Jazz at the Philharmonic

[Larry Kart]

7 hours ago, BillF said:

My favourite! Especially for Fats.

Not exactly the same thing, but I'm glad I bought the Granz Jam Session box after buying almost all of the original LPs when they came out in my youth. I keep listening for, but have yet to find, a moment on one of the later Jam Session albums where Jacquet makes a sound like a descending dive bomber.

[Big Beat Steve]

14 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Does anyone have particular favourite JATP or NGJS LPs? The box set is a little hot for my blood but I’m interested in picking up some of the LPs.

Like TTK, I've haphazardly picked up quite a bit of JATP and NGJS vinyls through the years but what I have is far from complete, except for the Verve 10-CD box set with the 1944-49 JATP recordings (which I pull out relatively often).

But one I like in a special way is the 1952 session that yielded the "Jam Session #1" and "#2" LPs. One major reason for this is that when I listen to them I take time out to browse through this magnum opus - "Charlie Parker" by Esther Bubley:

https://www.estherbubley.com/books_frame_set.htm
https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Parker-Esther-Bubley/dp/2850182230

An entire book filed with pics from that recording session (as well as background stories) and featuring all the participants (not just Bird - everyone!) under almost every angle and moment imaginable. A perfect way to really visualize the music and make it come alive ...
The book was published by Filipacchi in France in 1995. I bought it during one of my trips to France when it was new and later found out to my surprise that this is no translated version but in fact is a French-only book that never was published anywhere else. Amazing ... (But of course the French are second to none IMO in taking chances in getting even nichiest niche subjects into print and publication)

 

[Peter Friedman]

Back in the early to mid 1950's I was just in the very early stages of becoming a jazz fan. JATP came to Detroit (at least) twice during that period and performed at the Broadway Capitol Theatre. Along with a couple of friends I attended those concerts. There were 2 concerts each evening, one an early one and the other a late concert.

 

The crowd was very raucous and at points when the music became especially exciting, members of the audience began dancing in the aisles.

What stands out in my memory were these things. There was a trumpet battle between Roy Eldridge and Charle Shavers. A tenors saxophone battle between Illinois Jacquet and Flip Phillips, and a drum battle between Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

When Norman Grantz announced a ballad set, the audience booed. Many were there for the extremely exciting medium and up tempo numbers and had little patience for ballads.

As one of my earliest introductions to live jazz, those JATP concerts did a lot to help form me into becoming a lifelong jazz fan. 

[ghost of miles]

On 4/6/2013 at 5:50 AM, ejp626 said:

Would it really be so difficult for Verve to do a follow-up compilation of the JATP material after 1949? I realize that a number of the PD companies are stepping into the breach, so to speak, but they left a lot to be desired (rarely any liner notes, duplication between companies, etc.). Just seems like a missed opportunity to be sure.

I could be misremembering this, but I think at some point Mosaic was contemplating such a set. 

[Mark Stryker]

17 minutes ago, Peter Friedman said:

Back in the early to mid 1950's I was just in the very early stages of becoming a jazz fan. JATP came to Detroit (at least) twice during that period and performed at the Broadway Capitol Theatre. Along with a couple of friends I attended those concerts. There were 2 concerts each evening, one an early one and the other a late concert.

 

The crowd was very raucous and at points when the music became especially exciting, members of the audience began dancing in the aisles.

What stands out in my memory were these things. There was a trumpet battle between Roy Eldridge and Charle Shavers. A tenors saxophone battle between Illinois Jacquet and Flip Phillips, and a drum battle between Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

When Norman Grantz announced a ballad set, the audience booed. Many were there for the extremely exciting medium and up tempo numbers and had little patience for ballads.

As one of my earliest introductions to live jazz, those JATP concerts did a lot to help form me into becoming a lifelong jazz fan. 

Thanks for these memories, Peter. Of course, the Broadway Capital Theatre is now the Detroit Opera House, where, as it happens, I have a meeting this afternoon concerning some freelance work with Detroit Opera (formerly Michigan Opera Theatre), which in May will be producing Anthony Davis' X, the Life and Times of Malcolm X. 

[Larry Kart]

As I've mentioned recently, my first JATP concert, which took place at the Chicago Opera House in Oct. 1956 (it was also my first live jazz experience and my only in-person encounter with Lester Young), was recorded by Granz, though not issued (on LP) until the early '80s as "Blues in Chicago." Quite a kick to hear again the same music I'd heard some twenty years earlier.

