Big Beat Steve

Now look ... I don't know if you have done much BUYING on eBay (or on the web) but if you knew the kind of money that non-U.S. bidders/buyers have paid for items mailed from the U.S. then you'd know this just is a two-way street, that's all. If you want to get an item from across the pond, when it comes to shipping costs (assuming the shipping costs have been set fairly and squarely) then it is a matter of PAY UP OR SHUT UP for the buyers. It is as easy as that. No need to take a loss on shipping. State the kind of savings people can make on shipping by buying several items from you but that's that. Now of course if you are all intent and dead set on those U.S. or Far East bidders going crazy and outbidding themselves in a bidders' race until they drop nearly dead from exhaustion and if therefore you are hesitant that these shipping charges will make potential bidders shy away then I guess nobody can help. You can't have your cake and eat it, you know. Same for the question of starting bids. Though I don't like reserves I guess that's the way to go in your case. At any rate, if you really are that afraid that a potentially valuable record might actually sell for just the opening bid of 9.99 (making one very happy bidder in the process) then this is something you either just accept as part of the game or just set a high bid. But a reserve won't guarantee you better results as the item might just remain unsold for several listings just because the reserve is never reached. You know, sellers who start with low starting bids even on highly collectible items usually make out alright overall when considering all their auctions. Some you win (by getting more than anticipated) some you lose (by getting less). It's all part of the game (and of the FUN of this eBay thing - what fun is left on that platform anyway - and the fun of potentially getting something for really cheap might be an impulse for keen bidding too). I for one would never bid on any item with a starting bid that is high enough to indicate the seller wants nothing but the full collectors' worth (with little room for potential future appreciation for the buyer) and nothing less. I'd feel sort of ripped off because in these cases I might as well buy an item from a set sale list/site so why bother waiting for the end of the auction at all? And honestly, if I ever got wind of any seller (of items of interest to me) being worried as much about not getting the full value on each and every item as you profess here I'd steer VERY clear from those auctions. Please note the following is definitely not directed against you (I have no reason to doubt your good intentions) but on a more general level, while such an attitude is fully understandable, to me such an attitude would reek way too much of one of those cases where the bidders who secure a relatively valuable item at a low (or opening-bid) price would potentially incur a huge risk of getting a mail stating "sorry the item has been damaged or lost in the meantime and the auction therefore has to be cancelled". It's happened before, and not exactly rarely, and not surprisingly it has happened mostly in cases where the winning bid for an item was surprisingly low. You know, a couple of months ago I placed a bid on a job lot of NOS engine and other parts for a 50s classic car (value easily 300 or 400 euros if the parts had been bought individually at "O.K." but not excessive prices) and of course was exceedingly pleased when I got it all for the opening bid of ONE euro (!). But I did fear the worst about the outcome of the auction (especially since the seller was very uncommunicative apart from 1 or 2 automated mails) until the parcel actually showed up on my doorstep. Seasoned bidders will know what I mean ... So by all means do take ALL aspects of auctioning psychology into account but please don't look at things from your angle only and do realize that you can't have your cake and eat it in EVERY aspect of life. Good luck!

Now really ... what's making you think that most of those here who clamor for the issue of the "not so obvious" "name" choices among the recorded material on these discs have NOT listened closely enough to the existing recordings by Herschel Evans (or others of similar stature of whose recordings on these discs we aren't even aware of yet)?? Is there any well-founded knowledge for these insinuations? Do you really feel like those who'd dearly love to hear all that might be on these discs will have to earn their entry ticket to that musc first by proving (to you or to whomever?) that they have dissected enough of the existing music down to the last shred of notes? Sorry, I find this rather unjustified and unjust. You may not like what I'm saying here as (though I've been into jazz for well over 30 years and have probably listened closely to much more 30s and early 40s jazz than many of those around here to whom anything before Miles or Trane is just no man's land) I am just a plain and simple jazz lover and collector (and may indeed not have paid my record buying dues by buying enough RECENT releases - that that's my and only my business) and certainly am not one of those producers with tons of behind the scenes insight - BUT: If you feel like pecking at those who (in your opinion) drool too easily about any new snippets of dusty old recordings seeing the light, then why don't you go and peck at those who go haywire each time over the umpteenth reissue of this or that Miles or Trane stuff with MICROSCOPICAL sound improvement or about this or that snippet of not-yet-released tapes by Miles or Trane (or the like) that invariably will be hailed as a MAJOR discovery in jazz. As if Miles and Trane were the BEGINNING and END of all jazz ... Whereas these late 30s Savory recordings indeed look like they might fill gaps in what otherwise has gone unrecorded back then (as opposed to much more widespread on-location recording going on in the late 50s and 60s etc.). So with all due respect - please DO keep things in perspective!

