Prestige Swingville Series

[thomastreichler]

In the late 50's, early 60's, Prestige put together a series of All Star Sessions under the Swingville label. The musicians predominantly were stars of the swing era, who at that time were "on the periphery of jazz attention" (as Nat Hentoff put it in his liner notes for Swingville 2010). Regular participants were Coleman Hawkins, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Joe Thomas (the trumpeter), Clark Terry, Vic Dickenson, Budd Johnson, Joe Newman and the likes with rhythm sections often consisiting of Tommy Flanagan, Claude Hopkins, Ray Bryant, Tiny Grimes, Wendell Marshall, Osie Johnson, Gus Johnson, J.C. Heard.

I have the following albums (some of them were reissued on cd by combining two sets on one cd):

Buddy Tate - Tate's Date

Coleman Hawkins All Stars (with Joe Thomas, Vic Dickenson, Tommy Flanagan)

The Happy Jazz Of Rex Stewart (on vinyl)

Pee Wee Russell - Swingin' With Pee Wee

Claude Hopkins - Yes Indeed!

The Swingville All Stars - Rockin' In Rhythm (with Taft Jordan, Hilton Jefferson, Al Sears)

Joe Newman - Jive At Five

Buddy Tate / Clark Terry - Tate-A-Tate

Budd Johnson - Let's Swing

Coleman Hawkins - Night Hawk

Joe Newman - Good 'N' Groovy (on vinyl)

Claude Hopkins - Let's Jam (with Joe Thomas, Buddy Tate)

Jimmy Hamilton - It's About Time

The Swingville All Stars - Things Ain't What They Used To Be

The Swingville All Stars - Years Ago

Jimmy Hamilton - Can't Help Swinging

Groovin' With Buddy Tate

Buck Clayton / Buddy Tate - Buck And Buddy Blow The Blues

Leonard Gaskin - At The Jazz Band Ball

Benny Carter / Ben Webster / Barney Bigard - BBB & Co. (on vinyl)

Leonard Gaskin - Darktown Strutters Ball

The Prestige All Stars - Basie Reunion

Coleman Hawkins - Hawk Eyes

Claude Hopkins / Budd Johnson / Vic Dickenson - Swing Time!

The Prestige Blues Swingers - Outskirts Of Town (actually not in the Swingville series, but similar in concept)

This is a fine body of first rate mainstream jazz played by some of the most outstanding soloists of the swing era. What are your opinions to this series as a whole or individual recordings?

[Stereojack]

This is a great series - veteran musicians who still had plenty to say, and well recorded. Here's a link to a complete list

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/prestigeLabel.html#SVLP

I especially like:

2004 Tiny Grimes (not originally in this series, but it fits)

2007 Al Casey

2013 Prestige Blues Swingers

2015 Budd Johnson

2016 Coleman Hawkins & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

2021 Shorty Baker & Doc Cheatham

2023 Hal Singer

2032 Benny Carter

2034 Henry "Red" Allen

[mikeweil]

My old Prestige Discography lists 41 Swingville LPs:

