The Birdlanders

[mjzee]

I have the two volumes of The Birdlanders on OJC. How were these originally released? Were they under Henri Renaud's name? Does anyone have cover scans and track listings?

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i believe "KIMBERLY" records...no!!! Period. Yes. PERIOD RECORDS.

[John L]

Judging by the Lord discography, this stuff probably first came out on Swing records, then Vogue, mostly under Henri Renaud's name, but also Al Cohn and J.J. Johnson. It's kind of a mess.

Henri Renaud Band : Jerry Hurwitz (tp) [aka Jerry Lloyd (tp) ] J.J. Johnson (tb) Al Cohn (ts) Gigi Gryce (bar) Henri Renaud (p) Curly Russell (b) Walter Bolden (d)

New York, February 28, 1954

Wallington special Swing (F)M33327, Vogue (F)655011 [CD]

Lisa - -

Boo wah - -

Something for Lili - -

Note: Vogue (F)655011 [CD] titled "Al Cohn - Cohn's delight"; see March 5, 1954 for rest of CD.

All above titles also on Black Bird (Swi)(no#) [CD] titled "Birdlanders" as by Jay Jay Johnson; see March 7, 1954 for rest of CD.

All above titles also on Inner City IC7022 titled "J.J. Johnson/Al Cohn - The New York Sessions, Vol. 2"; see March 5 & 7, 1954 for rest of LP.

All above titles also on Vogue (Jap)YX-4052 titled "Henri Renaud U.S. Stars"; see March 7, 1954 for rest of LP.

All above titles also on Vogue (F)500096 titled "Jazz Legacy 46 : J.J. Johnson/Al Cohn - A date in New York Vol. 2"; see flwg sessions to March 7, 1954 for rest of LP.

All above titles also on Jazz Legacy (F)JL96, Vogue (Jap)YX-4052.

Henri Renaud All Stars : J.J. Johnson (tb) Al Cohn (ts-1) Milt Jackson (vib,p-2,vcl) Henri Renaud (p) Percy Heath (b) Charlie Smith (d)

New York, March 7, 1954

I'll remember April (1) Swing (F)M33320, Inner City IC7007

Jay Jay's blues (1) - - , Vogue

(F)EPL7065, SCK02-30, Pop (F)CBM60010-30, Mode

(F)CMDINT9514

Jerry old man (ac out, *) Swing (F)M33320, Inner City IC7007, Mode

(F)MDINT9144, Swing (F)C103

There's no you (ac out) Swing (F)M33320, Inner City IC7007, Vogue

(F)EPL7065

Out of nowhere (1) Swing (F)M33321, Inner City IC7007, Pop

(F)SPO17071, Mode (F)MDINT9116

Indiana (hr out,2,#) Swing (F)M33321, Inner City IC7007, Swing

(F)LDM30050

The more I see you (mj vcl; ac,hr out, 2,*,@) Swing (F)M33321, Inner City IC7007

Lullaby of the leaves (jjj,ac,hr out,*,#,@) - -

If I had you (1) - - , Vogue

(F)CLVLX342-B, 500096

If I had you (1) (alt take) (*,#,@) Swing (F)M33327, Inner City IC7022, Jazz Legacy

(F)JL96, Vogue (Jap)YX-4052

Inner City IC7007 titled "A date in New York" as by Milt Jackson/J.J. Johnson.

All titles, except (*), also on GNP Crescendo GNPS9007.

All titles, except (#), also on Vogue (Jap)YX-4063, YX-6064.

All titles, except the alt take, on Jazz Legacy (F)JL80, Swing (F)LDM30050, Mode (F)CMDINT9834, Vogue 500080 (titled "Jazz Legacy 30 : J.J. Johnson/Milt Jackson - A date in New York Vol. 1").

All titles, except the alt take, also on Period SPL1211, SPL1212 titled "The Birdlanders".

All titles, except "The more I see you" and "Lullaby of the leaves" reissued on Swing and English Vogue as by Milt Jackson.

All titles, except (@), also on Black Bird (Swi)(no#) [CD].

[brownie]

The Birdlanders sessions were produced by Henri Renaud who traveled to New York on behalf of the French label Swing.

