest guy (goodness knows he made Glaser much more than two million dollars), but I don't think Louis looked at it that way. He was born in a shack in New Orleans and through his own hard work, talent and Glaser's guidance, never had to worry about money (or mob threats) from 1935 until his death. And I like how he wouldn't take crap from Glaser, occasionally making demands for things he didn't even need, just to remind him that he was too important to Glaser's well-being to take for granted. (There's a wonderful letter in Thomas Brothers's "Louis Armstrong In His Own Words" from Armstrong to Glaser in 1955 that really shows how Louis, half-jokingly and quite devilishly agrees to play the latest series of dates Glaser has booked ONLY IF Glaser meets his demands, including cars for friends and money for a woman who he though was the father of his baby. I'm sure Glaser listened and I'm sure Armstrong played the dates.) And yes, those are two quite different signatures, especially the last name. I'm sure he dictated his letters and maybe he was sometimes in such a huff, he couldn't even be bothered to sign his own name? Who knows, I know I just want more! Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

A couple of more short things. First, in the letter of May 11, George writes the he "read the script by Jack Tracy." Tracy was the editor of Down Beat in this period (and also the author of a particularly scathing review of Armstrong's Newport set in July of 1956, just a month after the Hayes concert). I love when, on the complete Chicago Concert set, Armstrong gets pissed with all scripted stuff and cuts off "Manhattan" abruptly by going into "Sleepy Time," then announcing a short intermission...even though Hayes still had more scrip to read! It's proof that Pops didn't like anyone or anything messing with his show. In earlier letters, both Glaser and Avakian agreed that Armstrong should play some new repertoire; Glaser said he'd get Armstrong to do it and Avakian even suggested songs. But, as I posted last night, Armstrong had zero free time in this period. He gave quick one-chorus run-throughs of "Memphis Blues" and "Frankie and Johnny" and the beginning and played the hesitant "Manhattan" until he cut an end to the bullshit and called his own intermission, done with the script. Also, I've been so into the letters, that I went back to reread one and saw this written by Chris on November 30: "Thanks, Ricko, it's great that you can fill in the gaps. Apropos Glaser, Earl Hines told me that he had such a command over Louis that Louis would sleep on the front lawn of his house if Joe told him to. Earl also told me that Joe deliberately worked to create friction between the All-Stars because he feared they might unite against him. To this end, said Earl, Joe had his (Earl's) belongings placed in Louis' dressing room when they got to Paris. Also a Glaser gofer (don't recall the name) was instructed to distribute false rumors among the band members, designed to create mutual animosity." It's true that Armstrong would only do something if Glaser okay'd it. But at the same time, he also had control over Glaser. Ernie Anderson remembered being with Armstrong in Europe and watching Armstrong, in a purposeful demonstration of his power, phone Glaser--even though it was 4 in the morning in New York--just to tell him that the concerts were sold out and he could use some more money. Glaser, initially full of panic, said he'd see what he could do. The next day, Armstrong received a telegram with $2,500. So it worked both ways. And the Glaser gofer was the infamous Pierre "Frenchy" Tallerie. In all my research, I've never found a kind word about Frenchy. He once told Sid Catlett that Armstrong said stuff about him (a lie), causing Catlett to seek out Armstrong and begin choking him. It was broken up and Armstrong told him it was a lie. Catlett cried. Frenchy also got Dick Cary fired. Cary had leg cramps and once had to leave the stage, not a big deal because Hines was there (when Hines was hired, they did a three-week stand at the Roxy with two pianos). Frenchy told Glaser Cary had to leave because he was a drug addict. Cary was fired. Frenchy was also the guy who told the press that Armstrong didn't mean what he said after the Little Rock comments in 1957...Armstrong's rebuttal was pretty strong, to say the leave. Finally, a bass player, Irv Manning, punched Frenchy in the face in 1961. Manning was fired but Armstrong admirers still give Manning credit for that. To quote Barney Bigard, Frenchy was "a real asshole." Sums it up... Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

