Big Beat Steve

I must have expressed myself badly. What I meant about the Gullin CD was that apparently things had already come full circle for this CD - though it looked brand new it must have been part of a collection this shop bought up and then sold off that way. Which surprised me as it seems to have been a comparatively recent production on a collector/collectible label that does not normally finish in the "sale" bins yet. This shop does stock certain new Sonorama vinyls too, BTW.

Ouch ... sorry to hear about those sad things. Good luck to you that everything will stay on the positive side from now on!

Wintry grey and overcast here too, so I might well be tempted to follow your recommendation and put this one in the CD player next.

But you DID take note of that Don Byas bio here, Gheorghe ... ?

Thanks very much, Mike. To reply briefly to Mr Fleischhammer's comments: 1) Pity about the Swedish jazz, as there still is quite a bit of territory that is uncharted reissue-wise. But I'll agree that this is a niche market probably not easily exploitable if you are not that close to the Swedish market. 2) Understandable but still regrettable. Provided that recordings remain at all, the 1960 festival, for example, might have yielded the very first documented recordings by Gunter Hampel, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Joe Viera, among many others; each one of them had applied for participation with their own groups. 3) Yes, a real obscurity, that "Modern Jazz Group 60" from Pforzheim. After I had discoved this news item in the JAZZER mag I wrote to Wolfram Knauer of the Darmstadt Jazz Institute but he had no knowledge whatsoever of this either. But since Sonorama seems to have a knack of unearthing unreleased tapes off the beaten tracks of the "usual suspect" artists I figured a question might be worth it. BTW, the list of applications for the 1960 German Amateur Jazz Festival lists a "Hard Bop Group Pforzheim". This might well be them. As for the sales or non-sales of Sonorama records, is there any indication which ones, for example, are particularly slow movers? I have bought several new Sonorama vinyls at our preferred local record shop through the years, but Lars Gullin's comparatively recent "Liquid Moves" CD, for example, already showed up there in the 1 EUR "secondhand odds and ends" special offer bin (and, needless to say, is on my shelf now ).

O.K., so here goes: A wisecracking question or hint about Sonorama C-100/L-100 (Cool Europa): Isn't a cover photo dating from 1949 (Fred Bunge blowing a lone trumpet to some kid onlookers in war-ridden Hamburg, photo by Susanne Schapowalow) a bit out of tune (literally ) with a record covering the 1959 to 1963 ("Wirtschaftswunder"!!) period? More seriously, a question about some rarities and obscurities that should fit the release program of the label: 1) As Sonorama has released or reissued a couple of items on SWEDISH jazz from the 50s and 60s, are there any more plans for reissues of other Swedish artists/groups that have consistently been overlooked by labels such as Dragon or Caprice? 2) LPs were released back in the day with music from the German Amateur Jazz Festivals of 1958 and 1959 (on Metronome) and 1962 and 1963 (on Columbia). But nothing ever for the 1960 and 1961 festivals. Neither for the very first Amateur Jazz Festivals in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Does Sonorama know anything about the existence of recordings/tapes from these festivals and if so, any plans for future release projects? 3) A real, total, absolute obscurity: The July 1962 issue of the short-lived German jazz mag "JAZZER" carried the below brief news item. Does Sonorama have any knowledge of the existence of any such recordings and if so, any leads as to where to track down the music for a belated release?

Looking at this thread now that it has been "resurrected", and following the question by Pim "how come there are so many incomplete sets out there", and the above reply by Jazzbo, I figure there are other reasons, but the above one by Jazzbo definitely is true. As mentioned in other threads, I obtained a lot of jazz books from the estate of a deceased jazz collector some time ago, and recently was able to make a first pick from his LPs and CDs. And there sat a box and large booklet of the Count Basie live Roulette set and the Stan Kenton Capitol set, but no discs at all. The heirs who had spent almost endless hours restoring 200 CDs (stuck in a CD jukebox in their father's music room) to their jewel cases so far have been unable to locate the CDs to the above sets. Sifting through the CD part of that collection I did not find anything either. So if I can eventually manage to get this Basie live Roulette box I might even be tempted to shell out for the CDs alone if the price is right. On the same shelves there also sat the box for the 1954/55 German Jazz Festival box set on Bear Family, and I was able to locate the CDs in the drawers holding all the CDs. So this one is now a spare copy at my home. But the booklet is missing, so I will have to complete it with a photocopy from my own copy of that set that I've owned since it was released. All this just to show parts of such box sets can indeed disappear in almost any way. and the problem is not limited to Mosaics. And it takes dedicated family members to restore any order among things that only the late owner knew how and where he had filed them. (Yes, that experience taught me a lesson too )

Thanks, Mike. So basically the history from 1959 onwards. So it would complement "Latin Jazz- The Perfect Combination" by Raûl Fernandez (about 70 to 80% of that book focus on the pre-1959 revolution era). "Cubano Beo Cubano Bop" by Leonardo Acosta also devotes more than 50% to the history of the pre-1959 period (which is fine with me, but at least to me it is marred by an awkward and overly stilted translation which makes reading a chore).

Underwhelmed ... "White Glenn Miller"? White(r)washed Glenn Miller, you mean? As for "The Girl I left Behind Me", I'll rather take any Bob Wills version anytime ...