2001 Coleman Hawkins plus the Red Garland Trio

2002 Tiny Grimes - Tiny in Swingville

2003 Buddy Tate - Tate's Date

2004 Tiny Grimes - Callin' the Blues (reissue of Prestige 7144)

2005 Coleman Hawkins All Stars

2006 Rex Stewart - The Happy Jazz

2007 Al Casey - Buck Jumpin'

2008 Pee Wee Russell - Swingin' with Pee Wee

2009 Claude Hopkins - Yes Indeed!

2010 The Swingville All Stars

2011 Joe Newman - Jive At Five

2012 The Bud Freeman All Stars

2013 Prestige Blues Swingers - Stasch

2014 Buddy Tate - Tate-a-Tate

2015 Budd Johnson - Let's Swing! (OJC CD 1720-2)

2016 Coleman Hawkins & Eddie Davis - Night Hawk

2017 Buck Clayton - Buck & Buddy

2018 Al Sears - Swing's the Thing

2019 Joe Newman - Good 'n' Groovy

2020 Claude Hopkins - Let's Jam

2021 Shorty Baker & Doc Cheatham - Shorty & Doc (OJC CD 839-2)

2022 Jimmy Hamilton - It's About Time

2023 Hal Singer - Blue Stompin' (OJC CD 834-2)

2024 Coleman Hawkins - Things Ain't What They Used To Be

2025 Coleman Hawkins - Years Ago

2026 Dick Wellstood & Cliff Jackson - Uptown and Lowdown

2027 Joe Newman - Joe's Hap'nin's

2028 Jimmy Hamilton - Can't Help Swingin'

2029 Buddy Tate - Groovin' with Tate

2030 Buck Clayton - Buck & Buddy Blow the Blues

2031 Leonard Gaskin - At the Jazz Band Ball

2032 Benny Carter - BBB & Co. (OJC CD 758-2)

2033 Leonard Gaskin - At the Darktown Strutters Ball

2034 Henry Red Allen - Mr. Allen

2035 Coleman Hawkins - Blues Groove (reissue of Prestige 7138)

2036 Paul Quinichette - For Basie (reissue of Prestige 7127) (OJC CD 978-2)

2037 Buck Clayton & Paul Quinichette (reissue of Prestige 7147 Paul Quinichette - Basie Reunion) (OJC CD 1049-2)

2038 Coleman Hawkins - Soul (reissue of Prestige 7149)

2039 Coleman Hawkins - Hawk Eyes (reissue of Prestige 7156)

2040 Dixieland Hits

2041 Claude Hopkins - Swing Time

I will gladly add more reissue numbers if provided.

The series was a nice idea, documented some giants of the swing era at a time when they had little opportunity to record.

Surprising how few Ellingtonians are among them.

Edited August 29, 2007 by mikeweil

[king ubu]

Here's Losin's list, just because...

Swingville series (12" LPs)

2001: Coleman Hawkins with the Red Garland Trio (Coleman Hawkins) [8/12/59]

2002: Tiny in Swingville (Tiny Grimes) [8/13/59]

2003: Tate's Date (Buddy Tate) [12/18/59]

2004: Callin' the Blues (Tiny Grimes) [reissue of 7144]

2005: Coleman Hawkins All-Stars (Coleman Hawkins) [1/8/60]

2006: The Happy Jazz of Rex Stewart (Rex Stewart) [see 7728]

2007: Buck Jumpin' (Al Casey) [3/7/60]

2008: Swingin' with Pee Wee (Pee Wee Russell) [see 7672]

2009: Yes Indeed! (Claude Hopkins) [3/25/60]

2010: Rockin' in Rhythm (Swingville All-Stars] [3/31/60]

2011: Jive at Five (Joe Newman) [5/4/60]

2012: The Bud Freeman All-Stars Featuring Shorty Baker (Bud Freeman, Shorty Baker) [5/13/60]

2013: Stasch (Prestige Blues Swingers) [2/5/59]

2014: Tate-A-Tate (Buddy Tate, Clark Terry) [10/18/60]

2015: Let's Swing (Budd Johnson) [12/2/60]

2016: Night Hawk (Coleman Hawkins, Eddie Lockjaw Davis) [12/30/60]

2017: Buck and Buddy (Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate) [12/20/60]

2018: Swing's the Thing (Al Sears) [11/29/60]

2019: Good 'n' Groovy (Joe Newman, Frank Foster) [3/17/61]

2020: Let's Jam (Claude Hopkins a.o.) [2/21/61]

2021: Shorty & Doc (Shorty Baker, Doc Cheatham) [1/17/61]

2022: It's About Time (Jimmy Hamilton) [3/21/61]

2023: Blue Stompin' (Hal Singer a.o.) [reissue of 7153]

2024: Things Ain't What They Used to Be (Coleman Hawkins a.o.) [4/14/61, 5/19/61]

