Woody Herman 1956

[Larry Kart]

Picked up this two-CD set of material from two nights of a Salt Lake City gig (at a place called The Lagoon) in July 1956 for $7.98 at Half Price Books (it's on Storyville, issued in 2000 with the co-operation of the Herman estate). An annoncer is heard at odd moments, but it's not aircheck material; sound is excellent, better than a lot of studio recordings of the time, recording has to have been made in the hall, very vivid, good balance, almost a stereo spread. This particular edition of the Third Herd is in some respects unfamiliar to me; it may in fact not have made any commercial recordings. Gus Gustafson, drums, rather than Chuck Flores; Vince Guaraldi, piano; Victor Feldman, vibes; Jay Cameron, baritone; the three tenors are Kamuca, Bob Hardaway, and (tah-dah) ARNO MARSH, who gets a good deal of solo space and sounds excellent -- more flowing and/or less abrupt in his phrasing than he was in the '52-or-so edition of the Herd. Annotator Mark Gardner hears a lot of Wardell Gray in Arno here; I suspect that this was more a matter of kinship than influence. Perhaps Randissimo can comment on this. Also, as always, Bill Harris plays his ass off; his solo on "Bijou" here is not a re-creation of his solo on the famous record. Trumpets are John Coppola, Dick Collins, Burt Collins, Dud Harvey, and Bill Castagnino. Coppola (who I know of but don't recall hearing as a soloist before) gets most of the trumpet spots and sounds very good and individual, has a broad, rich Benny Bailey-like sound; probably Coppola dug Navarro and Freddie Webster. Burt Collins gets some spots too. Apparently only one solo from Dick Collins, who used to be the main trumpet soloist in an earlier edition of the Third Herd. If it's still available, this is definitely recommended if you like the Third Herd. Also, you can tell from the way the band sounds on these two nights that they could hear each other on the stand and were enjoying what they heard.

[DukeCity]

Good score to get that one for $7.98!! Quick search shows they are going for $29.95 everywhere else!

[Larry Kart]

If that Herman Storyville set is at one Half Price Books store, it's probably at many of them. Also picked another potentially interesting Storyville there, though I haven't listened to it yet -- a collection of material from Rolf Billberg (1930-66), the gifted, Konitz-influenced Swedish altoist.

[DukeCity]

I used to occasionally check the Half Price Books stores when I lived in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area. Sadly, now the nearest one is about 8 hours away in Phoenix.

[Randy Twizzle]

Picked up this two-CD set of material from two nights of a Salt Lake City gig (at a place called The Lagoon)

It seems The Lagoon was a picnic ground/amusement park/dance hall.

[Spontooneous]

It's at the Half Price Books stores in KC too. And it was enjoyed at my house last week.

[BruceH]

It's not at the Half Price Books near here.