[Gheorghe]

15 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

Back in the early to mid 1950's I was just in the very early stages of becoming a jazz fan. JATP came to Detroit (at least) twice during that period and performed at the Broadway Capitol Theatre. Along with a couple of friends I attended those concerts. There were 2 concerts each evening, one an early one and the other a late concert.

 

The crowd was very raucous and at points when the music became especially exciting, members of the audience began dancing in the aisles.

What stands out in my memory were these things. There was a trumpet battle between Roy Eldridge and Charle Shavers. A tenors saxophone battle between Illinois Jacquet and Flip Phillips, and a drum battle between Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

When Norman Grantz announced a ballad set, the audience booed. Many were there for the extremely exciting medium and up tempo numbers and had little patience for ballads.

As one of my earliest introductions to live jazz, those JATP concerts did a lot to help form me into becoming a lifelong jazz fan. 

Interesting point of view. That audience reaction you described is similar to the experience I had from the small hours at "Jazz by Freddie" with Alfred Kobler, the late, legendary Viennese club owner and DJ (I wrote a long story about that atmosphere in my thread in "Miscellanious Music" : "Blues for Mike". I describe that raucous regulars that frequented the club in those small hours, when Freddie would spin a lot of JATP or Lionel Hampton Big Band. 

In my case - you write it helped you form into becoming a lifelong jazz fan - it was vice versa. It was quite amusing and anyway at that small hours we all were a bit loaded, but what formed me into becoming a lifelong jazz fan and part time musician was more the Miles Davis groups, Trane, Rollins, 60´s avantgarde, some of the best 70´s electric jazz,  and for historical knowledge and study of bop Bird Diz Bud and so on.....

[ghost of miles]

On 3/10/2022 at 11:09 AM, ghost of miles said:

I could be misremembering this, but I think at some point Mosaic was contemplating such a set. 

...and apparently they have moved beyond contemplation.  According to Scott, a Mosaic set covering 1950-57 will be out at the end of this year.  More details to come eventually, I'm sure.

[jazzbo]

Wow, interesting news.

[medjuck]

I wonder if it will have any previously unreleased material. 

[Brad]

20 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

...and apparently they have moved beyond contemplation.  According to Scott, a Mosaic set covering 1950-57 will be out at the end of this year.  More details to come eventually, I'm sure.

I discussed this with Scott last year but didn’t mention because I assumed it needed to be kept confidential.

At any rate, I will be in for this. 

[sidewinder]

This one will be on my list, for sure !

[Ken Dryden]

That will be a future edition to my collection as well...

[JSngry]

Not sure.

How much Oscar Peterson/etc will there be?

And how much, if any, fresh Bird/Pres will there be?

What, if any, " surprises" will there be?

Not at all sure if this excites me 

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Not sure.

How much Oscar Peterson/etc will there be?

And how much, if any, fresh Bird/Pres will there be?

What, if any, " surprises" will there be?

Not at all sure if this excites me 

My problem is that a little of the "excitement" of a JATP concert goes a long way, for me.  It took me a while to figure that out but that's where I am at.

[Chuck Nessa]

In 1983 Verve issued a 14 lp series of JATP material. It was produced by my old friend Bob Porter and it included some previously unissued material. About 75% of it was from the period in question. The cover format looked like this -

edit to note the last 4 titles were added in 1985.

Krupa & Rich – The Drum Battle

The Ella Fitzgerald Set

The Coleman Hawkins Set

The Rarest Concerts

Bird & Pres – Carnegie Hall 11949

Norgran Blues 1950

The Trumpet Battle 1952

One O’Clock Jump 1953

The Challenges 1954

Blues In Chicago 1955

Ella Fitzgerald – Lady Be Good

The Oscar Peterson Trio Set

Lester Young – Carnegie Hall Blues

The Stan Getz & J J Johnson Set 1957

Edited April 14, 2022 by Chuck Nessa

[Larry Kart]

That series included "Blues in Chicago," which was taken from the Chicago Opera House JATP Oct. 1955 concert -- the first jazz concert I attended and the only time I heard Lester Young in person. Amazing experience to be able to hear that music again in 1983, some 28 years later on. Amazing too how much of it sounded  familiar to me after all that time had passed, especially Prez' solo on the ballad medley -- fragile but very moving, even to the ears of my then 13 year old self. Oddly enough, the piece Prez played was "I Didn't Know What Time It Was."

[Chuck Nessa]

Lucky you.

 

[gmonahan]

Great news on a JATP set. I'll be up for it, despite already having the '53 Tokyo and '56 Seattle concerts on cd.

 

 

gregmo