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The idea for this thread comes from the discussions that we have been having recently in relation to British jazz, as a result of the Decca reissue series, the release of the new Modern Jazz: Britain comp, and the recent discussions surrounding Simon Spillett's excellent blog and the Jazz Britannia series. Plus the interesting recollections of some of the members based in Europe about the scenes there in past decades. It seems to me that there is very little coverage of the modernist/progressive jazz scenes that blossomed outside of America in the years prior to 1969/70. (By "modernist" and "progressive" jazz, I mean jazz that sought to respond to the musics of Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis and mid-period John Coltrane, i.e., roughly bebop, cool, hard bop and post bop in US terms (I understand that in England at least the terms used were "modernist" or "progressive").) The fact is that most of what we regard as the major "jazz hubs" outside of the States (i.e., France, the UK, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, to name a few (for the purposes of this thread let's ignore South America, South Africa, West African and the Caribbean, which had their own unique scenes too, but of a quite different type)) had domestic jazz scenes that were domestically popular, often in competition with some more traditionalist dancehall type jazz scene. Looking back at the UK scene (and I wasn't there, so this is second hand) it seems striking the extent to which these scenes developed in isolation and in a world of (from today's perspective) extreme information scarcity. Despite this, they had their own hierarchies of local heroes (e.g. Tubby Hayes or pre-vanguard Albert Mangelsdorff) and their own "classic" albums. Not all of this stuff was strictly competitive, and, for the most part, these scenes have not survived to make it into the history books. Most histories of jazz, to the extent that they cover the European and East Asian scenes at all, start in the late 60s, at precisely the point that international touring opened up, and the more distinctive local Avant Garde and Fusion scenes began to grow. The result of this neglect is that someone from England (to take the example that I know best) is far more likely to hear about Derek Bailey, Soft Machine or Evan Parker than Stan Tracey, Ronnie Scott (other than as a club owner) or Don Rendell, who remain largely unaccessible and whose albums are unknown to anyone who wasn't there at the time. The fact is, however, that these pre-avant garde/fusion "modernist" scenes that existed in Europe and East Asia between 1945 and 1969 were fruitful and did produce interesting artists and good records. Given the concentration of knowledge and expertise on this board, I would be interested to hear from forum members with their views on these local scenes; any memories that people have of them; and favourite artists. Most importantly, what are your favourite or recommended records from Europe or East Asia between 1945 and 1969? Famous or unjustly buried by time.

An interesting new release by Fremeaux. http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=64&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1545&option=com_virtuemart CD Piste Titre Artiste principal Auteur Durée Enregistré en 1 1 Paris, je t'aime Henri Renaud All Stars 00:04:10 1953 1 2 Tout bleu, tout bleu Bobby Jaspar With The Henri Renaud Quintet R. Gilbert 00:03:43 1953 1 3 Sanguine Bobby Jaspar's New Jazz 00:02:36 1954 1 4 Jeux de quartes Bobby Jaspar's New Jazz 00:02:33 1954 1 5 Marcel the furrier Bobby Jaspar 00:02:13 1954 1 6 On a blues Jean Liesse, Pierre Michelot, André Hodeir 00:04:02 1954 1 7 Taenga Bobby Jaspar 00:03:52 1955 1 8 Occasion Bobby Jaspar Quintet & David Amram 00:02:49 1955 1 9 King fish Don Rendell & Bobby Jaspar 00:03:33 1955 1 10 Don't touch the grisby Bernard Peiffer And His Saint-germain-des-prés Orchestra 00:02:04 1954 1 11 Big balcony Fats Sadi And His Combo 00:03:33 1954 1 12 Le chaland qui passe Fohrenbach French Sound 00:02:45 1954 1 13 Black bottom Armand Mignani Monet 00:03:13 1956 1 14 Jackie my little cat Kenny Clarke & His Orchestra 00:03:26 1957 1 15 Blue note Jay Cameron's International Sax Band 00:03:09 1955 1 16 Influence Henri Renaud Sextet Henry Renaud 00:03:36 1955 1 17 Les rois mages Christian Chevallier Orchestra 00:03:29 1957 1 18 Jaguar Jazz On The Left Bnak 00:02:46 1956 1 19 On serait des chats Sacha Distel 00:03:03 1956 1 20 What is this thing called love Bernard Zacharias & Ses Solistes 00:03:32 1956 1 21 Illusion Martial Solal, Kenny Clarke 00:03:16 1956 1 22 Blue smoke Jack Dieval's All Stars 00:02:47 1954 1 23 Rêve William Boucaya & His New Sound Sextet 00:02:49 1954 1 24 Venez donc chez moi Raymond Le Sénéchal Sextet 00:03:07 1953 2 1 Merlin Lars Gullin & His Band 00:03:32 1952 2 2 Shortly Carl-henrik Norin Orkester 00:02:56 1955 2 3 Fedja Lars Gullin Octet 00:05:03 1955 2 4 Meatballs Bengt Hallberg Ensemble 00:03:22 1954 2 5 Late summer Lars Gullin Sextet 00:05:22 1955 2 6 Passaglia variations n°8 Hans Koller's New Jazz Stars With Lars Gullin & Lee Konitz 00:03:02 1956 2 7 Unter den linden Hans Koller's New Jazz Stars 00:02:56 1953 2 8 Iris Hans Koller's New Jazz Stars 00:04:10 1955 2 9 Mon petit Jutta Hipp Quintet 00:03:14 1955 2 10 Adlon 1925 Albert Mangelsdorff Und Seine Frankfurt All Stars 00:02:27 1958 2 11 Mekka The Austrian All Stars 00:02:14 1954 2 12 Auld lang syne Gil Cuppini E Il Suo Quintetto 00:02:57 1954 2 13 Konitz in italy Eraldo Volonté E Il Suo Quintetto 00:03:09 1959 2 14 Arpo Modern Jazz Gang 00:04:53 1959 2 15 Blues for gassman Basso-valambrini Octet 00:02:49 1959 2 16 But not for me Basso-valambrini Octet 00:03:19 1960 2 17 A dandy line The Wessel Ilcken Combo 00:02:48 1955 2 18 Leon bismark Johnny Dankworth Seven 00:03:28 1951 2 19 Jd to vl Vic Lewis New Music 00:03:33 1953 2 20 S'il vous plaït Ronnie Scott Jazz Group 00:02:31 1955 2 21 Thames walk Ron Rendell Sextet 00:02:53 1955 2 22 Tam o'shanter Johnny Keating And His All-stars 00:04:36 1957 Alex