Big Beat Steve

All too involved for a book like this IMO, particularly if you care about the photos for permanent and TANGIBLE reference. Would it be possible to EASILY print out Kindle contents page by page by now? Besides, do you actually OWN a Kindle ebook forever and ever? Too many snags, really ... (Or should I say "Emperor's Clothes"? )

The "Sittin' In" book on Kindle? What a waste of presentation and format ... (regardless of how cheap that ebook version is). I can only imagine this will trigger some into getting the "real thing".

I'm not familiar with these labels but broadly know who Sonny Lester was (as a producer). So I felt the need to read up on him online now and see that he has an entry dedicated to him on a site named "spaceagepop". 😉 So maybe this (also) explains that (in terms of immediate Soul jazz credentials with the harder-core jazz fraternity)??

Brief but very interesting, thanks Allen ... I marked and copied the entire text (plus the Randall's Island photo of Clyde Hart) into a Word file for permanent future reference. No popups there, but of course I'll have to pull the sound samples one by one from my collection.

Digging this up now ... I had bookmarked the above site on a previous PC of mine and remembering the valuable info it contained, I now found a printout of a few excerpts from that site in my files. But trying to access the site it seems it has gone belly up. Or did I overlook something? Does anyone know if that site is really dead ot if its contents maybe have migrated to a different site under a totally different link? Thanks in advance.

OK, so the "blame" is on them ... 😄

Somehow it looks like Riverside contracted an artist who was more used to painting pics of down-home country blues artists for the cover artwork of that "Portait of Wes" LP.

Typo correction: ... that the additional tracks that are on one tape only come from a second set that was played

Thanks for your comments. I was just puzzled that the fact that there are two tapes in circulation where one tape has additional tracks (beyond the idential tracks on both tapes) would necessarily mean that there were two sets played. So if I got you right you presume that the additional tracks that are one tape only come from a second set that was payed?

A question from the sideline: But if it is a "2nd set", could it have been the "same tape"? Surely they never did play two sets (with the same set list of tunes) in EXACTLY the same way, note for note? So either it is the same tape that so far was incomplete and now has been expanded, or it was a second set and therefore is a differnet tape now.

Thanks for your diligent research, Niko. So I checked the two Down Beat issues close to the 10 Feb. 1955 recording date of the Nat Pierce session for WODDY HERMAN now. But nothing precise ... The 9 Feb. 1955 issue says Woody Herman had just made a private dance date at the Sheraton Hotel in Detroit. Nothing about tour data in the "Band routes" sections at all. The 23 Feb. issue states he was in the Ohio area in the second half of January. The 9 March issue reports that "Woody Herman broke several attendance marks on Saturday night at the Statler" but does not say which Saturday exactly . The 23 March issue says "Dick Jurgens succeeded Woody Herman at the Cafe Rouge of the Hotel Statler" (New York) (but none of these reports about New Yokr happenings state if the residence of the Herman band extended back into early February). Anyway, this is at least an indication that the orchestra was at the East Coast during that period.

10 February 1955. The Down Beat issues of 26 January and 9 February 1955 did not list any tour activities of the Stan Kenton band, neither in the "Band Routes" (tour data) section nor anywhere else.

Bruyninckx gives New York as the recording location.

The above Pierce/Powell compilation was the source of the ARS (American Record Society) release that I mentioned earlier in the discussion of the items that Mosaic saw fit to omit from the Vanguard sets. The contents are exactly the same. It is indeed hard to imagine why the Nat Pierce session would not have fitted the bill of what AT ITS CORE was a 50s MAINSTREAM Swing set that stlyistically did look beyond Swing-era swing-style jazz (as the compilers at Mosaic must have been aware - unless they had exceedingly conservative tastes).

Sure (though - like other PD labels - they do seem to remain within the European copyright cutoff dates too), yet they seemed to have had the graces of Zweitausendeins where this series was sold back in the day. And at a secondhand price of 1 EUR I really have no qualms. But rest assured - others will blast AVID (and the like) in the same manner.

This Urbie Green 10-incher (VRS-8010/Amadeo AVRS 7003) has accompanied my collecting days ever since I found a copy at a fleamarket about 40 years (or more) ago. In the meantime I've upgraded twice at very affordable prices (to originals with somewhat better covers), sold the first and have the second bought now on sale in my fleamarket jazz LP box. So visibly that LP must have sold decently back in the day. That Avid compilation might have been a option for those who do not already have most of the contents in other formats; I have his Vanguard LP also on CD now (bought for 1 EUR at a clearout sale 2 years ago - at that price nothing witll do any harm and anythimg can go into the car player as a last resort - and fidelity is not bad at all IMO): https://www.discogs.com/de/release/15513971-Vic-Dickenson-Urbie-Green-Slidin-Swing

I guess most of the ones ignored (for whatever reason ) by Mosaic would fit into a "Modernism at Vanguard" box set (Kühn, Elliott, Pierce, Bright, Most, Brown a.o.). But that would be quite a hodgepodge (regardless of who would reissue them that way), and therefore unlikely. Personally, that doesn't bothers me unduly. I have almost all of them on vinyl (missing only the Ronnell Bright so far).

Not "piano-led" enough for this 2nd Vanguard set? Understandable but then it ought to have been included on the first set. Because this IS typical 50s Mainstream swing. Really odd ... But a CD reissue (for those who prefer that format) is around (Slidin' Swing, reproducing the Jazztone LP that combines this LP with Vol. 3 of the Vic Dickenson Vanguard LPs).