2025: Years Ago (Coleman Hawkins a.o.) [4/14/61, 5/19/61]

2026: Uptown and Lowdown (Cliff Jackson's Washboard Wanderers, Dick Wellstood's Wallerites) [7/20/60, 7/27/61]

2027: Joe's Hap'nin's (Joe Newman) [5/9/61]

2028: Can't Help Swingin' (Jimmy Hamilton) [4/4/61]

2029: Groovin' with Buddy Tate (Buddy Tate) [2/17/61]

2030: Buck & Buddy Blow the Blues (Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate) [9/15/61]

2031: At the Jazz Band Ball (Leonard Gaskin a.o.) [11/30/61]

2032: B.B.B. & Co. (Benny Carter a.o.) [4/2/62]

2033: Darktown Strutter's Ball (Leonard Gaskin a.o.) [8/23/62]

2034: Mr. Allen (Henry Red Allen) [see 7755]

2035: Blues Groove (Coleman Hawkins) [reissue of 7138]

2036: For Basie (Paul Quinichette a.o.) [reissue of 7127]

2037: Basie Reunion (Buck Clayton a.o.) [reissue of 7147]

2038: Soul (Coleman Hawkins) [reissue of 7149]

2039: Hawk Eyes (Coleman Hawkins) [reissue of 7156]

2040: Dixieland Hits (Leonard Gaskin a.o.) [8/28/62]

2041: Swing Time! (Claude Hopkins, Budd Johnson, Vic Dickinson) [5/22/63]

4001: Things Ain't What They Used to Be (Swingville All-Stars) [2 LP set including 2024, 2025]

I don't have many of them, but the ones I have I enjoy a lot!

What I have are some of the Hawkins ones (w/Garland, Night Hawk, Soul, Hawk Eyes, the all stars on the twofer with Pee Wee Russell), the QUinichette, the Hal Singer, the two Claude Hopkins twofers (four albums all in all), the Bud Freeman, and Shorty & Doc.

[thomastreichler]

The series was a nice idea, documented some giants of the swing era at a time when they had little opportunity to record.

Surprising how few Ellingtonians are among them.

Anyhow there were quite a few Ellingtonians: Clark Terry, Jimmy Hamilton, Al Sears, Taft Jordan, Shorty Baker, Rex Stewart, Barney Bigard, Britt Woodman, Wendell Marshall come to mind.

[king ubu]

Probably these Ellingtonians where still in a position do do a record date on their own, now and then, opposed to guys like Claude Hopkins, Buddy Tate or sidemen like Hilton Jefferson (on one of the great Hopkins albums on the "Swing Time" twofer - btw. for a short while, Jefferson was an Ellingtonian, too - Capitol years, replacing Hodges... an underrated period, I'm glad I have the Mosaic!)

[king ubu]

The series was a nice idea, documented some giants of the swing era at a time when they had little opportunity to record.

Surprising how few Ellingtonians are among them.

Anyhow there were quite a few Ellingtonians: Clark Terry, Jimmy Hamilton, Al Sears, Taft Jordan, Shorty Baker, Rex Stewart, Barney Bigard, Britt Woodman, Wendell Marshall come to mind.

That Taft Jordan twofer is great! Forgot to mention I have that one as well!

Here's the cover - one to grab quick!

Edited August 29, 2007 by king ubu

[thomastreichler]

Probably these Ellingtonians where still in a position do do a record date on their own, now and then, opposed to guys like Claude Hopkins, Buddy Tate or sidemen like Hilton Jefferson (on one of the great Hopkins albums on the "Swing Time" twofer - btw. for a short while, Jefferson was an Ellingtonian, too - Capitol years, replacing Hodges... an underrated period, I'm glad I have the Mosaic!)

Sorry to correct you. Hilton Jefferson is not playing on any of the Claude Hopkins dates. He is on one of the sessions on "Mood Indigo" by Taft Jordan (mentioned in your most recent post) and on "Jam Session In Swingville" (the session wit Joe Newman and Coleman Hawkins).

