Milt Jackson / Sonny Stitt - In the Beginning

[king ubu]

Another one... just got the CD, finally... the sessions are listed chaotically in Lord and in Bruyninckx:

Bruyninckx' Jackson entry:

Milt Jackson & Sonny Stitt: unknown tp, Sonny Stitt (as) Milt Jackson (vib) Will Davis (p) unknown b and d

Detroit, 1947

3rd song "Silver Slipper" (Steeplechase) Galaxy LP204, America (F)30AM6072, OJC CD1771-2, OJC 1771

Milt Jackson & Sonny Stitt: Russell Jacquet (tp) Sonny Stitt (as) Milt Jackson (vib) Sir Charles Thompson (p) unknown b and d

Detroit, 1947

Body and soul Galaxy LP204, OJC CD1771-2, OJC 1771

Red shoes (Everything is cool) - , - , -

Be bop blues - , - , -

Royal wedding - , - , -

Fine and dandy - , - , -

Note : OJC 1771 & CD1771-2 entitled "In the beginning", rest of the CD issue see next session and Russell Jacquet (December 1948).

Milt Jackson & his All Stars: Milt Jackson (vib) John Lewis (p) Alvin Jackson (b) Kenny Clarke (d) Chano Pozo (cga,bgo)

Detroit, Michigan, April 1948

B-4O01 Bobbin' with Robin (Baggy's blues)(*) Sensation 19, OJC CD1771-2*

B-4O02 Autumn breeze (In a beautiful mood)(*) - , -*

B-4O03 Slits - , -

B-4O04 Baggy eyes - , -

Note : Entire session also on Galaxy LP204 = Galaxy 8204 (stereo).

Entire session also on America (F)30AM6072 and Boplicity (E)CDBOPDO17 entitled "The roots of modern jazz", rest of this CD by Charles Thompson, Russell Jacquet and Sonny Stitt.

Milt Jackson & his All Stars poss from the above session with similar pers

Detroit, 1948

In a beautiful mood America (F)AM6072

Baggy's blues -

The first two sessions are #1-6 of the CD (#7-8 stem from the same sessions!)

The third session is #9-12 of the CD - and I assume the final two titles just a duplicate listing?

The CD then concludes with a Russell Jacquet session, for which Bruyninckx gives the following information:

Russell Jacquet and his All Stars: Russell Jacquet (tp,vc1) Jay Jay Johnson (tb) Sonny Stitt (as) Maurice Simon (ts) Leo Parker (bar) Sir Charles Thompson (p) Al Lucas (b) Shadow Wilson (d)

Detroit, May 1948

K5503 Scamparoo Sensation 12, King 4259, LP295-30, EP309, OJC CD1771-2

K5504 Suede Jacquet Sensation 8, King 4242, LP295-30, OJC CD1771-2

Suede Jacquet (alt take) OJC CD1771-2

K5505 Lion's roar Sensation 8, King 4242, LP295-30, OJC CD177l-2

K5506 Relaxin' with Randel (Relaxin')(lp out) Sensation 12, King 4259, LP295-30, EP309, OJC CD1771-2

Note : Entire session also on Boblicity (E)CDBOPDO17 entitled "The roots of modern jazz", rest of this

CD see Milt Jackson, Sir Charles Thompson and Sonny Stitt.

OJC CD1771-2 entitled "In the beginning", rest see also Jackson, Thompson and Stitt.

HOWEVER:

CD has:

- "unknown bass and drums" for that Russell Jacquet session, too!

- no date listings at all (Gleason says "at the end of the forties" in his notes)

LORD has two sets of entries - the first seems copied from Bruyninckx:

- two under "Detroit, May 1947" (Stitt/Bags) and then "Detroit, May 1948" (Jacquet) [looks OK!]

- these first Stitt/Bags entries are a mess, they #7-8 of the CD either

- they give Will Davis (p) for "3rd Song" (#2), Thompson for the other five of the first six), and have unknown b/d for all six

- gives the same rhythm section as Bruyninckx for the Jacquet date (which is listed only once, I think)

LORD's second entries look better (though with wronger dates):

- all eight tracks grouped in two sessions (#7,3,1,8 and #5,4,6,2 - in that sequence)

- Will Davis (p) Jimmy Glover (b) Dave Heard (d) as the rhythm section for #1,3,7,8 (first session)

- Ray Brown (b) Max Roach (d) as the rhythm section for #2,4,5,6 (second session)

Now, here's what I guess is the best bet on the recording dates (according to Zan Stewart's liner notes in the Stitt Roost Mosaic box):

