Lionel Hampton

[king ubu]

Can you give some specific recommendations regarding RCA - big band or small group? I have none of it and never saw anything in local CD shops...

The only Hamp I have, besides the Paris stuff (all of it, also the ones in the JiP series) and the Tatum date is the 2CD Decca set, so I'd definitely be interested in getting more (mainly earlier stuff, meaning RCA rather than the OP/Verve albums)!

Naxos is very fair when issuing "historic jazz" - and the sound is the best you can get from ordinary 78 rpm record:

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.120651

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.120766

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.120621

thanks for that recommendation, I only have one or two Naxos discs so far, didn't think to check there!

[brownie]

I am still waiting for FreshSound (or Mosaic?) to release the complete Concert Hall session from 1956 where Lionel Hampton gathered Ray Copeland, Jimmy Cleveland, Lucky Thompson, Oscard Dennard, Oscar Pettiford and Gus Johnson. It turned out to be one of the best session from that fertile era!

Praise the Lord (and FreshSound), my prayer has been answered.

FreshSound is releasing a double CD with the full 17 tracks of the session.

From their site:

Complete Jazztone Recordings

Lionel Hampton and His All-Stars

Featuring: Ray Copeland (tp), Jimmy Cleveland (tb), Lucky Thompson (ts), Lionel Hampton (vb, marimba, p), Oscar Dennard (p), Oscar Pettiford (b), Gus Johnson (d)

REFERENCE: FSRCD 446

BAR CODE: 8427328604468

PRICE: 17.40 €

This CD compiles for the first time all the tracks recorded by this Lionel Hampton’s All-Star group in 1956. Originally produced by Jazztone Records, most of them appeared on a 12” LP (J-1238); the rest were released on a 10” (J-1040), and on a 7” EP (J-723). You will not only hear Hampton lead this group with his extraordinary dynamism and energy as a leader, and his phenomenal improvisational capacity as an instrumentalist (vibes, piano, marimba), but also shines in his role as a jazz composer of great feeling. Hampton is surrounded here by some established jazz masters such as tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson, bassist Oscar Pettiford, trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, drummer Gus Johnson, and by two then-newcomers to the scene: pianist Oscar Dennard, and trumpeter Ray Copeland. The music is full of rhythmic and blowing excitement thanks to the talents of the jazzmen involved, and comes close to stomping in several places.

Tracklisting:

CD1:

1. Romeo’s Gone Now

2. Over The Rainbow

3. Dark Eyes

4. Line For Lyons

5. Raindeer

6. Summertime

7. Too Much

8. What’s Your Hurry

CD2:

1. When You’re Smiling

2. A Ghost Of A Chance

3. Loch Lomond

4. Look! Four Hands

5. Undecided

6. My Man

7. Deep Purple

8. Take The “A” Train

9. Lionel Choo-Choo

RECORDED New York City, 1956

Will get this as soon as it shows up

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

That looks a good 'un, too. Who the heck was/were Jazztone?

MG

[brownie]

That looks a good 'un, too. Who the heck was/were Jazztone?

MG

Jazztone was a mostly mail-order record label.

A O. thread from the early days...

Edited May 26, 2007 by brownie

[king ubu]

Wow, that's great news brownie - thanks for sharing!

There's some more info on that session on the Lucky Thompson thread here: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...&hl=dennard

Edited May 26, 2007 by king ubu

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

That looks a good 'un, too. Who the heck was/were Jazztone?

MG

Jazztone was a mostly mail-order record label.

A O. thread from the early days...

Thanks Brownie - that's interesting.

MG

[mmilovan]

I listened to the older stuff, the more I heard how advanced he was for his time, and the more I listened to his later stuff, the more I heard the serious chops and thought that he brought to all but the most extroverted extravaganzas. In short, in spite of all the extracurriculars, Lionel Hapton was a serious player.

In some interview Hampton noticed that bop was nothing new to him - he was capable of hearing complex harmonies and to play alongside as early as with Goodman quartet.

Now that is quite interesting situation in that BG small band: Hampton and Wilson as sophisticated musicans somewhere in proto-bop stage - and Goodman and Krupa (with greatest respect to them, of course) as voices of music played before swing was The King.

[BruceH]

I suggest Hamp and Getz.

Yes.

Anything he did with the Goodman small groups is essential jazz in my book. Can't really go wrong with Hampton.

[Big Beat Steve]

Could it really be that there are any seasoned collectors around to whom JAZZTONE meant nothing at all until Brownie set them wise right here and now?

I am .... eh ... surprised ....

And while we're discussing those Jazztone sessions, how about Lionel Hampton's mid.50s sessions for the CfD (Club Francais de Disque) and Bertelsmann, etc.? He was extremely prductive in the recording studios during his European tours at that time. I have most of them on original vinyl but they might make a nice Fresh Sound companion volume to the above Jazztone reissue.

Speaking of Hampton obscurities, anyone familiar with those 1951 soundies of the Hampton big Band that feature titles like Vibes Boogies, Beulah's Boogie and T.V. special that are around on various DVD soundies reissues (as well as previously on video). According to the discographies they at one time were released on vinyl on the Camay and New World (budget?) labels. Are any more recent CD reissues available and accessible?

[Larry Kart]

I listened to the older stuff, the more I heard how advanced he was for his time, and the more I listened to his later stuff, the more I heard the serious chops and thought that he brought to all but the most extroverted extravaganzas. In short, in spite of all the extracurriculars, Lionel Hapton was a serious player.

In some interview Hampton noticed that bop was nothing new to him - he was capable of hearing complex harmonies and to play alongside as early as with Goodman quartet.

It occurred to me once that there's a link between Hampton and Monk -- their shared penchant for the

whole-tone scale for one thing, but also their rhythm makes melodies/melodies are rhythms thinking. I can hear them playing "Blue Monk" together.

P.S. As for Monk's Swing Era roots, everyone who digs Monk needs to hear Teddy Wilson's walking tempo version of "'Round Midnight" on Wilson's "And Then They Wrote..." (originally on Columbia, now on Collectables coupled with "Mr. Wilson and Mr. Gershwin"). The whole album is fine; another real eye-opener there is Wilson's version of "Artistry In Rhythm."

[Fer Urbina]

In some interview Hampton noticed that bop was nothing new to him - he was capable of hearing complex harmonies and to play alongside as early as with Goodman quartet.

I wouldn't necessarily trust an Hampton's words on that, especially if the interview is from c. 1945-7, when bop was being "sold" as a trendy fashion (the glasses, the berets, Monk being the "high priest of bop", etc). IIRC Hampton even explained the difference between "be-bop" and "re-bop" in terms of one being related to harmony and the other to rhythm.

Hampton was quite a businessman and a showman. That said, he had a formidable natural talent, and he probably was one of those musicians who are able to say something interesting in any given situation.

F

PS I've always linked the whole-tone scale thing mentioned by Larry to Duke Ellington. Did anyone do that before Duke?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Could it really be that there are any seasoned collectors around to whom JAZZTONE meant nothing at all until Brownie set them wise right here and now?

I am .... eh ... surprised ....

Depends what you collect, Steve - there's no Soul Jazz on Jazztone, as far as I know. I never heard of the label.

MG

[jazzcorner]

GNP Crescendo Vol 15 [Japan LAX 3083 from 1976]  - Gene Norman Presents Lionel Hampton And The Just Jazz All Stars - rec 1947