The original 10" releases of the sessions with J.J. Johnson, Al Cohn and Milt Jackson:

Volume 1 tracks listing:

Side A

1 I'll Remember April (Raye, De Paul) 8:51

2 Jerry Old Man (Renaud) 5:46

Side B

1 Jay Jay's Blues (Johnson) 7:53

2 There's No You (Adair, Hoppet) 8:32

Volume 2 tracks listing:

Side A

1 Out of Nowhere (Green) 8:34

2 The More I See You (Whiton) 4:20

3 Lullaby of the Leaves (Patkere, Young) 2:48

Side B

1 If I Had You (Shapiro, Campbell, Cannelly) 10:07

2 Indiana (Hanley, McDonald) 3:47

Balance of The Birdlanders release was from this Oscar Pettiford session (with Kai Winding, Al Cohn, Henri Renaud, Tal Farlow and Max Roach), produced by Leonard Feather:

Edited November 26, 2010 by brownie

[gmonahan]

The Birdlanders sessions were produced by Henri Renaud who traveled to New York on behalf of the French label Swing.

The original 10" releases of the sessions with J.J. Johnson, Al Cohn and Milt Jackson:

Volume 1 tracks listing:

Side A

1 I'll Remember April (Raye, De Paul) 8:51

2 Jerry Old Man (Renaud) 5:46

Side B

1 Jay Jay's Blues (Johnson) 7:53

2 There's No You (Adair, Hoppet) 8:32

Volume 2 tracks listing:

Side A

1 Out of Nowhere (Green) 8:34

2 The More I See You (Whiton) 4:20

3 Lullaby of the Leaves (Patkere, Young) 2:48

Side B

1 If I Had You (Shapiro, Campbell, Cannelly) 10:07

2 Indiana (Hanley, McDonald) 3:47

Balance of The Birdlanders release was from this Oscar Pettiford session (with Kai Winding, Al Cohn, Henri Renaud, Tal Farlow and Max Roach), produced by Leonard Feather:

VERY nice post, Brownie. The original Renaud covers are very cool!

gregmo

[mjzee]

Interesting that "The More I See You" wasn't included in either of the OJC discs. Neither was the 2/28/54 session (from John L's post). My guess is the Oscar Pettiford Sextet disc (from Brownie's post) contains the following tracks: East Lag, Marcel The Furrier, Rhumblues, Stardust, Ondine, and Burt's Pad. Any info on the Duke Jordan tracks (Just One Of Those Things, Embraceable You, Minor Escamp aka Jordu, Scotch Blues, Confirmation, recorded 1/28/54)?

[brownie]

This was the original release of the Duke Jordan Trio date for Swing, supervised by Henri Renaud:

Tracks : Just One of Those Things - Embraceable You - Minor Escamp (aka Minor Encamp, aka Jordu) - Scotch Blues - Confirmation - Darn That Dream - They Can't Take That Away from Me - Wait and See

[Big Beat Steve]

Interesting that "The More I See You" wasn't included in either of the OJC discs. Neither was the 2/28/54 session (from John L's post). My guess is the Oscar Pettiford Sextet disc (from Brownie's post) contains the following tracks: East Lag, Marcel The Furrier, Rhumblues, Stardust, Ondine, and Burt's Pad. Any info on the Duke Jordan tracks (Just One Of Those Things, Embraceable You, Minor Escamp aka Jordu, Scotch Blues, Confirmation, recorded 1/28/54)?

As John L's listing from Lord (with a huuuge tip of the hat to Jepsen and Bruyninckx, of course )) indicates, both sessions have been around on lots of period releases and reissues.

For example, I have the Pettiford session on Prestige 7813 (O.P. Memorial Album) and the Duke Jordan session on a 70s U.K. 2-LP set titled "The Be-Bop Beyoboard masters"§ (also featuring sessions by George Wallington, Al Haig and Wade Legge that had originally been produced by Henri Renaud). The Duke Jordan items were also reissued on Prestige (PR 7849).

Don't know what the present connections are between Prestige and OJC but maybe this OJC project of the "Birdlanders" did not have access to material from the Prestige (reissue) catalog??

[mjzee]

Don't know what the present connections are between Prestige and OJC but maybe this OJC project of the "Birdlanders" did not have access to material from the Prestige (reissue) catalog??

IIRC, the OJCs state that the Period masters were purchased by Fantasy. However, lately, these same tracks have been reissued by Essential Media Group:

[danasgoodstuff]

"it's kind of a mess" - this should be a gov't required disclaimer on all jazz discographies!

[colinmce]

Does this 3rd volume mean Essential Media Group has released more material than Fantasy/OJC?

[mjzee]

Does this 3rd volume mean Essential Media Group has released more material than Fantasy/OJC?

No, it's the same 24 tracks, just spread over 3 volumes.

[romualdo]

The black Vogue Digipak series from the late 90's to the mid 2000's covers all of the titles on the two OJC CD's plus an extra 15 titles from those sessions

1. The first 8 titles from Vol. 1 come from the March 7 session - there are an extra 2 titles ("The More I See You" & an alt tk of "If I Had You") -> all ten titles comprise the Vogue CD "Henri Renaud All Stars".