I know I'm late to the party but a couple of quick hits before going to bed (spent most of the day researching, writing and editing music for a massive Armstrong blog tomorrow on the 80th anniversary of the first recording of "Basin Street Blue"): Chirs, I don't know who Joe Moore is/was but I'll try to remember to ask George next time I see him. And regarding why Columbia would pay Armstrong so much even though he only had one hit record and one hit album, I think Chris hit the nail on the head when he said Armstrong was no flash in the pan. Armstrong was already seen as a legend and what's more, was going though a new period of unprecedented popularity. He was always popular but just look at what we've seen in the short period of time covered by these letters: *September 1955, Mack the Knife becomes a huge hit (George today says that the figures published in the charts didn't represent things like the Columbia Record Club. He can attest that Armstrong's "Mack" sold over a million copies when all of that is factored in) *Leaves on a world tour the following day. Mob scenes and riots occur wherever he goes, making headlines around the world *George Avakian sees a great idea for an album so he convinces Columbia to record some material *Avakian sees Edward R. Murrow in Europe, who asks what George is doing there. George tells him, Murrow is interested and starts following Pops around, interviewing him in Paris and turning it into a 30 minute segment on the very popular "See it Now." *Armstrong returns from Europe in December and almost immediately starts filming his scenes for "High Society," a big box office hit when it's recorded *By this point "Mack" is a smash and Pops is playing it every night *He embarks on the tour with Woody Herman, playing one-nighters and selling out venues like Carnegie Hall *He's a hit in Australia in April *That same month, as quoted in one of the letters, Avakian says that no album has ever been given quite the send off as "Ambassador Satch" *In May, he goes to England for the first time in over two decades and is a smash (especially when he dedicates a number to Princess Margaret and makes more headlines) *Then it's off to Africa, Murrow with him all the way for the eventual feature length documentary "Satchmo the Great" *Back home, it's off to Chicago for the Helen Hayes show *Then a summer on the festival circuit, including Newport, as well as sharing a bill in front of tens of thousands at Lewisohn Stadium, with the concert arrangement of "St. Louis Blues" as the finale *TV appearances all the time, including Ed Sullivan Everything I just listed occurred in about a ten-month span. Armstrong was on top of the world. So even without a lot of bona fide hits, who wouldn't want to sign up such a hot artist as Pops at the time? No wonder Glaser (and sorry Dan for ruining the end!) wisened up and made Armstrong a free agent. Ricky

Crazy stuff, Chris. I knew Avakian wanted Armstrong at Columbia but I never knew what kind of contract they were willing to offer him. Five years exclusivity with a $250,000 advance? How could Glaser not jump on that? I know he was offended by the "Faithful Hussar" flap but also, Armstrong's popularity was at an all-time high and I think Glaser wanted to test the free agent waters, to use a sports term. Thus, Columbia albums in 1956, Decca in 1957 and 1958, Verve in 1956 and 1957 and Audio Fidelity in 1959 and 1960. That's four different labels in the same period of time Armstrong would have been exclusive to Columbia. The mind boggles because I know Avakian had some wonderful ideas for Pops (such as the album with the Ellington Orchestra that I mentioned earlier) but then we wouldn't have gotten the Autobiography or the Verve material. Please keep 'em coming, Chris, because I know the end is near (Columbia recorded the London trip for "Satchmo the Great," the June 1 Helen Hayes concert, Armstrong's Newport set in July and a date at Lewisohn Stadium the following week and that was IT) and I can't wait to see how the relationship officially broke down. Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Jim Conkling was president of Columbia Records in the 50s. Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Wow, I didn't go on the computer for about a day and I'm still catching up on these treasures. Here's some relevant info/comments/nothingness: *The Oscar Cohen/Forest Whitaker film news broke in early October. A couple of weeks earlier, Charles S. Dutton announced that he is co-producing with Quincy Jones a six-hour miniseries on Armstrong's entire life for HBO that will be written and directed by Jon Sayles. Sayles's involvement immediately made it exciting and HBO usually does very well with extended mini-biopics, such as the multi-award winning "John Adams." However, Dutton said they are getting the rights to about 15 songs...in six hours...which, to me, sounds like a joke. However, since the Whitaker announcement, I haven't read any more about the Dutton/Quincy experiment. Whitaker's been gaining speed but it is going to be a standard biopic for the big screen and boiling Armstrong's life down to about two hours is a little ridiculous. Stay tuned... *Regarding Glaser, Chris said that Glaser pretty much owed everything to Louis and that's one million percent correct. People sometimes like to make Glaser the bad guy for working Pops too hard but as I wrote elsewhere, Armstrong wanted it that way. But it's not like Glaser was living the high life when Armstrong hired him. Both of them were at rock bottom. Glaser was big in the Capon syndicate in the 20s but he was arrested and put on trial twice, once for beating a woman and once for sleeping with an underage girl (the legendary Sidney Korshak got Glaser off and later came to collect his repayment by privately taking over Associated Booking in 1962 with no questions asked). When the depression hit and prohibition was repealed, Glaser was down and out. Meanwhile, Armstrong was big in the early 30s but not huge. He was a big seller for OKeh and that label and Victor waged a vicious bidding war for Armstrong's services in 1932. Time magazine profiled Armstrong that year and he also appeared in "Rhapsody and Black and Blue" as well as the Betty Boop cartoon. He even made it to Europe. But, he also was constantly on the run from the mob, he couldn't appear in New York and Chicago, he once had gangsters threaten him at gunpoint in his dressing room. He wasn't in any major motion pictures and he couldn't really hold a band of his own together either. His lips blew out on him, he ran out of money, he had a terrible fallout with his hood manager Johnny Collins and he had to lay low in Europe from end of 1933 to the beginning of 1935. When he was ready to come back to America, he had nothing. But he always liked Glaser and knew that Glaser could make his mob-past disappear. Glaser had never managed a band but threw everything into and the rest is history. By the end of 1935, Armstrong had a band, was making headlines in New York and recording pop songs for Decca. The next year, his name was above the title in "Pennies From Heaven," the start of a major motion picture career. In 1937, he took over the Fleischmann's Yeast Show, breaking down more barriers and creating some incredible music, as can be heard on the recent CD of these performances. Because the Decca period has been so neglected (Mosaic to the rescue!), people forget about these years in Armstrong's career but he was huge and it all had to do with Glaser's maneuvers. Hell, the history books like to talk about the sensation Benny Goodman had at the Paramount in 1937 but no one talks about the fact that two weeks later, Armstrong played the Paramount and obliterated Goodman's record. Glaser was in the money, Pops's troubles were behind him and they all lived happily ever after. So the fact is that both men needed each other both men made the other a helluva lot of money. Whatever Glaser's flaws were (and God knows he had 'em), that cannot be denied. *Regarding Chris's letters, it was interesting to see that Decca granted permission for "Someday You'll Be Sorry" to be released because as I wrote yesterday, it didn't make the final cut on "Ambassador Satch," not being released until 2000. *If you'd like to sample the Armstrong/Woody Herman tour, Armstrong's set from the Grand Rapids, Michigan show was released on the GHB label as "Jazz Is Back In Grand Rapids," a solid example of the All Stars of the period (my favorite edition) that