Pablo Records

[marcello]

Zoot Sims made a number of really fine recordings for Pablo. He may have had the best series of all of the artists on the label:

[sidewinder]

Dizzy Gillespie's last great record.

Totally agree ! Very fine 2LP set, will dig it out.

[sidewinder]

Zoot Sims made a number of really fine recordings for Pablo.

'Zoot Sims And The Gershwin Brothers' is a standout of a very fine run of Zoot Pablo albums. They got great reviews at the time of release and have withstood the test of time. 'Zoot Plays Soprano' and 'Hawthorne Nights' (arrangements by Bil Holman) are two other good ones.

Another good one on Pablo Live is JJ Johnson 'Yokohama Concert' - with Nat Adderley in the front line. One of my favourites on Pablo.

Edited July 13, 2008 by sidewinder

[bruce talbot]

Zoot Sims made a number of really fine recordings for Pablo.

'Zoot Sims And The Gershwin Brothers' is a standout of a very fine run of Zoot Pablo albums. They got great reviews at the time of release and have withstood the test of time. 'Zoot Plays Soprano' and 'Hawthorne Nights' (arrangements by Bil Holman) are two other good ones.

Another good one on Pablo Live is JJ Johnson 'Yokohama Concert' - with Nat Adderley in the front line. One of my favourites on Pablo.

Zoot's Pablo albums, particularly the quartets with Jimmy Rowles must be about the best of his career - the choice of tunes was especially stimulating. On the one occasion I had to speak to Granz I asked him about these sessions, surmising that more than what was issued was recorded. He not only agreed but said that there was 'enough stuff in the can to make for many future releases' but expressed doubt that the then owners of Pablo would ever do anything with the unreleased recordings. I have heard that a huge quantity of tape and masters was destroyed in the recent fire at Universal, including all the Impulse masters.

[mjzee]

I've recommended this elsewhere on this board:

What a strange, grooving record! A trio of Dizzy, Pretty Purdie, and Toots Thielemans (on guitar only). I don't have anything like it in my collection. Very enjoyable.

Lorne Lofsky has a nice trio date, produced by Oscar Peterson (who doesn't play):

One of my favorite Joe Turners; one side blues, the other covers like "I Left My Heart in San Francisco":

The 3 records made from Milt Jackson & Monty Alexander's date at Ronnie Scott's (of which this is one):

And a great, driving Joe Pass set:

[sidewinder]

I have heard that a huge quantity of tape and masters was destroyed in the recent fire at Universal, including all the Impulse masters.

Holy ****

[marcello]

Another favorite:

The Trumpet Kings With Joe Turner

[RDK]

I have heard that a huge quantity of tape and masters was destroyed in the recent fire at Universal, including all the Impulse masters.

Holy ****

Let's just be careful about spreading these unsubstantiated rumors though.

[bruce talbot]

I have heard that a huge quantity of tape and masters was destroyed in the recent fire at Universal, including all the Impulse masters.

Holy ****

Let's just be careful about spreading these unsubstantiated rumors though.

I'll try to find out more - my source was a friend who works at SONY

[AllenLowe]

don't know if anybody mentioned the Duke Ellington small group session (can't remember the title) - best thing is a Duke blues in which the melody starts on a major 7th -

[AllenLowe]

by the way, Al Gaffa worked a lot with Al Haig in the 1970s - great player, and ALWAYS used to complain about Ray Brown, interestingly enough - said he hogged the harmony and the rhythm, drove the rest of the rhythm section crazy because didn't leave any space -

[BruceH]

I have heard that a huge quantity of tape and masters was destroyed in the recent fire at Universal, including all the Impulse masters.

That's terrible.

[gmonahan]

We went through this in another thread, and the consensus seemed to be that it wasn't true. I hope not, anyway.

Does anybody know what the very first Pablo record ever issued was? I'm thinking it was Basie's "For the First Time," but I may be very wrong. Seems like it was the first one I ever saw in a record store.

For me Dizzy's Big Four and the first two Basie/Peterson albums (Satch and Josh) are still the greatest Pablos.

Greg Mo

[mjzee]

Does anybody know what the very first Pablo record ever issued was? I'm thinking it was Basie's "For the First Time," but I may be very wrong. Seems like it was the first one I ever saw in a record store.

It appears from Jazzdisco.org that the first few were:

Peterson/Pass/Pedersen - The Trio

Fitzgerald/Pass - Take Love Easy

Duke Ellington - Duke's Big 4

[Ken Dryden]

I have this on laserdisc, not LP or CD, but there's a Roy Eldridge Live at Montreux recording, from 1977, with Oscar Peterson, Bobby Durham and Nils Pederson, where Roy plays incredibly--one of his best recordings.