2. The final 5 titles from Vol. 1 come from the Duke Jordan session (Jan 28) - there an extra 6 titles ("Darn that Dream" + alt, "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "Wait & See", alt of "Just One Of Those Things" & alt of "Embraceable You") -> all 11 titles on the "Duke Jordan - New York/Bud Powell - Paris" Vogue CD (more Bud Powell titles from 1963 also on this CD)

3. The First 6 titles from Vol. 2 come from the Oscar Pettiford session (March 21) - there are an extra 2 titles (alt takes of "E-Lag" & "Burt's Pad") -> all 8 titles make up the Vogue CD "Oscar Pettiford Sextet".

4. The final 5 titles from Vol. 2 come from the Renaud/Cohn quartet session (March 5) - there are an extra 5 titles ("Mountain Greenery", "The Things We Did Last Summer" + alt, alt of "Lazy Things" & rehearsal tk of NY's Idea)

The Jordan & Pettiford CD's are quite easy/cheap to find whereas the two Renaud CD's go for higher prices & are a bit harder to find

Finally the 4 titles from the February 28 session don't appear to have been released on a vogue digipak - they were included on the early 90's Al Cohn Vogue CD - Cohn's Delight (a bit hard to find these days)

BTW I'm actually looking for a few of the Vogue digipaks

Barney Wilen (Tilt); Don Byas with Mary Lou Williams; Bobby Jaspar & The Modern Jazz, Bobby Jaspar/David Amram, Henri Renaud Trio, Sextet & All Stars

[mjzee]

Excellent! Thanks, Romualdo! How's the sound on the Vogue digipaks? The OJC discs sound a bit dull, perhaps dubbed from vinyl.

[brownie]

Finally the 4 titles from the February 28 session don't appear to have been released on a vogue digipak - they were included on the early 90's Al Cohn Vogue CD - Cohn's Delight (a bit hard to find these days)

Did not realize that this session (with Jerry Hurwitz/Lloyd) was not reissued as part of the Vogue/BMG Digipak series.

Glad I kept its 'Cohn's Delight' appearance.

That one:

Pretty hard to find these days!

mjzee asked:

How's the sound on the Vogue digipaks?

Pretty good! And better than the sound from the non-Japanese reissues.

[romualdo]

i believe "KIMBERLY" records...no!!! Period. Yes. PERIOD RECORDS.

Does anyone what titles were on each Period 12" LP (1211, 1212, & 1213) - I'm getting conflicting results from different discographies

some claim that 1211 was equivalent to Swing 10" 33.320 & 1212 the same as 33.321 - I don't think this is correct

[Kyo]

The black Vogue Digipak series from the late 90's to the mid 2000's covers all of the titles on the two OJC CD's plus an extra 15 titles from those sessions

1. The first 8 titles from Vol. 1 come from the March 7 session - there are an extra 2 titles ("The More I See You" & an alt tk of "If I Had You") -> all ten titles comprise the Vogue CD "Henri Renaud All Stars".

2. The final 5 titles from Vol. 1 come from the Duke Jordan session (Jan 28) - there an extra 6 titles ("Darn that Dream" + alt, "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "Wait & See", alt of "Just One Of Those Things" & alt of "Embraceable You") -> all 11 titles on the "Duke Jordan - New York/Bud Powell - Paris" Vogue CD (more Bud Powell titles from 1963 also on this CD)

3. The First 6 titles from Vol. 2 come from the Oscar Pettiford session (March 21) - there are an extra 2 titles (alt takes of "E-Lag" & "Burt's Pad") -> all 8 titles make up the Vogue CD "Oscar Pettiford Sextet".

4. The final 5 titles from Vol. 2 come from the Renaud/Cohn quartet session (March 5) - there are an extra 5 titles ("Mountain Greenery", "The Things We Did Last Summer" + alt, alt of "Lazy Things" & rehearsal tk of NY's Idea)

The Jordan & Pettiford CD's are quite easy/cheap to find whereas the two Renaud CD's go for higher prices & are a bit harder to find

Finally the 4 titles from the February 28 session don't appear to have been released on a vogue digipak - they were included on the early 90's Al Cohn Vogue CD - Cohn's Delight (a bit hard to find these days)

Thanks for this, Romualdo - extremely helpful!

Good thing I managed to find copies of the Renaud All Stars CD and Cohn's Delight for a decent price.

[ladenso1]

Reviving this thread 13-15 years later.  I was very surprised to learn that Renaud produced not only a Duke Jordan trio session, but also one by Al Haig with Bill Crow
and Lee Abrams, recorded the same day as the Pettiford session, March 13, 1954.  