I am not so sure about what some of you say ... We are talking about FIFTIES "small group swing" here. And FIFTIES small group swing falls within the broader category of MAINSTREAM jazz (as distinct from SWING-ERA swing-style jazz). So there was bound to have been some evolution after 1945 that was reflected in the recorded music, particularly among younger exponents. Which applies both to Ruby Braff and to Urbie Green and the like, for example. Personally, I do file Don Elliott among my Modern Jazz LPs and I'd concede that he is on the very outer limit of what might be called Mainstream SWING at all. Just like the Vanguard Rolf Kühn session that was NOT included - for evident reasons. But Urbie Green certainly should fall within Mainstream SWING (as it had evolved in multiple facets style-wise by the mid-50s), and Sam Most (to me at least) seems to be a matter of how open your ears are when you are intent on listening to FIFTIES mainstream swing. (BTW, I'd not be deterred by the lukewarm DB review of the Sam Most LP either) So all in all I agree with the puzzlement of some around here about the apparently "conservative" tastes of the compilers of this set. Re- the incompleteness of the missing Mel Powell session in other reissues: It seems to me they used the track compilation on the 12" ARS pressing of the 50s I mentioned earlier (which has only 5 of the 7 Mel Powell tracks because apparently the entire original 10" LP would have been too long for ONE side of the 12" ARS LP). Pity, at least for completists ... Clearly those other reissuers goofed there. Though - after checking Bruyninckx I see why the other reissuers omitted these tracks so often. Maybe they did not care too much about the vocals by one Joan Wylie on these two missing tracks?

Amazng that this should be mentioned .-.. I have the contents of that LP/CD on ARS G-446 (record club pressing). Surprising indeed that they omitted this. As far as I can see, it was far less well-served by reissuers - contrary to many of the small-group piano Vanguard releases.

@Stompin: As if there was nothing in between desert island discs and forgettable recordings ... My oh my ... Isn't that a rather narrow(-minded) way of listening to things? In reality there is an awful lot ( in fact, a majority) of "good" (not great, not bad) records out there in ANY given style of music. Not essential but nice to have around at the right moment. And ANY fan, listener and/or collector of music in ANY given style who is interested enough in that particular style to want to explore it in DEPTH (to make discoveries and get a more detailed picture) will gladly explore and listen to these. Even if many of these recordings are not going to finish on his all-time Top Ten and even if these discs are not something you would be in the mood for to listen to each day (but some other time, then, for sure). All of these add to the variety of music across the board of artists and sort of flesh out the "big name artists' " skeleton of a style of music. Besides, in the case of THIS Vanguard recording there is quite a bit more to listen to anyway, and its contents certainly do NOT boil down to the organ part only. Which overall is enough for it to be enjoyable as a "good" (not great but certainly not poor) recording. So - again ... tastes differ, and I have mine, and am just sayin' - and you have yours and that's fine for you for but not pertinent for anyone else. So no need to try to nail this down to some idle fandom (which is no criterion anyway). Besides, who says there AREN'T people "running out to complete their collections of pre-Jimmy Smith organ jazz" somewhere out there? BTW, in case the Jimmy Rushing LP you did not like on the Mosaic set really was VRS-8513 and not VRS-8505, then its actual original title was "If This Ain't The Blues". "Listen to The Blues" is VRS-8505 and has no guitar.

Nonsense. At approx. 8500 vinyl albums nobody can remember each and everyone of these at every moment. I'd concede that this is one of many non-desert-island discs (most records in anyone's collection - that has reached a certain size - are, anyway), but beyond that ...? Now really! BTW, re- Marlowe Morris, when I listened to that Night At Count Basie's album last night I was immediately reminded of the Fats Waller and Basie way of playing the organ too. I see why it might grate some but like others have clearly pointed out since, there WAS a way of playing the organ pre-Jimmy Smith. And much as I have come to like Jimmy Smith in recent years, he is NOT the beginning and end of organ jazz at all, and apart from others (like the Scotts ), there's nothing wrong with the earlier styles either - be it Buckner, Wild Bill Davis, Doggett or most of the others, including Marlowe Morris. Their styles might not strike a chord with all listeners today at ANY moment (me neither) but there still are ways to enjoy them enasily.

Yes but some of the few CDs listed that fall into the realm of the Mosaic reissue are programmed in what is a really senseless way for a (2nd or 3rd generation) reissue. E.g. the "Essential Jimmy Rushing" CD (which I, for example, picked up as a chance purchase only because it yielded me 5 of the 8 "If This Ain't The Blues" LP which I did not have yet). The original 2-LP set was made up of material from all 3 Rushing LPs on Vanguard (but all of them incomplete). This CD has 14 of the 16 LP tracks, i.e. it omits even more! The other two CDs listed also mix the 3 LPs randomly but I wonder what the point ever was of re-reissuing that "Essential" twofer in such a brainless way. Surely there can never can have been that many tentative buyers in the market for not more than a sampling within such a "niche within a niche" market to warrant such a reissue at all? BTW, on another matter, re- what Stompin' wrote on 24 January: By mistake I yesterday pulled a reissue of the "Night at Count Basie's" LP from the special offers bin at our local shop. As I found out upon returning home, I already have a copy sitting here, but this mistake triggered me to gave it a spin again. Nothing earth-shattering, but a swinging and casual affair in the Basie spirit, and certainly not as humdrum as Stompin' makes it sound. "Different strokes" and "one man's meat ...", I guess, but don't nobody let themselves be put THAT off ...

A smart idea if one has the equipment.

Correction to my above post: "main interest is pre-1970 recordings" (not just pre-1960 only).