Monk's 1st studio session (With Hawkins)

[medjuck]

On Oct. 19, 1944 Thelonious Monk made his first studio recordings in a group led by Coleman Hawkins. Four songs were recorded and they're all listed (on the 2 cds I have which contain them) as having been written by "Thomas". Is that Walter Thomas with whom Hawk recorded the week before? I can't find anything about the composer in the liner notes to either cd or in the bios I have of Monk and Hawkins.

Holy shit I just put The Chronogical Classics cd in my computer while I was writing this and checked the Get Info on iTunes and it gave me the answer!! It listed Walter Thomas as the composer. (I don't suggest that the CCCG database or whayever is a reliable research tool. It definitely doesn't always give this information.)

Edited October 23, 2006 by medjuck

[Chuck Nessa]

Foots Thomas was a&r for the label and probably claimed publishing in return for the gig. Not unusual for the time.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

yea like on those savoy lps all the hank songs are attributed to: "Mobley-Crossroads"

[EKE BBB]

All four tunes are also credited to Walter Thomas in the ASCAP online database.

[bichos]

speaking of walter "foots" thomas: the four sessions (31 tracks with various breakdowns and alternative takes) with his "jump cats" or "orchestra" from 1944 and 1945 for the "joe davis" label are one of my all-time favourits. it is wonderful arranged music and they swing like mad! along with great musicians like Budd Johnson, Jonah Jones, Oscar Pettiford, Specs Powell, Slam Stewart, Ben Webster, Charlie Shavers, Eddie Barefield, Cozy Cole, Coleman Hawkins, Emmett Berry, Doc Cheatham, Clyde Hart, Milt Hinton, Hilton Jefferson, Teddy McRae, Billy Taylor and Milt Yaner. i was delighted when i found all the alternate takes on the "neatwork" label because the old "harlequin" lp´s are so hard to find!

this is fine music and for all who don´t know this sessions - go for it!!!

keep boppin´

marcel

(sorry for my enthusiasm, but i was happy to read "foots" thomas name here!)

[Eloe Omoe]

speaking of walter "foots" thomas: the four sessions (31 tracks with various breakdowns and alternative takes) with his "jump cats" or "orchestra" from 1944 and 1945 for the "joe davis" label are one of my all-time favourits.

(sorry for my enthusiasm, but i was happy to read "foots" thomas name here!)

They are very nice recordings indeed. I have the old Prestige LP you show in the photo and I have been enjoying it for a long while. BTW, it looks like Foots Thomas was one of the saxophone teachers of Jackie McLean (according to Eugene Chadbourne in the All Music Guide).

Luca

[bichos]

speaking of walter "foots" thomas: the four sessions (31 tracks with various breakdowns and alternative takes) with his "jump cats" or "orchestra" from 1944 and 1945 for the "joe davis" label are one of my all-time favourits.

(sorry for my enthusiasm, but i was happy to read "foots" thomas name here!)

They are very nice recordings indeed. I have the old Prestige LP you show in the photo and I have been enjoying it for a long while. BTW, it looks like Foots Thomas was one of the saxophone teachers of Jackie McLean (according to Eugene Chadbourne in the All Music Guide).

Luca

yes, and wasn´t joe thomas his trumpet playing brother? with jimmie lunceford and on a fine session with jonah jones and the keynoters? seems that they come from a music family.

keep boppin´

marcel

[Big Beat Steve]

yes, and wasn´t joe thomas his trumpet playing brother? with jimmie lunceford and on a fine session with jonah jones and the keynoters? seems that they come from a music family.

No, not the trumpeter.

John Chilton mentions in his "Who's Who of Jazz" that Walter "Foots" Thomas had a brother named Joe (born in 1908) who played tenor saxophone but he also explicitly says that this is NOT "THE" Joe Thomas (the tenor saxophonist) who was with Jimmie Lunceford and co-led the band for a while with Ed Wilcox after Lunceford's death.

And neither was he related to Joe Thomas the TRUMPETER who was with Fletcher Henderson, Willie Bryant, Claude Hopkins, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson (but never with Lunceford as far as I know) and freelanced a lot in the 40s.

According to Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz, Walter's "real" brother Joe (the less famous of the two sax-playing Joes) was with Blanche Calloway and other name bands in the 30s and gave up playing to become a vocal coach in the 40s. He later worked as an A&R man for Decca and directed countless R&B dates.

I agree that the these Walter "Foots" Thomas "all-star" recordings are great indeed. I bought the Prestige LP shown above in my early collecting days while still in school in the late 70s and it got a lot of spins on the turntable (I later even considered buying the Harlequin reissue as a "replacement" copy but somehow never did...).

Re- Walter's teaching activities, an ad in an April 1945 music paper reads: "Walter Foots Thomas - Teacher of Saxophone (formerly with Cab Calloway) - Special instructions for Improvising and Ad Lib Playing - Correspondence Courses on Improvisation now Available"

Edited October 23, 2006 by Big Beat Steve

[medjuck]

Thomas also wrote for some jazz magazines. Chilton's biography of Hawkins quotes from a piece he wrote about the session he led with with Hawkins.

[bichos]

that´s interesting with joe, joe and joe (i mean thomas.. :-)

look what i´ve found here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...mp;category=157

are there any recordings of "foots" and his sax quintet?

[Eloe Omoe]

[Re- Walter's teaching activities, an ad in an April 1945 music paper reads: "Walter Foots Thomas - Teacher of Saxophone (formerly with Cab Calloway) - Special instructions for Improvising and Ad Lib Playing - Correspondence Courses on Improvisation now Available"

Foots Thomas must've been a peculiar character indeed. I'd love to see those Correspondence Courses on Improvisation...

Luca