Big Beat Steve

Just a few notes regarding various earlier questions mentioned in this interesting thread: @bichos: Re- the Lars Gulin discography: A great discography on Swedish jazz records (A to Z, including a comprehensive Gullin entry) is accessible online right here: www.visarkiv.se It is an enlarged and updated version of Harry Nicolausson's discography and I don't know if any single discography would yield that much that is really new. Regarding the SVENSK JAZZHISTORIA CD series released by Caprice (fantastic series!), I have Vol. 1 to 8 and from what I have seen the overlap with other available reissues of Swedish jazz is not that extensive. Some titles may actually be identical but the Caprice series also uses a lot hitherto unissued airshots, test pressings and other noncommercial recordings, etc. of tunes otherwise better known for their studio versions. As for other overlaps between various CD reissue series, I am not sure if there are as many as it seems. From what I have seen among the Gullin recordings from the 50s I have (far from all) it is clear the "overlaps" include some tunes he re-recorded for various labels throughout the 50s so one and the same title may come up several times (e.g. "Merlin") without actually being the same recording. As for ordering, I think you can order directly both from the Dragon and the Caprice websites even if you do not live in Sweden.

Right, Jim R. That "Tatum is Art" was/is a great one. Also remember some Teddy Wilson/Don Byas items that enabled me to explore whole new areas of Jazz artists (the big ones among the labels couldn't have cared less about reissuing this kind of material for marketing in Europe back then in the 70s). As for sloppy personnel, songwriters credits and recording date listings - agreed, but they were in VERY good company back then with quite a few U.S. reissue labels that were even sloppier, p.ex. some of those big band reissue labels that seem to have been marketed quite openly and legally, e.g. through Ray Avery's mail order service, etc. So I am not so sure if any deficiencies in this area are a clear indicator of outright bootlegging.

chewy, of course mine aren't all originals. It's the music I was after in the first place. One or two originals, an older reissue on the PREMIER label, and the rest are those nicely done repro reissues either on VSOP or from Japan. In today's (eBay) world it wouldn't even be that hard to get the originals no matter where you live but that's clearly beyond my financial means. I will have to leave that to the Japanese.

No need to get excited ... So it is historical accuracy you're after? Sorry if I got you wrong on that one. But does it detract from the quality of the music if somebody exaggerates and oversimplifies things a bit on the cover? Anyway, I guess I appreciate West Coast Jazz more than quite a few Jazz-minded New Yorkers did (or do). And by the way, I do have about two thirds of the Mode LP's too (just skipped most of the vocal items).

Are the CD liner notes any different from the LP liner notes? The "Popo" LP on Xanadu 148 is credited to "Shorty Rogers & Art Pepper". The way I understood the LP liner notes this live recording made on Dec. 27, 1951 was the first recorded example of the line-up that became known as the "Lighthouse All Stars". If it was actually billed that way on that day ... who cares?

Big Al, you should be eternally grateful to your ma-in-law that she did not have any of these MUSIC TO WATCH TELEVISION BY or MUSIC TO COMB YOUR HAIR BY or MUSIC TO TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK BY LP's or whatever they were actually called ... or those "Background Music - Music Blended To Mix Graciously With Social Gatherings" 10in LP series that Capitol did back then!

These Musidisc Jazz Anthology LP's were around in Germany for a long time too and still turn up in secondhand Jazz vinyl bins. They were good buys then as they were mostly marketed at fairly attractive prices (about half the price of a standard Jazz LP). But I'd disagree that most of the material came from grey or even bootleg sources. Quite a lot of the Jazz Anthology reissues must have come from quite legit sources. A lot of the stuff they reissued was transcriptions, broadcasts and other live recordings and some of it was more or less simultaneously released on U.S. labels such as Jazz Archives, etc. (now was/is THAT a really illegal label?). Or take Don Byas' 1941 Minton sessions (JA 5121) that duplicated a release on Don Schlitten's quite legal Onyx label. Or Lucky Thompson's 1956 sessions with Gérard Pochonet (JA 5215) that was just a reissue of an original "Club francais de Disque" release. But it can get rather confusing with the reissues that Musidisc did there. The other day I actually picked up a copy of the Jazz Anthology reissue of the Cootie Williams/Rex Stewart "The Big Challenge" session they did in 1957 for Jazztone. I already have the Fresh Sounds repro reissue of this one but as the LP title and cover were totally different this was one of the cases where you tend to forget what you have and what not when you're in the record shop so I ended up with another LP for the "For sale" box.

Hey, he wasn't THAT bad on the "Mating Call" session with Tadd Dameron (1956) - or in his work with the Miles Davis Quintet in the same year (or doesn't his hard bop period count at all?).

That reminds me of another early Trane record I've tried to locate for some time: Coltrane 1951 on Oberon 5100 (another gray label, I know...) featuring 1951 airshots by the Dizzy Gillespie orchestra (with young Trane on Tenor and soloing here and there it seems). I am trying to get this mainly for Diz's bebop band but hearing a glimpse of early Trane would be nice from a historical point of view too. Any copies for sale out there anywhere or is the material included on this LP available on any other reissues too?