An oddity about this session is that eight tracks were issued on Swing--and slightly later Vogue and Period, and quite a bit later Prestige.  And another eight tracks were originally issued on 10 inch LP Esoteric ESJ-7.  Many decades later Fresh Sounds issued the Esoteric tracks with the same cover art and five more that weren't on the 10 inch LP.

I haven't found any discussion about why the complete session wasn't issued on Swing; how and why a deal was made to transfer more than half the tracks to Esoteric.

[mhatta]

5 hours ago, ladenso1 said:

I haven't found any discussion about why the complete session wasn't issued on Swing; how and why a deal was made to transfer more than half the tracks to Esoteric.

 

I don't remember it clearly, but I think I read about it in Bill Crow's From Birdland To Broadway. I think it was Jerry Newman, who was a recording enginee on those sessions, who released it on his own label, Esoteric without permissions.

Edited 21 hours ago by mhatta

[romualdo]

H314]Add   Al Haig

Jazz Will O' The Wisp : Al Haig (p) Bill Crow (b) Lee Abrams (d)

New York, March 13, 1954

	Body and soul	Counterpoint CPT551, Fresh Sound (Sp)FSRCD38 [CD]
	All God's chillun got rhythm	-                   -
	On the Alamo	-                   -
	Gone with the wind	-                   -
	Isn't it romantic ?	-                   -
	Autumn in New York	-                   -
	Royal garden blues	-                   -
	Moonlight in Vermont	-                   -
	They can't take that away from me	-                   -
	Don't blame me (solo p)	-                   -
	If I should lose you	-                   -
	April in Paris (solo p)	-                   -
	My old flame (solo p)	-                   -

Note:

Fresh Sound (Sp)FSRCD38 [CD] titled "Al Haig Trio". All titles from Counterpoint CPT551 also on Xtra (E)1125. First 8 titles also issued on Esoteric ESJ-7 titled "Al Haig Trio" = Everest FS293, (Jap)YW-7524EV, YS-7073. All above titles also on Fresh Sound FSR530 titled "Jazz Will-o'-the-Wisp". All above titles also on Columbia (Jap)YS-7073, Fresh Sound (Sp)FSRCD432 [CD], Solar (Sp)4569874 [CD]. All above titles also on Fresh Sound (Sp)FSRCD1613 [CD] titled "Al Haig Trio".

[H315] Add   Al Haig

The Al Haig Trio : same pers.

New York, March 13, 1954

	Yardbird suite	Swing (F)33.325, Prest PR7841, Pacific Jazz 626
	The moon was yellow	-                -                    -
	'S wonderful	-                -       , Mode (F)CMDINT9515
	Taboo	-                -
	Just one of those things	-                -
	Mighty like a rose (*)	-                -
	'Round midnight	-                -
	Just you, just me	-                -
	Spotlight	-

Note:

"Just you, just me" as "Spotlight" on Prestige PR7841. For the Quintet titles on Prestige PR7841, see under Max Roach, May 15, 1949. Prestige PR7841 titled "Al Haig Trio And Quintet". (*) This title also on Franklin Mint GJR079 titled "The Greatest Jazz Recordings Of All Time". All titles from Swing (F)M33325 also on Fresh Sound (Sp)FSRCD45 [CD] titled "Al Haig Trio". All titles from Swing (F)M33325 also on Vogue (Jap)YX-2020, Fresh Sound (Sp)FSRCD432 [CD]. All titles from Prestige PR7841 also on Vogue (F)VJD574, Period (Jap)DIW25035, (Jap)DIW350 [CD], OJC CD1929-2 [CD], Solar (Sp)4569874 [CD]. All above titles also on Vogue (F)74321-61022-2 [CD] titled "The Piano Collection, Vol. 2 - George Wallington Trio/Al Haig Trio/Jimmy Jones Trio". All above titles also on Pacific Jazz PJ18, Period 1118, OJC CD1929-2 [CD].