That show has been issued by Eagle Eye Media on DVD. Good stuff.

[kh1958]

Dizzy Gillespie's last great record.

Totally agree ! Very fine 2LP set, will dig it out.

This is one I don't have. I ordered it from Newbury, through amazon--it's only $6.99.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

The 3 records made from Milt Jackson & Monty Alexander's date at Ronnie Scott's (of which this is one):

That looks like some more stuff I should get. Would you mind posting the details of all three please?

MG

[king ubu]

I don't have many Pablos I think... still need many of those Zoot Sims discs, but I agree that the Gershwin Brothers is indeed very good!

I also recently got hold of both the before mentioned Milt Jackson "At Kosei Nenkin" discs. Just in case: the first one contains both original LPs (or the original double album, I think) minus two tunes, while the second contains those two tunes plus more than album's worth of additional music. Still need to digest all of that.

The Edison/Grey/Davis JATP 1983 disc is also very nice!

Also some other JATP releases, like the 1949 Carnegie Hall concert with Fats Navarro, Coleman Hawkins and others, and then that Frankfurt 1952 w/Prez... that latest one is designed to look as part of a little series that also includes live releases by Ellington (two, but one is designed differently), Cannonball (again several, but only the Paris 1960 is designed that way) and others.

Then there was the Horace Silver Paris 1962 release, as well as some others that came around the same time - the 1957 Newport Adderley/Shearing, a Kenton I think, and also a Louis Armstrong?

Those were the great days at Fantasy - all of those discs came out as Pablo releases though, and most or all indeed stem from Granz recordings (he did the Newport 1957 releases on Verve, then Pablo got some of the rests). Also the Coltrane "European Concerts"... those are all rather "from the vaults" releases, not actual Pablo albums.

[mjzee]

The 3 records made from Milt Jackson & Monty Alexander's date at Ronnie Scott's (of which this is one):

That looks like some more stuff I should get. Would you mind posting the details of all three please?

MG

Milt Jackson Quartet

Milt Jackson (vib) Monty Alexander (p) Ray Brown (b) Mickey Roker (d)

"Ronnie Scott's Club", London, England, April 23 & 24, 1982

Impressions Pablo 2310-932

Flamingo -

Eleuthera -

Good Bait -

F.S.R. -

Medley: Reggae / Later -

Close Enough For Love -

Captain Bill -

Three Little Words Pablo 2310-944

Used To Be Jackson -

The Summer Knows -

Main Stem -

Caravan -

Take The "A" Train -

Things Ain't What They Used To Be -

Come Sunday -

Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me) -

* Milt Jackson - A London Bridge (Pablo 2310-932)

* Milt Jackson - Mostly Duke (Pablo 2310-944; Fantasy OJCCD 968-2)

Milt Jackson Quartet

same personnel

"Ronnie Scott's Club", London, England, April 28, 1982

Straight, No Chaser Pablo Live 2308-235

Blue Monk -

'Round About Midnight -

In Walked Bud -

Django -

Think Positive -

Blues For Groundhog -

* Milt Jackson - Memories Of Thelonious Sphere Monk (Pablo Live 2308-235; Fantasy OJCCD 851-2)

[thomastreichler]

The 3 records made from Milt Jackson & Monty Alexander's date at Ronnie Scott's (of which this is one):

That looks like some more stuff I should get. Would you mind posting the details of all three please?

MG

Milt Jackson Quartet

Milt Jackson (vib) Monty Alexander (p) Ray Brown (b) Mickey Roker (d)

"Ronnie Scott's Club", London, England, April 23 & 24, 1982

Impressions Pablo 2310-932

Flamingo -

Eleuthera -

Good Bait -

F.S.R. -

Medley: Reggae / Later -

Close Enough For Love -

Captain Bill -

Three Little Words Pablo 2310-944

Used To Be Jackson -

The Summer Knows -

Main Stem -

Caravan -

Take The "A" Train -

Things Ain't What They Used To Be -

Come Sunday -

Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me) -

* Milt Jackson - A London Bridge (Pablo 2310-932)

* Milt Jackson - Mostly Duke (Pablo 2310-944; Fantasy OJCCD 968-2)

Milt Jackson Quartet

same personnel

"Ronnie Scott's Club", London, England, April 28, 1982

Straight, No Chaser Pablo Live 2308-235

Blue Monk -

'Round About Midnight -

In Walked Bud -

Django -

Think Positive -

Blues For Groundhog -

* Milt Jackson - Memories Of Thelonious Sphere Monk (Pablo Live 2308-235; Fantasy OJCCD 851-2)

All three albums are great: terrifically swinging stuff with inspired playing by all. Milt Jackson did some more fine recordings on Pablo, I warmly recommend "Soul Fusion" (1977 with Monty Alexander), "Soul Route" (1983, with Gene Harris) and "It Don't Mean A Thing If You Can't Tap Your Foot To It" (1984, with Cedar Walton) as well as the two discs with the Count Basie Big Band.