includes a final jam on "The Saints" with Herman's entire band. (Columbia recorded the Carnegie Hall concert and used "Mack the Knife" from it on the "Satchmo the Great" LP but the rest of it is still stuck in the vaults. I've heard it and it's a very good show with a loving atmosphere, including some humorous shout-outs to "Mr. Glaser" in the audience.) *I don't think I have to point it out, but the whole Helen Hayes/Medina Tempo show was issued decades later on Columbia as "Chicago Concert." Hayes's narration has been edited out but it's a terrific night with the group. Though Avakian had his complaints about the repertoire, it's the kind of show that you can look its two discs of content, and grasp just what a large band book the group had at this point. I mean, just look at the omissions: "Jeepers Creepers," "Blueberry Hill," "Kiss to Build a Dream On," "La Vie En Rose," "C'est Si Bon," "Someday," "Ole Miss," "Muskrat Ramble," "Tin Roof Blues," "St. Louis Blues" and so on and so forth. The price of the CDs have gone through the roof but you can download both discs at Amazon for $16.99. *Indeed, the All Stars headed to Australia, missing Kelly's wedding. While there, they appeared on the Ampol Show, turning in some of their most scorching performances of the period, while Pops indulged in some very funny dialogue with the show's host, Jack Davey. The entire show was uploaded on a blog and can be downloaded and listened to here: http://ade42.blogspot.com/2008/08/louis-ar...ited-ampol.html Keep those cards and letters coming, Chris! Yours in Pops, Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

More fascinating Armstrong-stuff from Chris. First, George was close with Eli's Chosen Six (I think he wrote about them somewhere...maybe in the afterword to the Mosaic Condon booklet?) so that has to be the Dick Voigt in question. Regarding the issued repertoire, as Dan questioned, here's how it went down. By the time of George and Glaser's correspondence, all the recording for "Ambassador Satch" had been done. George recorded an entire concert in Amsterdam, an after hours session in an Italian movie theater in front of a small group of Italian fans and a studio session in Hollywood in January 1956. "Sleepy Time" was recorded at the Amsterdam concert and held off of "Ambassador Satch," perhaps because of the Decca restriction. However, George got around this the following year by issuing it at the start of the "Satchmo the Great" album, the official soundtrack of the Edward R. Murrow film. "Tin Roof Blues" was also recorded at the concert but Decca recorded and released TWO versions of the tune that same year, once in the studio and once live at the Crescendo. They issued the Crescendo version and sat on the studio until it eventually came out on an LP. However, Glaser must have won that battle as "Tin Roof" appeared on "Ambassador Satch," marking two major live releases of the tune within about a year. "Someday You'll Be Sorry" was recorded at the after hours Milan session but this time Decca must have put its foot down. They had a studio version of it from 1953 and they issued a live performance of it also from the Crescendo Club. It eventually was added to the 2000 reissue of "Ambassador Satch" on Sony, but George lost that battle in 1956. Thus, they must have worked it out on a case by case basis and George only won with "Tin Roof Blues." However, I sometimes wonder if George won a little bit when it came time to Decca's "Autobiography" project at the end of 1956. For all the great tunes in that massive set, Decca didn't record any of the material George produced from 1954 to 1956, including old hits like "St. Louis Blues," "Ain't Misbehavin,'" "Blue Turning Grey Over You," "Squeeze Me," "Keepin' Out Of Mischief," "West End Blues," "Tiger Rag" and "Muskrat Ramble" (though the set did include a live version of that last tune from 1947). Very interesting stuff...more, Chris, more! Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Allen hit the nail on the head. Glaser made his mistakes: shooting down albums with Gil Evans, Dizzy and the Ellington orchestra (I've seen George Avakian in tears about this missed opportunity), as well as not letting the cameras film "The Real Ambassadors" in its only live performance. But the deeper my research got, the more I realized that Glaser was a saint to Pops and could do no wrong. I've done a lot of research in the black press and it's incredible seeing in the mid-to-late-30s, how active Glaser was in promoting Armstrong. He'd write nasty letters if a writer got something wrong about Armstrong, he'd travel with the band on the one-nighters, he'd constantly keep his name in the press. Once Associated Booking got huge, Glaser backed off a tiny bit, content to stay in New York and let slime like Frenchy Tallerie be road manager. But Armstrong was always his prized client and did everything in his power to make those final 36 years of Armstrong's life as smooth as possible. He never worried about money, he made popular records, appeared in huge movies and rarely had a day off...just the way he liked it (Jewel Brown told me of Pops talking on the bus about how he literally wanted to die on stage like Sid Catlett...he thought that was a great way to go). So, as Allen wrote, Armstrong could have easily lived ten more years if he wasn't pushed so hard, but it was the only thing that made him happy, even though younger All Stars like Billy Kyle and Buster Bailey were dying around him. Back to records for a minute. Glaser set them up and only had one thing in consideration: money, money, money. But Pops could veto something if it was REALLY horrible. Apparently, Victor gave him some stuff to record before the ban of 1948 and Armstrong spoke out and said he didn't like any of it and chose not to record it, rather than doing a quicky date to squeeze something in before the ban. And in the documentary, "Jazz: The Intimate Art," from 1968, Armstrong is shown in the recording studio with composer George Weiss and arrange Dick Jacobs, clearly unhappy with a song, "Rose." Glaser is nowhere around and in the end, Armstrong says there's nothing he could do it. Weiss finds another song and "Rose" died right there. And back to the All Stars for a minute, Armstrong was so proud of those songs that he played night after night that he once gave an interview where he said, he used to tell record producers (I don't have the exact quote but this is a paraphrase), "Gee, the tunes we're playing every night are tearing up the audience. Maybe we can record some of them because we know how much the audiences love them." (Clearly a paraphrase, that doesn't sound like Pops at all!) But instead, the producers kept saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah" and giving him more pop songs to finally get a hit. Armstrong felt a breakthrough in 1955 and was very, very proud of "Ambassador Satch" and the Crescendo Club album and I'm sure he might have done more official recordings with the All Stars like that but Glaser soon began pricing them too high, leading to the group staying out of the studios for over two years from late 1961 to late 1963. But regardless, if it's out on a record, there's a good chance that Armstrong enjoyed making it...and Glaser enjoyed counting the money made from it. A match made in heaven! Ricky dippermouth.blogspot.com

Couldn't resist making an Armstrong suggestion as there's still lots of live material from the mid-50s that is stuck in Sony's vaults. There's complete concerts/sessions from the "Ambassador Satch" album, Lewisohn Stadium 1956 (where Pops and Leonard Bernstein did "St. Louis Blues") and the 1958 Newport set with the Teagarden/Bobby Hackett reunion, as shown in "Jazz On a Summer's Day." Sony's released two of the 1958 tracks on unrelated compilations, both in gorgeous stereo sound. As far as the "Ambassador Satch" material I know it exists because (shhhhh) I have it in varying sound quality. Miles coughs and Sony gives him a box set but great live Pops continues to rot away. Vote for Pops! (Six big ones as I write this.) Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