[P3655.10]Add   Oscar Pettiford

Kai Winding (tb) Al Cohn (ts) Henri Renaud (p) Tal Farlow (g) Oscar Pettiford (b,cello) Max Roach (d)

New York, March 13, 1954

	Burt's pad	Swing (F)M33326, Period SPL1213, Everest
		(Jap)HR-118-EV, Fremeaux & Associes (F)FA5646 [CD]
	Marcel the furrier	Swing (F)M33326, Period SPL1211, Everest
		(Jap)HR-116-EV, Fremeaux & Associes (F)FA5646 [CD]
	Ondine	Swing (F)M33326, Period SPL1211, Everest FS229,
		(Jap)HR-116-EV
	Star dust	Swing (F)M33326, Period SPL1213, Everest
		(Jap)HR-118-EV
	E-lag [East lag] (*)	Swing (F)M33326, Period SLP1212, Vogue (E)V2348,
		Everest FS275, (Jap)HR-117-EV, Pop SPO17069,
		Fremeaux & Associes (F)FA5646 [CD]
	Rhumblues (1,*)	Swing (F)M33326, Period SPL1212, Everest FS275,
		(Jap)HR-117-EV, Mode (F)MDINT9144
	Burt's pad (alt) (#)	RCA Victor/Vogue Masters 74321-40945-2 [CD]
	E-lag (alt) (#)	RCA Victor/Vogue Masters 74321-40945-2 [CD]

Note:

(1) Both bass and cello have been multi-recorded. Swing (F)M33326 titled "The Oscar Pettiford Sextet, Vol. 1"; a 10" LP. All titles, except (*), also on Classics (F)1409 [CD]. (*) These titles also on Classics (F)1454 [CD] titled "Oscar Pettiford, 1954-1955"; see flwg sessions to August 12, 1955 for rest of CD. All titles, except (#), also on Vogue (F)LD608-30, (E)LD098, (Jap)MJ-7118, YX-6077, BVJJ-2932, OJC CD1931-2 [CD], Avid (E)AMSC1201 [CD], Proper Deluxe (E)PROLUXE5002 [CD]. All titles, except (#), also on Prestige PR7813; rest of LP by Serge Chaloff, March 10, 1949. All above titles also on Vogue (F)74321-40945-2 [CD] titled "Oscar Pettiford Sextet". All above titles also on Vogue (F)887254437727 [CD].

[J5584]Add

Duke Jordan Trio : Duke Jordan (p) Gene Ramey (b) Lee Abrams (d)

New York, January 28, 1954

	Minor encamp [Jor-du]	Swing (F)M33323, Everest FS275, Mode
		(F)CMDINT9515, POP (F)60013, Period LP1212, Vogue
		(F)DP64, 655010, OJC CD1930-2 [CD]
	Scotch blues	Swing (F)M33323, Period LP1212, Vogue (F)655010,
		OJC CD1930-2 [CD]
	Wait and see	Swing (F)M33323, Vogue (F)655010
	Embraceable you	-         , Everest FS275, Vogue (F)655010,
		OJC CD1930-2 [CD]
	Embraceable you (alt)	Vogue (F)655010
	Darn that dream	Swing (F)M33323, Vogue (F)655010
	Darn that dream (alt)	Vogue (F)655010
	They can't take that away from me	Swing (F)M33323, Vogue (F)655010
	Just one of those things	-                -        , OJC CD1930-2 [CD]
	Just one of those things (alt)	Vogue (F)655010
	Confirmation	Swing (F)M33323, Vogue (F)655010, OJC CD1930-2
		[CD]

Note:

"Minor escamp" as "Jor-du" on Prestige and Vogue and is usually titled as "Jor-du". Vogue (F)655010 titled "Jor-du". OJC CD1930-2 [CD] titled "The Birdlanders, Vol. 1". All titles from Swing (F)M33323 also issued on Jazz Legacy (F)JL98 *, Vogue (Jap)PL-3010, YX-4058, YX-8019, K23P-6732, K28Y-6265 [CD], (E)LDE099, VJD574, (F)500.098 *, Prestige PR7849 *; all * albums titled "Jor-du". For two more titles on Prestige PR7849 see Don Lanphere, July 2, 1948. All titles from Swing (F)M33323 also issued on Vogue (Jap)K28Y-6265 [CD], 240E-684 [CD]; all titled titled "Duke Jordan - first leader recordings". All above titles also on Vogue (F)74321-45727-2 [CD] titled "Duke Jordan - New York/Bud Powell - Paris". All above titles also on Essential Jazz Classics (Sp)EJC55722 [CD] titled "Duke Jordan Trio - Complete 1954-62 Recordings".

[ladenso1]

Thanks mhatta.

Makes sense.

 

[ladenso1]

5 hours ago, mhatta said:

 

I don't remember it clearly, but I think I read about it in Bill Crow's From Birdland To Broadway. I think it was Jerry Newman, who was a recording enginee on those sessions, who released it on his own label, Esoteric without permissions.

Thanks, that sounds very plausible.

[jazzcorner]

Glad I found this thread about The Birdlanders".

Have only a japanese edition of Vol. 3 (as Tal Farlow fan)  and I am interested to get the rest.

This is my copy: