Metronome All Stars 1956

[romualdo]

The Clef (MGC743)/Verve (MGV 8030) LP Metronome All Stars 1956 consists mainly of Basie titles (5 out of the 7)

These are all contained within the Basie Verve Mosaic box but there are two further titles

1. George Wallington solo - "Lady Fair"

2. Metronome All Stars - "Billie's Bounce" (Thad Jones/Eddie Bert/Tony Scott/Konitz/Cohn/Sims/Chaloff/Teddy Charles/Billy Taylor/Farlow/Mingus/Blakey)

have either of these had a CD release? I'm especially interested in the latter All Stars title - what a line up

I don't even think the Andorrans have placed these titles at the tail end of some of their releases (as they often do, to fill out the CD & make it more "exclusive")

[mikeweil]

Collecting all of the Metronome All Stars tracks recorded for various labels would be worthy task for Mosaic or the like ... I only know of a Japanese LP reissue.

That track with Thad Jones is on my eternal wish list, too. Bruyninckx states there might be an alternate take. But that may have been destroyed by the fire in the Universal vaults ...

Edited July 15, 2010 by mikeweil

[kh1958]

I have the LP; I've never seen a CD reissue. Billie's Bounce is a full side long and is very good, the best track on the album.

[DMP]

"Billie's Bounce" takes up one side of the LP. (The liner notes mention a second take.) There's a terrific Ella/Joe Williams vocal on the second side. The Basie cuts always seemed superfluous to me, same for the Wallington solo - the side-long "Billie's Bounce" got the most play on my hi-fi. Can't believe no one ever reissued this, and there'd be plenty of room on a CD for the alternate.

[brownie]

Collecting all of the Metronome All Stars tracks recorded for various labels would be worthy task for Mosaic or the like ... I only know of a Japanese LP reissue. 

The excellent French label Frémeaux & Associés reissued all the Metronome All Stars sessions - plus the Esquire All Stars sessions - from 1939 to 1950 on this double CD:

Summit Meetings

It includes a number - but not all - of the various alternate takes!

Missing are the 1951 (Capitol), 1953 (MGM) and 1956 (Clef/Verve) Metronome All Stars dates.

I did not know the 1956 session remains unissued on CD. A shame!

But I am sure the Spanish afficionados will be taking care of this soon!

Verve France (Barclay) reissued the LP in the eighties!

[kh1958]

For anyone in Dallas-Fort Worth, there's a nice copy of this LP (the Clef version) residing (at least as of a day or so ago, and it's inexplicably been there for weeks) at the HPB on Northwest Highway for $10.

[romualdo]

[JSngry]

I had a college buddy who had this one,,,heard it once or twice, dug it. The jam is definitely the highlight, but the biggest surprise was the version of "April In Paris", an alternate take with a different Thad solo...the original (although somebody told me that this version was actually recorded prior to the hit, not sure if I believe that or not...) is so deeply ingrained in my jazz consciousness that to hear the same voice saying totally different things in the same context (same arrangement, same tempo, same players, even sounds like the same studio...) is just a bit of a start the first few times.

[brownie]

just a query re the Fremeaux label - do they do their own remastering (havn't listened to any of their CD's yet - don't have any of the Armstrongs)

Is it up to the same standard as John RT Davies?

Fremeaux usually do their own mastering (through their Art & Son studio). It's just below John RT Davies' standards!

[gmonahan]

Collecting all of the Metronome All Stars tracks recorded for various labels would be worthy task for Mosaic or the like ... I only know of a Japanese LP reissue.

The excellent French label Frémeaux & Associés reissued all the Metronome All Stars sessions - plus the Esquire All Stars sessions - from 1939 to 1950 on this double CD:

Summit Meetings

It includes a number - but not all - of the various alternate takes!

Missing are the 1951 (Capitol), 1953 (MGM) and 1956 (Clef/Verve) Metronome All Stars dates.

I did not know the 1956 session remains unissued on CD. A shame!

But I am sure the Spanish afficionados will be taking care of this soon!

Verve France (Barclay) reissued the LP in the eighties!

The Capitol sessions from 1947 (two tracks) and 1951 (two tracks) were issued on the old Capitol Jazz Classics series (on LP: M-11031). It was Vol. 6, "All Star Sessions." I imagine that record is nearly as rare as the Clef 1956 LP. I've never seen the MGM effort from 1953. Who was on that one?

gregmo

EDIT to add that those two 1951 tracks were reissued by Capitol on cd on a compilation disc called "Birth of the Cool, Vol. 2." It's mostly dominated by Gerry Mulligan Tentet tracks with Chet Baker, I think.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Greg M.

[brownie]

I've never seen the MGM effort from 1953. Who was on that one?

Not a bad lineup: Roy Eldridge, Kai Winding, John LaPorta, Warne Marsh, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Terry Gibbs, Billy Bauer, Eddie Safranski, Max Roach, Billy Eckstine.

I have the session on this double CD from Verve (big Billy Eckstine fan here!)

[gmonahan]

I've never seen the MGM effort from 1953. Who was on that one?

Not a bad lineup: Roy Eldridge, Kai Winding, John LaPorta, Warne Marsh, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Terry Gibbs, Billy Bauer, Eddie Safranski, Max Roach, Billy Eckstine.

I have the session on this double CD from Verve (big Billy Eckstine fan here!)

I've come to like Mr. B more and more too. I think I'll order that one--thanks for the heads-up! That would mean, I guess, that the 1956 sessions are the only ones never to have been issued on cd. Too bad Mosaic isn't doing Singles anymore. If they could get hold of the alternate of Billie's Bounce and add it to the rest, that could make a nice single.

gregmo

[brownie]

Too bad Mosaic isn't doing Singles anymore. If they could get hold of the alternate of Billie's Bounce and add it to the rest, that could make a nice single.

gregmo

The Tom Lord Discography lists three takes of that Billie's Bounce! With Thad Jones out on the first two (he probably was late making it to the studio).

[king ubu]

I've never seen the MGM effort from 1953. Who was on that one?

Not a bad lineup: Roy Eldridge, Kai Winding, John LaPorta, Warne Marsh, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Terry Gibbs, Billy Bauer, Eddie Safranski, Max Roach, Billy Eckstine.

I have the session on this double CD from Verve (big Billy Eckstine fan here!)

I've been eyeing that one for a long time... have one in my basket now!

The Fremeaux compilation is also on my huge wantlist - I bet it's excellent!

[Larry Kart]

Warne Marsh's solo on the up-tempo portion of "How High the Moon" is sublime. According to John LaPorta, who was there, "Warne Marsh improvised a Bach-like solo that soared from beginning to end. Fortunately, I did not have to improvise after Warne's solo. After all, what could one play after that!"

Also sublime is Pres' sotto voce backing to Eckstine's vocal on the ballad portion of this track. I recall reading somewhere that Pres complimented Warne on what he had played, and that this understandably meant a great deal to Warne.