Jefferson can also be heard playing with the Fletcher Henderson All Star Big Band of 1957 "Big Reunion" (I have the version on Fresh Sound).

Edited August 29, 2007 by Tommy T

[king ubu]

Of course you're right... I got the two Hopkins discs and the Jordan (and the Shorty & Doc, too) all on the same day, must have mixed things up!

[Swinging Swede]

Also, Hilton Jefferson didn't replace Johnny Hodges, he replaced Willie Smith.

[paul secor]

Lots of truly fine recordings in this series.

Some personal favorites:

2004 - Tiny Grimes

2007 - Al Casey

(An aside - a friend who ran a small blues record company told me that one session he would have liked to recorded was a Tiny Grimes/Al Casey date. He didn't have the money to do it at the time, and later on it was too late.)

2008 - Pee Wee Russell

2012 - Bud Freeman

2016 - Hawk & Lockjaw

2017 - Buck Claton/Buddy Tate

2019 - Joe Newman

[JohnS]

I've always liked the Tiny Grimes album 'Callin' The Blues'. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the other Grimes items on Swingsville.

[king ubu]

Also, Hilton Jefferson didn't replace Johnny Hodges, he replaced Willie Smith.

ah well, I'm just plain wrong... it was the Hodges chair he had, anyway... Hodges came back later as we all know (but I won't say he replaced Jefferson, since maybe Procope replaced Jefferson and Hodges thus replaced Procope... )

[mikeweil]

The Taft Jordan LP Mood Indigo included on that twofer CD originally was on Moodsville 21, to be exact.

Also, Ellingtonian Clark Terry was on Moodsville 20 and 26, not on Swingville.

Prestige already reissued albums on another sublabel or rather series when appropriate, and Fantasy continued the method for the twofer reissues.

Edited August 29, 2007 by mikeweil

[jlhoots]

Many of these were underrated at the time.

Time & reevaluation have increased their stature.

[thomastreichler]

The Taft Jordan LP Mood Indigo included on that twofer CD originally was on Moodsville 21, to be exact.

Also, Ellingtonian Clark Terry was on Moodsville 20 and 26, not on Swingville.

Prestige already reissued albums on another sublabel or rather series when appropriate, and Fantasy continued the method for the twofer reissues.

Clark Terry at least was on the two Swingville releases "Tate-A-Tate" (2014) with Buddy Tate and "It's About Time" (2022) under the leadership of Jimmy Hamilton.

[Swinging Swede]

Also, Hilton Jefferson didn't replace Johnny Hodges, he replaced Willie Smith.

ah well, I'm just plain wrong... it was the Hodges chair he had, anyway... Hodges came back later as we all know (but I won't say he replaced Jefferson, since maybe Procope replaced Jefferson and Hodges thus replaced Procope... )

Hilton Jefferson's replacement was the boppish Rick Henderson, whom Duke for some reason very rarely gave solo space. Henderson held that chair throughout the entire Capitol period actually (Jefferson was only on the 1952 Columbia sides).

Russell Procope was there all along! He replaced Otto Hardwick in 1946 and remained until the end.

Rick Henderson was an interesting choice. When Hodges left, Duke replaced him with a fellow Swing Era star, Willie Smith, but he left after just a year. He was then replaced with another Swing Era veteran, Hilton Jefferson, who stayed an even shorter time. Perhaps Duke therefore decided to try something different in the young Henderson. But in late 1955 Hodges came back to the safety, and I think Duke was very pleased with that!

I find it regrettable though that Willie Smith didn't stay longer. He fitted well into the band (musically anyway), and fortunately there are both live recordings and soundies in addition to the studio recordings, that document his stint with the band.

[NaturalSoul]

Is that Al Sears album available?