- Sonny Criss - The Complete Imperial Sessions (his three 1956 Imperial LP's on 2 CD's - Blue Note) - Rusty Bryant - Original Quintet Complete Recordings (his 2nd and 3rd Dot LP's (1957) on CD - Lonehill)

Brownie, I had seen these listings and sites but just found the contents of the CD's were at odds with the info I have in Jepsen's discography (which may not be up to date anymore, I know). So I wondered about the original sources. And thanks for your background info, Chas. I am not sure if Virgil Gonsalves' material would have been left orphaned. After all he also did another LP soon after on Liberty. That would have been a fitting pairing. I was just baffled by the fact that Jepsen listed Nocturne 9 as having been issued. I remember seeing Steve White's Liberty LP (Jazz Mad) on eBay and passed it up as something made me think it wasn't that essential. His Nocturne release might have been nice to have for completeness' sake but from your description I guess I know what to expect (in addition to the Fresh Sound box I have quite a few of the non-Nocturne Liberty LP's that carried on the Nocturne tradition but some of them admittedly are not that essential, more of curiosity value).

Ron S, speaking of the Steve White Nocturne session: Can you (or any other expert on these OJC's) fill me in on the OJC 1889 and 1891 reissues featuring Steve White? The tracks listed on the Fantasy/OJC catalog website somehow do not match the details given in the Jepsen discography. Where exactly did all the material on 1891 come from? Did they put additional previously unissued material on 1891? OJC 1889 would be the CD to go for to have the remaining Steve White Nocturne 10" LP that is not on the 3-CD box set. BUT - it's just one of those things: It's combined with a Virgil Gonsalves set that is also on the box set. So you are buying HALF the CD for the full price. One of those annoying duplications... Why didn't they do an entire Steve White set combininig the music from 1889 and 1891? I cannot imagine the drawing power of Virgil Gonsalves is that great (even among Jazz freaks) that this would warrant combining these sessions on one CD.

Came to this thread thorugh another thread i opened on this box set. --- Quote Chas: The Liberty label listing has a Various Artists album called " Jazz in Hollywood " that came out on Liberty 6001 that presumably reissued Nocturne material , but I don't know what sessions it reissued . --- I have this Liberty LJH 6001 LP. Apart from a track each by Dom Frontiere and the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet, it includes 10 tracks (by Herbie Harper, Jimmy Rowles, Virgil Gonsalves, Harry Babasdin, Lou Levy, Bob Enevoldsen) taken from Nocturne recordings that were reissued (or issued for the first time, in the case of the Levy and Rowles tracks) on 12" Liberty LP's . This V.A. LP served as an introduction to the Liberty catalog of "Jazz in Hollywood" LP's.

Brownie, thanks very much for the link to the previous thread. I guess I'll resurrect that one and add a comment to a few questions that have been asked there. GA Russell, Southern Germany doesn't equate Bavaria (not nearly!) and I'm not from Bavaria. And even though almost all U.S. tourists coming to Germany seem to think otherwise, there is life in Southern Germany outside Bavaria, and Heidelberg, for example, is not located a few walking minutes from Neuschwanstein Castle. :D (And no, indeed I didn't get that joke ... )

The name of Virgil Gonzalves that came up in the link posted under the Trésors du Jazz thread brings up a question that I had meant to post for a while: I have the "Complete Nocturne Recordings" 3-CD box set released by Fresh Sound that reissues the original 10-inch Nocturne albums of the "Jazz in Hollywood" series plus a few unissued recordings. However, this box set reads "Volume One." My question now is: Is there any Volume Two, and what would this contain, I wonder? (Seeing that all the Nocturne output has been released on Vol. 1) Or would Volume Two carry on with some "Liberty - Jazz in Hollywood" reissue? I really like this box set - nicely done and thoughtfully compiled in a way that fills a gap in almost any collection (who would have all the Nocturne 10-inch originals or even the few that were reissued later on Liberty)? Not one of those many CD sets that invariably duplicate a lot of what was fairly easily acessible on vinyl reissues or other CD releases so you just have to buy items for only half the music's worth because you already have the rest.

I may be mistaken but that RCA Camden CAL9 release may have been a 60s LP made specifically for the Swedish market. In the same RCA LP series there was Camden CAL4 with a reissue of 1956/57 recordings by Arne Domnerus and I remember seeing that one on a website as a specific Swedish pressing (I have a U.S. pressing of the same music released at about the same time and this is Camden CAL417, i.e. not the same number sequence).

@Brownie: Quote: --One of Tony Scott's best blowing date was the album he recorded in Sweden at that time Swinging in Sweden It was a minor hit in Sweden at the time but has remained unissued outside the country.-- I agree with your assessment of this session but are you sure it was released in Sweden only? The original EP I have of this session clearly is a German pressing (with German liner notes, German label text and all). Maybe other European pressings existed too ...

In the liner notes to Tommy Dean's LP "Deanie Boy Plays Hot Rhythm and Blues" (Official 6038) Dave Penny wrote the following in Jan. 1989 (i.e. 17 years ago!): "In October 1956 and May 1958, Tommy Dean was lured back to the recording studios on behalf of Vee Jay Records to record nine tracks of promising-looking instrumentals with guitarists Grant Green and Lefty Bates, respectively, but both sessions remain entirely unissued." Sounds pretty concrete, and I'd say Dave Penny is somebody who knows his stuff in this field of music.

If a CD set exactly duplicating the "Works of Duke - Complete Edition/Intégrale" series on French RCA is available somewhere then this might be easier to get today than the LP series. However, if - as you say - the upcoming Mosaic set covers Oket/Columbia sides only then this will not help with the RCA sides. Those French RCA LP's should still be around in secondhand record bins if you are preared to search. It all depends on whether you have any dealers or record fairs with a good selection in your area. I have several LP's of this "Works of Duke - Complete Edition/Intégrale" series (mostly covering the 1934 to 1941 era) and picked up those volumes very cheaply at a local secondhand record dealer. I may have a lead where more of them will be forthcoming soon. If you want to stick with vinyl, ditch the Indispensable B&W double LP and go for the "Complete Edition /Intégrale" series. @Brownie: What kind of money would Paris Jazz Corner demand for each of these "Intégrale" LP's, I wonder? ;-)

Although my jazz record collection mostly focuses on 1930 to 1960 (ca.) recordings (with all styles represented fairly evenly), I plead guilty to owning - only ONE John Coltrane ("Blue Train") - NONE of Oscar Peterson's recordings for Verve released under his OWN name (both cases of "you can always buy them anytime anywhere anyhow once you have explored all those rarer items that may be deletde lamost faster than they were released")

No, not the trumpeter. John Chilton mentions in his "Who's Who of Jazz" that Walter "Foots" Thomas had a brother named Joe (born in 1908) who played tenor saxophone but he also explicitly says that this is NOT "THE" Joe Thomas (the tenor saxophonist) who was with Jimmie Lunceford and co-led the band for a while with Ed Wilcox after Lunceford's death. And neither was he related to Joe Thomas the TRUMPETER who was with Fletcher Henderson, Willie Bryant, Claude Hopkins, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson (but never with Lunceford as far as I know) and freelanced a lot in the 40s. According to Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz, Walter's "real" brother Joe (the less famous of the two sax-playing Joes) was with Blanche Calloway and other name bands in the 30s and gave up playing to become a vocal coach in the 40s. He later worked as an A&R man for Decca and directed countless R&B dates. I agree that the these Walter "Foots" Thomas "all-star" recordings are great indeed. I bought the Prestige LP shown above in my early collecting days while still in school in the late 70s and it got a lot of spins on the turntable (I later even considered buying the Harlequin reissue as a "replacement" copy but somehow never did...). Re- Walter's teaching activities, an ad in an April 1945 music paper reads: "Walter Foots Thomas - Teacher of Saxophone (formerly with Cab Calloway) - Special instructions for Improvising and Ad Lib Playing - Correspondence Courses on Improvisation now Available"

I've wondered about that too when I read both Ted Gioia's "West Coast Jazz" and Robert Gordon's "Jazz West Coat". Both devote chapters to "LA Hard Bop" and "California Hard", respectively (according to the authors, Herb Geller, Hampton Hawes and Pepper Adams are others that would fall into that category, as would Frank Rosolino's "Free For All" I mentioned above). It all depends what you think of the categories they use. Some music just isn't that easy to pigeonhole, it seems.

Even if he had seen you that wouldn't have helped. The Mole Jazz bags were all black. Impossible to see what's inside!

The Shorty Rogers "Short Stops" (especially the "Courts the Count" material on this twofer) and the Shelly Manne records ("West Coast Sound" and "Blackhawk" are really recommended. You might also like to check out Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars, especially "Sunday Jazz At The Lighthouse", "Music for Lighthousekeeping", "In The Solo Spotlight". Reissues should be available in the OJC series. (On the other hand, I am not too fond of the "Oboe/Flute" Lighthouse All Stars release in this series. This is a bit effeminate for my taste and may be one of those releases that gave West Coast jazz a bad name back then.) Another item that may be hard to find but is some sort of revelation: Frank Rosolino "Free For All" (Specialty SP 2161 - a 1958 session that remained unissued until after Rosolino's death)

Agreed - Red Mitchell seems to be one of those unjustly underrated jazzmen. Maybe the fact that he spent much of his later life in Europe (Sweden) was a contributing factor. At any rate, he is one of those names that make me think "the session can't have been bad" when I see his name in the line-up, and I always enjoyed his "Presenting Red Mitchell" album on Contemporary and his "HappyMinors" and "Some Hot Some Sweet Some Mild" albums on Bethlehem, for example, not to mention his work as a sideman (with Red Norvo, etc.). As for him having "the cleanest chops on the West Coast", I don't feel qualified to judge that but this might get you into an argument with Curtis Counce followers ...