I have all that exists from the "Satch Plays Fats" session tapes, about 3 1/2 hours of material. I think the All Stars sound great and Pops is magnificent on take after take...BUT Barney Bigard is terrible. Awful. Bored out of his mind and going through the motions. Deems practically calls attention to it with his drumming on the master takes. Listen to when Bigard trades with Trummy on something like "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now." As issued, Deems gives Trummy a heavy backbeat and slashes his cymbals but when Bigard's up, Deems plays like he's trying not to wake the neighbors. Well, it wasn't always like that. On the first takes, Bigard went first and Deems drove them both equally. But Bigard is so bored, it rubs off on Trummy, who also plays like he's falling asleep. However, after a few takes, everything changed, though unfortunately, the tape wasn't running to catch any studio conversations. Neverthess, around take five, Trummy began leading off and Deems began switching his backing, though Barney still played on fumes, even squeaking like an amateur on one take. It was like that on all nine tunes. I've gotten to know Avakian quite well in preparing for my book and he still has some regrets about the album. First, Armstrong was in the middle of yet another killer stretch of one-nighters and only had time to do nine tunes, many of which he obviously already knew by heart. Avakian would have loved one more session and originally, he wanted to do material like "Willow Tree," "I Hate to Leave You Now" and a few others, but they just didn't have the time. Still, he's quite proud of the album, especially "Blue Turning Grey" and "Black and Blue." But trust me, after listening to the session tapes, Avakian did a magical job in making Barney seem coherent. If I spent two straight weeks doing editing (the final session was May 3 and Avakian wrote to Glaser on May 17 saying it's done), I might have complained about the band being "not tremendous, too." By the way, Avakian wrote a long essay for reissue of "Satch Play Fats" in 2000. It's really great but Sony didn't use it for some reason and now Avakian's on the outs with them. Sony used those four "edited" session takes on the disc, but trust me, there's a lot more. If Sony had any respect for Armstrong, they'd be doing boxes with his mid-50s material like they have done for Miles all these years. Maybe one day... Keep the letters coming, Chris! Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Smith plays regularly in Japan with Yoshio Toyama, the "Japanese Satchmo." Toyama brought his entire band to the Satchmo Summerfest in New Orleans this past August, all local Japanese musicians and Smith. I saw him at an outdoor birthday party for Armstrong, playing just snare drum, as he backed a duo of Toyama and Kermit Ruffins. Smith sounded right at home, playing some very authentic snare, though he even sounded better on his full kit as the festival featured Toyama's group, The Dixie Saints, twice. He swung his ass off on tunes like "Bye and Bye," "Chinatown" and "The Saints," material I don't think he really played before he went to Japan. I had no idea it was even him at first but he looked good and sounded great. If anyone has any specific questions, I keep in touch frequently with Toyama via e-mail and could send along any questions or comments. Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Beat me to it by a few hours! I spent time with Dan Morgenstern at Birdland last night and he told about the Mosaic set as "breaking news." He's doing the notes and told me that he just heard that he's going to have them done sooner than originally anticipated. Apparently, something (I don't know what) on Mosaic's future projects list fell through and now the Armstrong set is being moved up to possibly sometime next year. As J.A.W. stated, it will have 7 CDs but Dan said that no new alternates were found except another take of the legendary 1938 "Stuttin' With Some Barbecue," which is almost identical to the issued master. Still, literally two hours before breaking the news, I was having a conversation in which I complained about the lack of respect the Decca years have always received and how the United States has never put out a complete release of the Armstrong's 1930s Deccas as the peerless Swedish Ambassador label did. Oops! Spoke too soon... (For those keeping score with my infrequent postings, I was in the city to officially sign a contract. My book on Armstrong's later years will be out in 2010 and is going to be published by Pantheon, who did Dan's book. The Louis Armstrong Renaissance is upon us, my friends. My book, Terry Teachout's book, Forest Whitaker's big screen biopic, the John Sayles-Qunicy Jones-Charles S. Dutton HBO six-hour miniseries, a lavish new Visitor's Center at the Armstrong House in Corona, a Mosaic box set...everything I listed is taking place between 2009 and 2010. I wouldn't have it any other way!) Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Nice, Rob, glad you're enjoying the discs. I've listened to the broadcasts approximately 764 times since I received a copy in May and I keep hearing new things to marvel at. "Prelude to a Stomp" is a bitch! Thanks for the comment, too... Yours in Pops Ricky

