NEW, NEVER HEARD, DIZZY & BIRD FROM UPTOWN

[jazzbo]

Big Sid is probably the biggest reason I'm eager to hear this one! I love that cat! A monster!

[king ubu]

Big Sid is probably the biggest reason I'm eager to hear this one!  I love that cat!  A monster!

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You can hear him talking, too, before "Hot House" - he asks Dizzy what the name of that Tadd Dameron tune was that they recorded... cool stuff!

And you see, Switzerland is less far away than Texas

[jazzbo]

I have mine on order from cduniverse is why I haven't heard mine; not going to be released for more than another week. I'm patient.

[king ubu]

I see! Well, time to build up even more suspense! It's well worth a wait, I tell you!

[Ron S]

It's well worth a wait, I tell you!

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As do I.

[Harold_Z]

Indeed ! I have it on now for the second time through.

IT'S BURNIN' !

[neveronfriday]

Hm.

This sounds like an excellent release.

Is anyone distributing it in Europe? My usual sources came up with zilch (although some Uptown stuff is available).

I'm just sick and tired of ordering from the States, which I have done for decades, simply because I now live in an area with the most annoying and atrocious customs office. They just open everything, delay even simple letters, etc. They suck, suck, suck.

[AllenLowe]

I have a copy available - that's $900 US or 2 million Euro -

[Ron S]

I have a copy available - that's $900 US or 2 million Euro -

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Yeah, sure, you lowball the price, but how much is the S&H???

[AllenLowe]

if you gotta ask, you can't afford it -

Edited June 10, 2005 by AllenLowe

[Ron S]

Hey Allen, wasn't that nonexistent Nat King Cole Mosaic you were selling from under your bed a few months ago also $900? What are you running there, some kind of prix fixe operation???

[Jazzmoose]

I must admit, the man who impresses me most on this disc is Max Roach. I knew he was good, but holy shit!

[Dan Gould]

OK, I've just given a listen, and I have to quote from Jim's original post:

I'll be blunt - if you dig bebop or beyond, have the money, and DON'T buy this when it comes out, you gotta be kidding me. Seriously. No shit. I kid you not - this is the REAL shit in a way of REAL that only gets caught on record, like, almost NEVER. You can cut my nuts off if I'm wrong.

Even without the historical significance of the recording, this is an amazing record and hands down the most important "new" issue in many, many a moon.

[AllenLowe]

actually, just finished listening to the whole thing for the first time and I am completely floored by this - this is the closest we will ever come to BEING THERE - one gets a sense that this is how it sounded to the audience, no recording tricks, no isolation - WOW! Just real air and presence - I agree, this is one fo the most historically significant jazz recordings ever released -

[Ron S]

Does this mean Jim gets to keep his nuts?

[RDK]

So this Bird guy is pretty good then? I think I've heard about him...

[medjuck]

In the reviews of the concert printed in the booklet none of the critics seem particularly impressed. Are they jaded because they could hear this caliber of music every night on 52nd Street? They are very impressed by Erroll Garner. Chuck or anyone else who's heard these tapes: Was he that good that night?

[kh1958]

Not jaded, just idiots.

In the reviews of the concert printed in the booklet none of the critics seem particularly impressed.  Are they jaded because they could hear this caliber of music every night on 52nd Street?    They are very impressed by Erroll Garner. Chuck or anyone else who's heard these tapes: Was he that good that night?

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[Dan Gould]

Well, the revolution was in full swing - I don't think they had any hope of fully appreciating the moment as we do, with 60 years of hindsight. The other thing I notice is how much of the negativity goes to the organization/execution of the concert, the problem of no-shows, not so much as a musical failure. But they could have taken closer note of what Diz-Bird and co. were laying down.

[JSngry]

Looking at the traycard of the disc I have a question about "Salt Peanuts" - is that Max or Big Sid? Liners say the later, but Symphony Sid only announces Big Sid *after* "Salt Peanuts" - however, I thought I did hear a change in drumming styles right from the beginning of "Salt Peanuts", so...

I think it's Max on "Salt Peanuts". My guess is Sid came out for "Hot House" & got such a big hand that he stayed on to finsih the set w/the brief "52nd Street Theme". The crowd wouldn't let him go, he needed to go, the set was probably about over anyway, so somebody probably said, "Just finish up, it's just a few more minutes", and he agreed.

That still gives him two tunes as per the tray card, just not the two it says.

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Thanks for weighing in! Sid (Big Sid, that is) would have been a bad mo-fo to pull all the stuff on "Peanuts" - but then "Hot House" is proof enough that he *was* a bad mo-fo...

From what Symphony Sid says, though, I rather think Sid was gone before 52nd Street Theme was played - but we'll probably never know...

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Well, I wrote that before reading Ira Gitler's liner notes, and I see that he reaches the same conlcusion as to what probably happened, fwiw...

Here's a couple of additional things -

[*] Although the tray card does indeed credit Catlett on "tracks and 6", maybe they meant songs 5 & 6, since Track 1 is just the introductory chatter.

[*] There's a lot of confusion onstage after "Hot House" -the audience is going nuts, Symphony Sid's still trying to get the song's title, sounds like nobody's sure what to do next. Finally, w/o any introduction whatsoever, it's up and out w/"52nd Street Theme", The drumming on that sounds more like Catlett than Max to me, and would give Catlett his two tunes, but even if Big Sid booked on out as seems to have been the plan (and I think that the emceeing would have been more coherent if the plan was stuck to), what you can really hear in this concert is just hiw much Max got from Catlett. "For Big Sid" indeed!

BTW - listening to Catlett's concersation is a trip. First, S. Sid calls him "our boy" (as he calls everybody)m abd Catlett says "your namesake", which goess totally over SS's head. Then he tries to get the tune's title from Dizzy, who seems to do a pantomime of pulling on his collar to indicate "hot", which Catlett interprets as "choke". It's a hoot!

[JSngry]

Does this mean Jim gets to keep his nuts?

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I've been cheered by the responses so far, I'll say that much.

[Ron S]

Does this mean Jim gets to keep his nuts?

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I've been cheered by the responses so far, I'll say that much.

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I think it's fair to say that the Family Jewels remain safe . . . . at least for now.

[king ubu]

Jim, I listened to "Salt Peanuts" again, and then the chatter (hilarious indeed!) and then "Hot House" - definitely Max on Peanuts, definitely Sid on Hot House. Max is da shit on Peanuts, wow! I guess I was still sleepy on the way to work this morning, otherwise I would have never even considered it the slightest possibility that Sid was on Peanuts!

Hey everybody, just wanted to tell you (rats included): this disc, in my terminology, rates definitely as da shit!

[gslade]

Hey everybody, just wanted to tell you (rats included): this disc, in my terminology, rates definitely as da shit!

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Best release of the Year?

I don't think it's to soon to call this, I think it gets my vote.

[gslade]

Sid had me laughing pretty hard

My lady freind was looking at me strangely

and then asked, "I thought you were listening to music, what are you laughin at?"

I did not know how to explain it to her, I just told her the announcer was funny

I used to dislike Sid very much, but I think that was short sighted of me.

I think he was responsible for a lot of great music being promoted (as Gitler writes in the notes)

"and pulled people's coats to bebop."