"Basie & Zoot" is superb; you actually cannot go wrong with any Zoot Sims on Pablo, IMO he did some of his best work for Pablo (check "If I'm Lucky", "For Lady Day", "Warm Tenor", "The Swinger", "I Wish I Were Twins", "Suddenly It's Spring").

Ray Bryant's Pablo albums are nice too, I have "Potpourri" and "All Blues" (both in the trio format) as well as the solo effort "Montreux '77" and do like all of them.

Benny Carter's "The King" (with Milt Jackson and Tommy Flanagan) is recommended, as is the afore-mentioned "Live And Well In Japan".

Tommy Flanagan's "Tokyo Recital" is a particular favorite of mine.

Phineas Newborn did "Look Out! - Phineas Is Back" and "Back Home" (both recorded 1976), I like them both very much.

Oscar Peterson recorded prolifically for Pablo, perhaps the best of the bunch is "The London Concert" (1978, with John Heard and Louis Bellson).

Finally there are the "Solo Masterpieces" by Art Tatum, I think there is no need to introduce these recordings to the members of this forum.

[king ubu]

Finally there are the "Solo Masterpieces" by Art Tatum, I think there is no need to introduce these recordings to the members of this forum.

These were released on Verve originally, no? Or at least some of them? Of course that's a huge achievement, and the "Group Masterpieces" aren't far behind!

The Gokudo site has some of the covers:

http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Record/12in1/Lpmik...keshi%20365.jpg

http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Record/12in1/Lpmik...shi%20539_1.jpg

http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Record/12in1/Lpmik...shi%20568_1.jpg

(I can't seem to post them as jpgs because of the "%" in the url)

[Hot Ptah]

Other Pablos which I especially like include:

Zoot Sims' "Hawthorne Nights"

Harry "Sweets" Edison's "Edison's Lights" (with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Dolo Coker or Count Basie on piano, John Heard, Jimmie Smith on drums)

Benny Carter Big 4 at Montreux 1977 (with Ray Bryant, NHOP and Jimmie Smith on drums--Benny plays some fine trumpet solos as well as alto sax)

Oscar Peterson Big 6 at Montreux 1975 (with Toots Thielemans, Milt Jackson, Joe Pass, NHOP and

Louis Bellson. Toots' harmonica solo on the first cut is the hottest solo he ever recorded, to my knowledge)

Joe Pass--Portraits of Duke Ellington (with Ray Brown and Bobby Durham--this is my favorite Pass album ever for listening, as opposed to appreciating or becoming awe-struck)

Edited July 14, 2008 by Hot Ptah

[Hot Ptah]

Chuck, compared to what you were offering on your label, yes Pablo overall is conservative. But I still stand by my opinion on that album.

It may be a great album. No value judgement on the recording in my post, but players with styles set in the '40s and early '50s, while grafting on modal styles from the late '50s, recorded in the mid seventies are conservative to me. Had nothing to do with what I recorded.

I don't expect/demand players change, I do expect a clear headed view of the evolution of music.

In the mid to late 1970s I was heavily into my first huge jazz record buying binge, and I thought that one of the strengths of the period was that there was so much available at once. I was buying all of the Nessa, Horo and India Navigation albums I could find, some of the ECM releases, the Columbias of Dexter Gordon, Woody Shaw, and others, Sun Ra on Saturn records, all of the Blue Note and Impulse reissues I could find, the Prestige "two-fers", the Milestones of Mc CoyTyner and others, the A&M Horizons with their great packaging, the great Arista Freedom releases, and then there was Pablo. I knew that Pablo was conservative and the home of the "old masters" who were still active. I didn't expect anything different from Pablo. I thought of it as the oldest, dampest wing of the mansion which I was investigating from basement to attic. I wasn't going to find super hip avocado green/harvest gold decor in the Pablo wing--it would be more like slightly musty old stonework-- but there would be some good listening anyway. I did not spend all of my time, or dollars, with Pablo, by a long shot, but I liked the ability to check out the older musicians.

[blajay]

Dizzy Gillespie's last great record.

Totally agree ! Very fine 2LP set, will dig it out.

This is one I don't have. I ordered it from Newbury, through amazon--it's only $6.99.

What is the title in reference to? Something Brazilian--Bossa? Blakey's nickname was Buhania, which is close--he's not on this album, though, is he?

[blajay]

My favorite Pablo (aside from the Tatum sets):