Leafing through "BG On The Record" now (4th printing 1973, so admittedly maybe not totally up to date) and checking against the Goodman V-Disc recordings I have on Sunbeam and Dan (Jap.), I see that there were some sessions by the BIG BAND that look like they were specifically recorded for V-Disc: in Nov./Dec. 1943 (p. 352 in "BG On The Record"), as well as in February 1944 (p. 357) and July 1944 (p. 361). And these possibly weren't all but I did not do a complete check. So the reasons for omission would indeed raise a few questions. Overall I guess I'll pass. The major bands featured have been on the reissue market that often that the duplications just would have been too numerous for me. As for Kay Kyser, like other Sweet bands he may have had a few swingers that got recorded. And who knows - maybe Mosaic felt they just had to include his "Victory Polka" for its topical connotations? It's on a Time-Life V-Disc set, and listening to it and its girl singers now, I'd say there have been many Andrews Sisters tunes reissued under the "swing" flag that were not that much more jazzy either, for example. Any jazz listeners who'd already consider Bird old hat would of course shudder but would they be in the market for this set anyway? More seriously, though, checking the "V-Disc Catalogue" discographies (Vol. 1 by Wante & De Block, Vol. 2 by Teubig), I can see two tracks that might qualify for inclusion by their titles alone (no idea how KK treated them, of course): Bye Bye Blues on V-Disc 236, Limehouse Blues on V-Disc 318.

Interesting .. What's the main eras/periods covered in that book?

I wonder what kind of jazz it is that people "hate" according to this book? Just like I wonder if those who, when learning of my interest in jazz, claim it's "too weird and too far out" for their tastes, know what jazz they are thinking of and what jazz they are unaware of. Jelly Roll Morton, Count Basie, Lennie Tristano, Hampton Hawes, Bill Evans (and that's only some pianists) - all alike to them, I wonder?

Suggested (R&B) Listening: https://www.discogs.com/release/5308204-Sam-The-Man-Taylor-Back-Beat-The-Rhythm-Of-The-Blues-Vol-5 (Disregarding his "misty" etc. MOR output. )

I had done some checking on the web in the meantime, and it seems the Alton Ellis version was recorded in 1971. Quite a bit after the 1954 recording date for the version by the Chords. I am not overly familiar with the Jamaican R&B history but have learnt a bit about the early sound system scene through various well-annotated R&B compilations. So the Coxson label name (as in Coxson Dodd) rang a bell.

So "prevailing opinions" have progressed beyond what Jim Dawson and Steve Propes wrote in "What Was The First Rock'n'Roll Record"? Among the 50 candidates listed chronologically and discussed in that book, "Rocket 88" is placed 24th and "Sh-Boom" is 38th. So, chronologically speaking, I'd tend to vote for "Good Rockin' Tonight" (placed 8th) in its hit version by Wynonie Harris.

Of course they were. The Crew Cuts' well-known version was the white cover version along the trends of the day. So whatever came later was a cover version too. Even without listening to the clip, that Alton/Establishment version looks Jamaican, judging by the record label. So obviously much more recent. But amusing to listen to.

Chiming (whistling? ) in a bit belatedly ... Others have put the "whistle stop" idea to music back then as well: This might help explaining the concept and the train connection too.

Since various Miles biographies are mentioned here, a question to those in the know: How would you rate the "Round About Midnight" bio by Eric Nisenson rate by compasrison? I had seen its German edition at Zweitausendeins back in the day but did not feel compelled to go for it. But it now was part of that haul of jazz books I made about 6 weeks ago (and freebies are not to be sneered at anyway ). Thanks in advance for any enlightened opinions you mave.

All your praise really is prompting me to pull out some of my Bob Crosby vinyls to give them a spin again. And BTW I was really unaware the Bob Crosby band was so much of a comparatively unknown quantity with that many seasoned jazz collectors.

Now I'm beginning to understand what the OP meant by "playing versions".

I guess I'll have to search high and low among my LPs by Sir Charles Thompson to see if he is on organ there somewhere so as to find out what you mean by that "roller rink" sound. Sorry if this sounds blunt, but that's a connotation that does not mean much over here in "Yurp". Fairground organ sounds, maybe?

I am not quite sure this would really be all that comparable style-wise with the late 30s/early 40s swing-cum-dixieland big bands similar to the Bob Crosby band that Ghost wondered about.

I have Spanier's studio big band recordings (there weren't not many) on a Decca Ace of Hearts LP, and I have an LP's worth of airshots of his big band (all that were ever discovered, at least as of the vinyl era) that was released on Jazz Archives (JA-30).

The Crosby band likely was #1 in this field. At least on this level of presence on the big band scene. OTOH there were the short-lived big bands of Jack Teagarden and Muggsy Spanier, for example, that had their share of N.O. jazz influence too. But compared to the prominence of Bob Crosby and his band they were also-rans, much to the chagrin (and financial hardships) of their leaders.

Unfortunately I do not have the e-mail exchange with TYQ anymore in my e-mail folder (all this happened in 2024) so I cannot check now. And it may also be that the mail I received was sent ON BEHALF OF M. Steyaert. I remember his name figured in the mail somewhere. I can only say that I inquired at TYQ as I intended to place an order and wanted to find out about the total including shipping because the TYQ prices DID seem very correct to me. So I really was taken aback when I received that message that VAT had to be added on top of it. Following your explanation (the way it has been explained to you by TYQ) it now looks to me that there will be NO VAT added to the list price + shipping costs by TYQ. I therefore retract my earlier "statement" and stand corrected. @Everyone else from the EU on this forum: Please disregard my earlier post.