I wrote a small dissertation about the Fleischmann's set on my Armstrong blog: http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2008/07/hi...broadcasts.html Don't pay attention to the end, where I lament the fact that the set was so difficult to find. It took some time, but Michael Cogswell finally convinced the Jazz Heritage Society to let it out of their tight grips and actually offer it to members of the general public. I believe the Jazz Store website is the only non-JHS website offering the package, which is worth the price for Dan Morgenstern's typically authoritative notes (though he makes two small errors I correct in my blog). This is historic stuff, my friends, going a long way towards removing the Luis Russell band from the critical purgatory they've been stuck in regarding their work with Armstrong for over 70 years. Buy it! Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

The quote appears in Thomas Brothers's book, "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans" on page 292: "The first chorus I play the melody. The second chorus I plays the melody round the melody, and the third chorus I routines." Hope this helps! Ricky Riccardi dippermouth.blogspot.com

Hi Bluesbro. I don't have the CD in question, but I have all the tracks. After listening to the samples on Itunes, it seems to be an odd mix of mid-50s Columbia material, a healthy sample from two concerts on the French Rivera in 1967 and other odds and ends including studio dates and one 1929 classic thrown in for good measure. Here's the track-by-track breakdown: 1. A Kiss To Build A Dream On - From 1967 at Juan-Les Pins. Pops, Tyree Glenn, Joe Muranyi, Marty Napoleon, Buddy Catlett, Danny Barcelona 2. Mack The Knife - Also from the 1967 concert at Juan-Les Pins. 3. Hello Dolly - Also from the 1967 concert at Juan-Les Pins. 4. Jeepers Creepers - This is from the 1964 "Hello, Dolly" album with Pops, Russell "Big Chief" Moore, Joe Darensbourg, Billy Kyle, Arvell Shaw and Danny Barcelona 5. Ain't Misbehavin' - This is the 1955 Columbia studio version from Satch Plays Fats: Pops, Trummy, Barney, Billy Kyle, Arvell Shaw, Barrett Deems 6. Dream A Little Dream Of Me - Decca studio version with Ella from August 25, 1950; Sy Oliver arrangement 7. On The Sunny Side Of The Street - This is from the "Chicago Concert" of June 1, 1956, issued by Columbia; Pops, Trummy, Edmond Hall, Kyle, Dale Jones, Deems 8. C'est Si Bon - Comes from a Chicago concert issued on Storyville from August 1, 1962. Pops, Trummy, Joe Darensbourg, Kyle, Billy Cronk, Danny Barcelona 9. When It's Sleepy Time Down South - Also from the 1967 concert at Juan-Les Pins. 10. Blueberry Hill - Also from the 1967 Juan-Les Pins concerts. 11. High Society - This is from one of my favorite All Stars concerts, one where the date and exact location is unknown (the old LP says Cornell 1954, but it's wrong). It features a 1953 edition of the All Stars that did not last long but it one of the finest: Pops, Trummy, Barney, Marty Napoleon, Milt Hinton and Cozy Cole 12. That's My Desire - Also from the 1967 concert at Juan-Les Pins. 13. St. Louis Blues - 1929 version with Luis Russell's big band 14. When The Saints Go Marching In - Also from the 1967 concert at Juan-Les Pins. 15. King Porter Stomp - This is from an Eddie Condon Floor Show with Pops, Teagarden, Peanuts Hucko, Dick Cary, Arvell Shaw and Sid Catlett, November 23, 1948 16. Tiger Rag - This is the 1955 Ambassador Satch version from Columbia, recorded in a movie theater in Italy. Pops, Trummy, Edmond Hall, Kyle, Shaw, Deems Hope this helps! And if you're digging more Pops, check out my all-Armstrong blog at dippermouth.blogspot.com. Thanks! Red beans and ricely yours, Ricky Riccardi