[king ubu]

Also, Hilton Jefferson didn't replace Johnny Hodges, he replaced Willie Smith.

ah well, I'm just plain wrong... it was the Hodges chair he had, anyway... Hodges came back later as we all know (but I won't say he replaced Jefferson, since maybe Procope replaced Jefferson and Hodges thus replaced Procope... )

Hilton Jefferson's replacement was the boppish Rick Henderson, whom Duke for some reason very rarely gave solo space. Henderson held that chair throughout the entire Capitol period actually (Jefferson was only on the 1952 Columbia sides).

Russell Procope was there all along! He replaced Otto Hardwick in 1946 and remained until the end.

Rick Henderson was an interesting choice. When Hodges left, Duke replaced him with a fellow Swing Era star, Willie Smith, but he left after just a year. He was then replaced with another Swing Era veteran, Hilton Jefferson, who stayed an even shorter time. Perhaps Duke therefore decided to try something different in the young Henderson. But in late 1955 Hodges came back to the safety, and I think Duke was very pleased with that!

I find it regrettable though that Willie Smith didn't stay longer. He fitted well into the band (musically anyway), and fortunately there are both live recordings and soundies in addition to the studio recordings, that document his stint with the band.

Thanks for that lengthy comment... so I also mixed up Jefferson with Henderson... god, I ought to earn double the money for half as much work or something so I have more time to actually listen to my CDs... I love Willie Smith (mainly from Lunceford's band, of course) - too bad he didn't last longer with Duke, indeed! I know Procope was there all the time... but then except for the stray clarinet solo that can be very, very good, he isn't that much of a presence as a soloist (though I assume as a lead player he was great, or Duke wouldn't have kept him all the way!)

[mikeweil]

Is that Al Sears album available?

No longer listed on the Concord website.

amazon.com shows used copies from $ 18.00 upwards, amazon.de has them for € 8.00 upwards, but I doubt these sellers acutally have it in stock.

[kh1958]

Is that Al Sears album available?

No longer listed on the Concord website.

amazon.com shows used copies from $ 18.00 upwards, amazon.de has them for € 8.00 upwards, but I doubt these sellers acutally have it in stock.

I bought the Al Sears in the Concord Blowout sale.

[Chas]

Is that Al Sears album available?

I certainly would not start an exploration of the Swingville series with that one . It's a rather dull , uninspired record . A far better starting point is Budd Johnson's Let's Swing , with positively magisterial playing by Budd , and a fine supporting cast .

Edit : Someone should go here and grab the Hal Singer for $4.99 .

[Kalo]

Is that Al Sears album available?

I certainly would not start an exploration of the Swingville series with that one . It's a rather dull , uninspired record . A far better starting point is Budd Johnson's Let's Swing , with positively magisterial playing by Budd , and a fine supporting cast .

Edit : Someone should go here and grab the Hal Singer for $4.99 .

Grabbed that at the Harvard Square Newbury Comics a while back. Nice one. Their internet service is first rate as well.

I visited there today and ended up buying 15 OJCs at fire sale prices, including the Swingville Coleman Hawkins All Stars. I'm looking forward to giving it a first spin.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Is that Al Sears album available?

I certainly would not start an exploration of the Swingville series with that one . It's a rather dull , uninspired record . A far better starting point is Budd Johnson's Let's Swing , with positively magisterial playing by Budd , and a fine supporting cast .

Edit : Someone should go here and grab the Hal Singer for $4.99 .

"Blue stompin'" is a very good album, but it was not originally a Swingville. As noted above, lots of the SV series were reissues of PR albums.

I think my favourites are "Night Hawk" and "Buck Jumpin'".

MG

[gmonahan]

It was a very fine series. Unfortunately, many of them are disappearing as Concord reduces the old OJC catalog. I got a bunch in the Blowout sale too.

On a slightly related subject, does anyone know where I can find a complete list of the GRP Decca Jazz series? I see it in bits and pieces, and several of them have gone out of print. I'd like to know what was in the whole series. Sorry if I missed a thread on it. I did a search, but didn't find it.