Exactly my thoughts and wishes about any CD sets that might materialize from all this.

What?When?Where?How??? :excited: :excited: GottahaveitGottahaveitGottahaveit!!! (Calming down mode on: 15 CDs would cover only a tiny part of those discs, right? I can only hope they will not stick with the big, bigger, biggest names only. Nothing against Benny Goodman, for example, but he has been served real well with airshots anyway - but hearing Herschel Evans, Chu Berry or the like stretch out really well in informal settings, now THAT would be sumpin'!)

I won't be taking any sides in this pricing or sales strategy thing, but at any rate (to me, at least) lists like Popsike seem to be way off base in many cases and might really result in "ill guidance".

This Savory material is one box set (or series of box sets) that I'd gladly place a SUBSCRIPTION for!

Yes, very sad news. RIP. His photographs are among the very greatest in jazz photography, although I admit I'd really have a VERY hard time deciding overall whether I'd prefer Herman Leonard or Bill Gottlieb (probably depends on the mood I am in).

Mindboggling! I do hope they will do some sort of project of releasing this music to the collector public. And 70 years after the recording date even U.s. copyright should not be that much of a problem anymore? Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Checked my LPs and sure enough, have it too (found in the special offers bin at what is probably the last local brick and mortar secondhand records store with a decent jazz vinyl selection). On my (secondhand) copy a previous owner scribbled "Chubby Jackson & His Knights" on the back cover above the Bill Harris All Stars credits. No idea offhand where he got this info from but maybe this is a lead as to where the music originally really originated.

Check out your old copies of the DOWN BEAT ANNUAL. The 1963 issue has a lengthy feature with a rundown and brief descriptions of (U.S.) jazz books from the very beginning. It does mention the books by Whiteman and Osgood (see above) for the year 1926.

Perhaps major labels still follow an unwritten rule not to poach each other, despite the European copyright law. So how come these tracks are on the US box? If I read the item descriptions on Amazon correctly both were reissued by Sony. So how come Sony managed to include them for the US release but not for the European one? Doesn't look like a case of "not poaching each other" but more like some other behind the curtain scheme...

Isn't it sad that Jack Parnell seems to be remembered - even here - mainly for such trivia as that Muppet thing (of which I, for one, wasn't even aware, BTW, and do not think I missed anything)? Didn't he do enough recordings of his own and under his own name that would merit some remembrance? Or was that too long ago? Brits, speak up!

Sammy Price Herman Chittison For starters by these artists, the early post-war stuff by Jimmy Jones Billy Taylor And if it's got to be a little bit more bluesish than that, don't miss Little Willie Littlefield and Champion Jack Dupree

Please set me straight: What are the really, really superlative qualifications of contributors to CLASSICAL music mags when it comes to reviewing early blues? Not that being really sympathetic to the music would automatically result in a positive or rave review, but it certainly is an essential ingredient to an in-depth understanding of what you are supposed to review. Wonder what reviews of classical music would turn out like if you were to review that music from a JAZZ (or rock or whatever) angle. As for the rest: Disgusting! And a case for big, fat whistleblowing IMHO.

One image that always baffled me is a picture in "Eddie Condon's Scrapbook of Jazz" that shows a 50s get-together at Condons' when the regular Condonites (including Wild Bill Davison a.o.) were joined by Gerry Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer and Don Elliott for an after-hours session. No doubt a setting that was much more "traditional" (in the stricter sense of the word) than anything mainstreamish done with Ben Webster or Johnny Hodges. Wonder if any of these get-togethers were ever recorded.

Lucky you - where did you find that? this is one CD high on my wants list but it always seems to be highly priced (actually have an Australian 10" Mercury LP "Young At Bop" - contains 8 titles on the CD) Have only seen it on Amazon (US, UK, France & Germany) Unless you eally are totally dead set on the CD format, try searching for the two 70s Mercury (UK) LPs SWWL 21028 ("Bebop") and SWWL 21038 ("The Herdsmen"). They have all the essentials (read: master takes, minus the two Frances Wayne vocals) from this CD plus quite a bit more.

If nothing else, to the entire ROCKABILLY fraternity Hank Cochran will always be remembered as the (unrelated) "other half" of the Cochran Brothers that got the legendary Eddie Cochran started in 1955. And Hank's contribution to that duo should not be underestimated at all. That bio linked above is skewed, to say the least. Outlining a career as beginning at the moment the man "moved to Nashville" is another telltale example of the self-centered and navel-gazing view of the world à la Nashville. Weak ... Fans of REAL country music (not of the watered-down, streamlined Nashville variety) know better anyway.

Now how is this to be understood exactly? Disadvantaged children + disadvantaged athletes and coaches + disadvantaged firefighters etc. Sure would make for an interesting mix ...

Always loved her version of "Boogie Woogie Conga" (from the Hellzapoppin movie IIRC). Will Bradley could have done worse than to use her for his rendition of the tune (instead of singing it himself).

But these are "latter-day" Keynotes that fall widely outside the "classic" Keynote period, isn't it, Brownie?

Brute, that's the reason I was asking. I have a huge lot of the Keynote tracks (i.e. those that were released at the time) on a wide variety of Mercury LPs as well as some CDs so of course I already have the majority of what was released on that label back then. Overall completeness and/or the inclusion of a significant amount of previously unreleased aterial would therefore be "make or break" criteria for any Keynote box set for me. Of course it is nice to have the music all in one place but if I already had, say, 75 or 80% of the music on other discs (that I do not see fit to part with anyway) that would be a tough decision.

:tup for that one! Continuing in the "forefathers of Tex-Mex" realm, I'd also recommend this for its "oddball entertainment" value: http://www.swapacd.com/cd/album/44001-on+the+road+with+rocknroll The CD seems to OOP but donwloads exist. And maybe secondhand copies of that CD aren't that elusive ... Finally, since somebody mentioned "Jazz In Mexico", here is a historical nod in that direction: http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/jazz_in_mexico_the_legendary_1954_sessions_vol.1-cd-3787.html http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/jazz_in_mexico_the_legendary_1954_sessions_vol.2-cd-3786.html

So that legendary 21-LP Japanese Keynote set does not have the entire recorded Keynote output after all (at least the master takes)?

I have that one but have only given it a BRIEF (and spotty) listen since receiving it so cannot comment on it yet (except that it is fairly "straightforward"). Will listen closer ASAP.

No, Kenny, I am not surprised but cannot really contibute much there. I do enjoy what Adolph Hofner sings in Czech (not only on the Arhoolie reissues but also on what has since been reissued among his Decca and Sarg recordings) but have never gone beyond that (yet ... ). BTW, some interesting tracks (that complement other more widely available reissues) are found on this recent reissue: http://www.venerablemusic.com/catalog/TitleDetails.asp?TitleID=14832 Again, I remember marvelling at the variety of reissues in the field of German-Bohemian (etc.) immigrants' music that Arhoolie had in their early 80s catalog, and no doubt this has been expanded in the CD era. But somehow it all was (and is) a bit too ... well, "esoteric" for me, and as you only can buy so much (and I am running out of storage shelf space FAST anyway ) this category has never made it to anywhere near the top of my buying priorities. As I have only tipped the iceberg of early Tex-Mex music so far, example, there will be more to check out there before I expand relentlessly into other historical "ethnic" music.