Right, I just wanted to show how Mosaic could have almost squeezed the complete Basie Columbia recordings with Young in the band onto four discs, including the material where Young doesn't solo but is present in the section. Alas, I was dead wrong, haha. My Basie collection is missing the Neatwork discs of alternate takes and after looking them up on Amazon, they include 25, count 'em, 25 more alternates of Basie's Columbia period that I have never heard. NOW add in Mosaic's 13 new discoveries and that brings the grand total to to 126 tracks, which would require six discs. Thus, completists like myself will have to sit and stew for a while, but I'll still preorder this box as soon as it's available. (And by the way, that was just a selection taken from my Pres Itunes playlist...the complete thing runs to 859 tracks in chronological order! Can never have too much Pres...) Ricky dippermouth.blogspot.com

Right, I just wanted to show how Mosaic could have almost squeezed the complete Basie Columbia recordings with Young in the band onto four discs, including the material where Young doesn't solo but is present in the section. Alas, I was dead wrong, haha. My Basie collection is missing the Neatwork discs of alternate takes and after looking them up on Amazon, they include 25, count 'em, 25 more alternates of Basie's Columbia period that I have never heard. NOW add in Mosaic's 13 new discoveries and that brings the grand total to to 126 tracks, which would require six discs. Thus, completists like myself will have to sit and stew for a while, but I'll still preorder this box as soon as it's available. (And by the way, that was just a selection taken from my Pres Itunes playlist...the complete thing runs to 859 tracks in chronological order! Can never have too much Pres...) Ricky dippermouth.blogspot.com

Damn, and it's closer than one might think. I have a near complete Lester Young playlist on my Itunes. I pulled out the Sony owned Basie material from 1936 to 1940 and it came out to 88 tracks. That includes all known alternates to this point. Thus, if you average three minutes a cut, four discs could have easily held 22 tracks each. Now add in the 13 previously unissued alternates and well, kiss the "complete" idea goodbye. I'm thankful for the alternates and I know I'll preorder this box mainly for them, but man, we were SO CLOSE to getting Basie's complete Columbia output with Pres, which would have been a nice start. Just for the sake of argument, I'll include the 88 songs Columbia Basie-Pres takes I know of. Ricky dippermouth.blogspot.com 1. Shoe Shine Boy – Jones-Smith Inc. 2. Shoe Shine Boy –alt 3. Evenin’ 4. Boogie Woogie (I May Be Wrong) 5. Oh, Lady Be Good 6. I Ain’t Got Nobody – Basie’s Bad Boys 7. I Ain’t Got Nobody –alt 8. Going to Chicago 9. Going to Chicago –alt 10. Live and Love Tonight 11. Love Me Or Leave Me 12. What Goes Up Must Come Down – Basie Orchestra 13. Rock-A—Bye Basie 14. Baby, Don’t Tell On Me 15. One Hour 16. Taxi War Dance 17. Don’t Worry About Me 18. Jump For Me 19. And The Angels Sing 20. If I Didn’t Care 21. Twelfth Street Rag 22. Miss Thing Part 1 23. Miss Thing Part 2 24. Lonesome Miss Pretty 25. Bolero At The Savoy 26. Bolero At The Savoy –alt 27. Nobody Knows – alt 28. Nobody Knows 29. Pound Cake 30. You Can Count On Me 31. You & Your Love 32. How Long Blues 33. Sub-Deb Blues 34. China Boy – Glen Hardmann 35. Exactly Like You 36. Exactly Like You –alt 37. On The Sunny Side of the Street 38. Upright Organ Blues 39. Who? 40. Jazz Me Blues 41. Moonlight Serenade – Basie Orchestra 42. Song Of The Islands 43. I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me 44. Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie 45. Dickie’s Dream –alt – Kansas City Seven 46. Dickie’s Dream –alt 47. Dickie’s Dream 48. Lester Leaps In –alt 49. Lester Leaps In 50. The Apple Jump – Basie Orchestra 51. I Left My Baby 52. Riff Inerlude 53. Volcano 54. Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea 55. Ham ‘N’ Eggs 56. Hollywood Jump 57. Someday, Sweetheart 58. I Never Knew 59. Ad Lib Blues – Charlie Christian/Benny Goodman Session 60. Wholly Cats 61. Charlie’s Dream 62. I Never Knew 63. Lester’s Dream 64. Tickle Toe – Basie Orchestra 65. Let’s Make Hey! While The Sun Shines 66. Louisiana 67. Easy Does It 68. Let Me See 69. Blues (I Still Think Of Her) 70. Somebody Stole My Gal 71. Blow Top 72. Gone With ‘What Wind’ 73. Super Chief 74. You Can’t Run Around 75. Evenin’ 76. The World Is Mad – Part 1 77. The World Is Mad – Part 2 78. Moten Swing 79. It’s Torture? 80. I Want A Little Girl 81. All Or Nothing At All 82. The Moon Fell In The River 83. What’s Your Number 84. Draftin’ Blues 85. Five O’Clock Whistle 86. Love Jumped Out 87. My Wanderin’ Man 88. Broadway