Jimmy Raney / MOMENTUM error

[Jim R]

I pulled out my LP copy of Jimmy Raney's MOMENTUM (Pausa 7021) LP yesterday, for the first time in years. As I was playing side one, track two, I noticed something odd. On both the back cover and the label, the second track is listed as "autumn leaves", but the tune I was hearing was not "autumn leaves". So, I read through the liner notes and see that this unfamiliar tune I'm listening to is actually Jimmy Raney's tune "We'll be together", which is listed as track two on side two. Ira Gitler's notes mention "autumn leaves", though. Okay, so they just listed the tunes incorrectly. Happens pretty often.

So, I get to side two, and when track two starts up, I'm expecting to hear "autumn leaves", but... it's not autumn leaves- it's "autumn in new york". The double whammy. Now, I know this isn't the end of the world as we know it, but for an LP by an experienced producer (Don Schlitten) and with Gitler referring to "autumn leaves" in his notes... let's just say I was a little surprised. I mean, "autumn leaves"? Who doesn't recognize "autumn leaves"? Maybe somebody else goofed on behalf of Mr. Gitler... but his name is signed below the notes. I wonder if he actually listened to the music...

[Bill Fenohr]

Come on Jim, give em a break, they got the season right. You may have unknowingly discovered the origin for the phrase "Close enough for jazz".

[Larry Kart]

Ira's insightful comments on the music in his "Momentum" liner notes leave no doubt in my mind that he listened to it. What probably happened is that some underling (if indeed Schlitten had any) or design studio person made a double goof (title and side/track agreement) on the jacket, and then Gitler's notes were "corrected" to match the error(s).

[JSngry]

How did a Don Schlitten-produced date (w/Richard Davis and Alan Dawson, no less) end up on PAUSA, of all labels? Shouldn't this have made it to Muse or Xanadu?

Or was this one from when Schlitten was in-between labels?

[mikeweil]

This was one of the LPs Schlitten produced for MPS in Germany. Pausa released quite a number of these in the US.

Bruyninckx lists the tracks as follows:

Autumn Leaves

The best thing for you is me

Just friends

Momentum

Nobody else but me

We'll be together

LP # was 20.21757, recorded July 21, 1974

[JSngry]

Thanks, Mike. I had forgotten about those.

[Jim R]

Thanks Larry, that sounds like a plausible explanation. I might beg to differ slightly, however, regarding Gitler's notes on this. The emphasis is on Raney's bio (a nice thing to see, I might add), while the comments on the music are very (very) brief. I suppose one can be simultaneously insightful and brief, and it's not that I have a problem with brief comments about music in liner notes, but simply stating that autumn leaves is "exquisitely sung" was not exactly proof to me that he listened to that track. B-) But you're probably right.

[couw]

FWIW, my MPS copy has the same tracklisting on label/jacket that Jim describes:

A1 Momentum

A2 Autumn leaves

A3 The best thing for you is me

B1 Nobody else but me

B2 We'll be together

B3 Just friends

as well as linernotes by Ira Gitler and a German translation of those.

edited for stoopid typ-o

Edited September 15, 2004 by couw

[Jim R]

Bruyninckx lists the tracks as follows:

Autumn Leaves

The best thing for you is me

Just friends

Momentum

Nobody else but me

We'll be together

LP # was 20.21757, recorded July 21, 1974

My LP is Pausa PR 7021. My understanding is that is was also issued as SABA/MPS 15385; and as BASF 20.21757-4

On my LP, the track sequence is:

Side 1

1. Momentum (J. Raney) - 4:55

2. We'll Be Together (J. Raney) - 10:18 [listed as "Autumn Leaves (V. Duke)"]

3. The Best Thing For You Is Me (I. Berlin) - 4:30

Side 2

1. Nobody Else But Me (Kern/Hammerstein) - 4:30

2. Autumn In New York (V. Duke) - 9:55 [listed as "We'll Be Together"]

3. Just Friends (Lewis/Klemmer) - 6:12

[Jim R]

B2 We'll be together again

"We'll Be Together Again"? That's a different tune. This one's an original by Raney. Did they really list it that way on yours?

[couw]

B2 We'll be together again

"We'll Be Together Again"? That's a different tune. This one's an original by Raney. Did they really list it that way on yours?

oops, sorryyyyy!!!

[J.A.W.]

Slightly off topic: I wonder if this great album has ever been released on CD. Does anyone know?

[Jim R]

Slightly off topic: I wonder if this great album has ever been released on CD. Does anyone know?

Very good question. I don't recall seeing it listed among the CD issues in the threads posted here and elsewhere.

I can't find it here: http://www.jazzecho.de/page_14060.jsp?

Here's another source of info (haven't had a chance to read it all yet):

http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread....0&highlight=MPS

[couw]

and another thing, "Just Friends" is one minute shorter than the 6:12 it is given on the label/jacket.

[Jim R]

and another thing, "Just Friends" is one minute shorter than the 6:12 it is given on the label/jacket.

Shocking!

[couw]

I kept that record spinning for ages, waiting for that extra minute...

[Larry Kart]

About Gitler being insightful, I've always liked this comment on latter-day Raney: "There is, perhaps, a bit more melancholy in the sound, burnished by the passage of time to include Djangoesque, aural tears." There are number of such moments of the album. As for the misidentification of "Autumn in New York" as "Autumn Leaves," note that that track is credited to V. Duke -- that is Vernon Duke, the composer of "Autumn in New York."

[Jim R]

As for the misidentification of "Autumn in New York" as "Autumn Leaves," note that that track is credited to V. Duke -- that is Vernon Duke, the composer of "Autumn in New York."

Yes, I know. I hadn't noticed the "(V. Duke)" credit until after my initial post here. But still... oh, never mind.

Part of me always wonders if there are people out there who go around thinking "autumn leaves" is "autumn in new york" thanks to errors like this. Probably very few...