From this time [early 1947] until March, 1948, his [stitt's] whereabouts are essentially unsubstantiated. Sometime in late 1947 or early 1948, he recorded twice under the pseudonym of Lord Nelson for the Sensation label, using a band that included vibist [Milt] Jackson. At the first session, the selections included "Body and Soul" and Stitt's "3rd Song", which was also known as "Silver Slipper." Shortly thereafter, a band with Sonny, Bags (Jackson's nickname), trumpeter Russell Jacquet and pianist Sir Charles Thompson recorded four sides in Detroit again for Sensation. The selections included Stitt's "Red Shoes" and the Standard "Fine and Dandy," a favorite of the saxophonist's, who recorded it several times since.

Discographies state that these sessions, now gathered on Milt Jackson/Sonny Stitt: In the Beginning (Galaxy), were made June or later, 1948, in New York then Detroit. The locations may be correct but those dates are not. Stitt was arrested in Detroit for illegal sale of narcotics, convicted, sentenced to two years in prison and subsequently incarcerated at the prison unit at U.S. Public Health Service facility at Lexington, Kentucky, from March 10, 1948 until September 9, 1949. It was during this period that Miles Davis sought Stitt to no avail for what became the first of the Birth of the Cool recordings.

However, Stewart says that "Body and Soul" and "3rd Song" are both from the first session. That again contradicts all the discography entries!

What a mess!

Does anyone have any more insight here? Are the rhythm section informations reliable? Doesn't really matter too much which of the eight tracks were made in the first or second session, but I'd love to know the line-ups (and I'll stick with Stewart about the dates, I guess).

Edited October 5, 2011 by king ubu

[king ubu]

forgot one thing: some sources give the trumpet player on the second Stitt/Bags date as Willie Wells instead of Russel Jacquet...

[Big Beat Steve]

I have the Boplicity CD that has virtually all of these tracks (and then some ...).

It does list "3rd song" as part of the "Royal Wedding"/"Be Bop Blues" session.

The two "Lord Nelson" sesions are listed there as follows:

The sessions are split differntly from what your listing indicates, and this discographer did identify the entire rhythm section but evidently (judging from your Zan Stewart source) the recording dates are not any more accurate. (As you can see, I've alreaday scribbled a note about the possibly incorrect date at the margin.)

I agree that the final two stray tracks are either duplicate listings or alternate takes released elsewhere for the first time and therefore not immediately associated with the Sensation release.

[king ubu]

Thanks a lot for chiming in, Steve! As the OJCCD is referenced there, I guess the Boplicity brings some more recent research regarding the line-ups (but it may have been prepared earlier than - or in ignorance of - the Stitt Mosaic, hence the likely wrong dates).

[jeffcrom]

Somewhat off the topic of discographical details, but how is the sound on the CD? I'm asking because I have the King 78 of Stardust/Ratio and Proportion, and it's thin and unpleasant sounding. It sounds like it was dubbed from the Sensation 78, not from the master.

[Big Beat Steve]

As Sensation 5 apparently is not on the OJCCD reissue, I guess you are referring to my above post.

Am just listening to "Ratio and Proportion" and cannot complain, really. Some minor background hiss but overall quite good presence and sound. Really very nice.

Incidentally, the back cover reads thus :

"The sound quality on this release has been greatly improved over prerious issues of the material. We have been able to go back to 1948 master and session discs (many of them in superb condition) and remaster directly from them."

Coming to think of it, this is no big surprise. Boplicity is/was a subsidiary of the (U.K.) ACE label that has done a HUGE amount of King (mostly R&B and hillbilly boogie) reissues as they have acquired the masters etc. from the King vaults.

[king ubu]

As Sensation 5 apparently is not on the OJCCD reissue [...]

It is! #7/8 of the OJCCD. Bruyninckx doesn't list those cuts though... it' a mess. I should have mentioned the CD's playing list before - here it is:

1. Body and Soul

2. 3rd Song (Silver Slipper)

3. Red Shoes

4. Be Bop Blues

5. Royal Wedding

6. Fine And Dandy

7. Stardust

8. Ratio and Proportion

9. Slits

10. Baggy Eyes

11. In a Beautiful Mood

12. Baggy's Blues

13. Suede Jacket

14. Suede Jacket (Alternate Take)

15. Lion's Roar

16. Scamper Roo

17. Relaxin'

#1-8: Sonny Stitt/Milt Jackson

#9-12: Milt Jackson

#13-17: Russell Jacquet

Hope to give it a spin over the weekend!