Fer Urbina

The booklet in the CD reissue (CK 65186) states "Originally issued in March, 1979, on Columbia 35755 (stereo)". Billboard carries a review in the May 12, 1979 issue (p.71). It looks like it did remain in the can for 18 years. F

Hear, hear. Exactly my experience with him and my feelings about his work. I would add his 5-CD series with all of Red Norvo's studio recordings 1933-42, as well as 2-CD sets with Woody Herman's V-Discs, Bennie Moten's 1930-32 recordings (including their legendary last session in full), Cab Calloway's recordings with Dizzy and Chu Berry, Benny Goodman's compilations by arranger... F

I've just got the news that Alastair Robertson passed away last year, on October 23. Obit: https://ukjazznews.com/a-tribute-to-alastair-robertson/ F

And the more recent box Standing Room Only carries a complete set from that series of concerts, the second from January 28, 1966. I've written about all that, in my blog. F

CD2 is an "alternate" Sinatra at the Sands (different takes of the same tunes in the album, from the same week in late January 1966). F

For what it's worth, my copy of their 2-CD set of Alec Wilder's music, which is probably the last thing they ever released, is definitely regular CDs. F

I searched for it too back in January, and found that the label is now owned by 43 North Holdings. Their website is now down, but this is what they had back in January: https://web.archive.org/web/20230929105045/https://43northholdings.com/labels/hep-jazz/ I don't know whow "43 North Holdings" are, but when I checked im January they seemed to own quite a few independent labels active in the 1950s, like Period, Warwick or Everest. As for Hep, I'm not surprised at all. Robertson told me years ago he was thinking of quitting. F

Just did a quick search, and found this page with a question from the IJS's Vincent Pelote and the reply from Wally Richardson himself (in January 2020!): Neal Hefti-tp, Carl Gianelli -as, Wally Richardson -g, "a bass player from England whose name I can't recall", Mel Zelnick -d. I guess that the bassist was Peter Ind. F

Incidentally, a LoneHill set with all the original quartet master takes (LHJ10356) also included a track from the Reunion, in this case "All the Things You Are" (minus one chorus by Chet Baker). I noticed when I put this blogpost together. F

As far as I know, it's common practice that if an artist has an exclusive contract with a label, said label has first call on any recordings made during the duration of the contract. That's what happened with the Monk at Palo Alto recording. It was announced as an Impulse (Universal) release, but Sony (as owner of Columbia, Monk's label at the time) stopped it till they reached a deal. Nothing to do with EU jurisdiction in any case, but with a clause in the contract, I guess. F

Majors like Universal (I doubt Blue Note has their own legal team) and Sony don't care. In the big scheme of (their) things, this is peanuts and not worth the hassle. If they cared, you wouldn't see a single EU release for sale in the US -- strictly speaking, they're illegal over there. I know someone who was pretty high up at Universal in Europe years ago and tried to convince the American branch to do cheap reissues on the 49th year of the original recording/release, that is, one year before the EU reissues came out. Never happened. Like talking to a brickwall. F

Two issues: one is that the law states 50 years from the date of release for pre-1963 recordings. For instance: unauthorized "EU" releases of the 1945 Bird/Dizzy concert produced by Uptown in 2005 were illegal because it was a 2005, not 1945, production. The other issue is enforcement: masters owners don't care enough or don't have enough resources to litigate. The only case I know of following the letter of the law is Germany's Bear Family going after the UK's JSP for lifting their new masters of the early Carter Family recordings, and I'd guess that both countries being under EU law at the time made things easier. F

Info to submit a NEA Jazz Master nomination: https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/make-nomination-nea-jazz-masters I've done it twice, but didn't work, so I'll excuse myself 😅 But I agree wholeheartedly. In my personal case, just for his work on Blue Note (all the EMI reissues, including Capitol and Pacific Jazz), Impulse (on MCA, then Universal), and Sony (the series of Miles Davis box sets), I'm forever indebted to him. Add to that the Mosaics, and he's done more than anyone else I can think of in terms of providing me with an education in jazz. F

Hear, hear. Curio: This is the ending of an early review (first ever?) of some ECM LPs by 32-year old Michael Cuscuna on Downbeat (May 11, 1972). F

I wrote to MusiconCD through their contact page and they have delivered the correct CD. Thanks again for the heads up! F