Howard McGhee West Coast 1945-47 Uptown

[jazzbo]

Very interesting Adrian! Thanks!

[Clunky]

Date: February 24, 1949

Location: New York City

Label: Columbia

Chubby Jackson Orchestra

Chubby Jackson (ldr), Norman Faye, Al Porcino, Charlie Walp (t), Mario Daone, Rob Swope (tb), Frankie Socolow (as), Ray Turner, Al Young [Epstein] (ts), Marty Flax [Flachsenhaar] (bar), Teddy Charles (vib), Gene DiNovi (p), Curly Russell (b), Tiny Kahn (d, v), Joe Harris (cng), Paula Castle (v)

Tiny's Blues (Gabardine and Serge) - 3:00 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Al Cohn, Tiny Kahn

Father Knickerbopper - 3:02 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

All Wrong - 3:10 (Chubby Jackson) / arr: Gene DiNovi

Godchild - 3:05 (George Wallington) / arr: Tiny Kahn

Date: February 1949

Location: Mutual Radio, New York City

Label: [private recording]

Chubby Jackson Band: Bands For Bonds

Chubby Jackson (ldr), Norman Faye, Al Porcino, Charlie Walp (t), Mario Daone, Rob Swope (tb), Frankie Socolow (as), Ray Turner, Al Young [Epstein] (ts), Marty Flax [Flachsenhaar] (bar), Teddy Charles (vib), Gene DiNovi (p), Red Kelly (b), Tiny Kahn (d), Joe Harris (cng), Chubby Jackson (con, v), Paula Castle, unknown (v)

a. Lemon Drop - 1:49 (George Wallington) / arr: Tiny Kahn

b. Father Knickerbopper - 3:10 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

c. All Wrong - 3:14 (Chubby Jackson) / arr: Gene DiNovi

d. Belvedere Bop (Hot Dog) - 2:42 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

All titles on: Uptown CD: UPCD 27.75/27.76 — Chubby Jackson Big Band: Ooh, What An Outfit! New York City 1949 (2014)

Date: March 5, 1949

Location: Royal Roost, New York City

Label: [private recording]

Chubby Jackson Big Band Live (WMCA Radio Broadcast)

Chubby Jackson (ldr), Norman Faye, Al Porcino, Charlie Walp (t), Mario Daone, Rob Swope (tb), Frankie Socolow (as), Ray Turner, Al Young [Epstein] (ts), Marty Flax [Flachsenhaar] (bar), Teddy Charles (vib), Gene DiNovi (p), Red Kelly (b), Tiny Kahn (d), Joe Harris (bo, cng), Chubby Jackson (con, v), Paula Castle, unknown (v)

a. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid - 0:48 (Lester Young) / arr: Tiny Kahn

b. Tiny's Blues (Gabardine and Serge) - 5:57 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Al Cohn, Tiny Kahn

c. Father Knickerbopper - 3:33 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

d. Tenderly - 3:35 (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence) / arr: Tiny Kahn

e. Lemon Drop - 4:05 (George Wallington) / arr: Tiny Kahn f. Boomsie - 7:46 (Conte Candoli, Frank Socolow, Chubby Jackson) / arr: Tiny Kahn

Date: March 12, 1949

Location: Royal Roost, New York City

Label: [private recording]

Chubby Jackson Big Band Live (WMCA Radio Braodcast)

Chubby Jackson (ldr), Norman Faye, Al Porcino, Charlie Walp (t), Mario Daone, Rob Swope (tb), Frankie Socolow (as), Ray Turner, Al Young [Epstein] (ts), Marty Flax [Flachsenhaar] (bar), Teddy Charles (vib), Gene DiNovi (p), Red Kelly (b), Tiny Kahn (d, v), Joe Harris (bo, cng), Chubby Jackson (con, v), Paula Castle (v)

a. inc Bop Slappy - 0:27 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

b. Tiny's Blues (Gabardine and Serge) - 7:00 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Al Cohn, Tiny Kahn

Mopaque LP 12": CJR 300 — Chubby Jackson Big Band Live March, 1949

c. Father Knickerbopper - 3:26 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

Mopaque LP 12": CJR 300 — Chubby Jackson Big Band Live March, 1949

d. Belvedere Bop (Hot Dog) - 6:19 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

Mopaque LP 12": CJR 300 — Chubby Jackson Big Band Live March, 1949

e. You Wear Love So Well - 3:33 (George Handy, Jack Segal) / arr: Gene DiNovi

Mopaque LP 12": CJR 300 — Chubby Jackson Big Band Live March, 1949

f. Godchild - 5:16 (George Wallington) / arr: Tiny Kahn

Mopaque LP 12": CJR 300 — Chubby Jackson Big Band Live March, 1949

g. Boomsie - 4:14 (Conte Candoli, Frank Socolow, Chubby Jackson) / arr: Tiny Kahn

Mopaque LP 12": CJR 300 — Chubby Jackson Big Band Live March, 1949

Date: Probably May 1949

Location: Probably Mineola High School, Mineola, Long Island, NY

Label: [private recording]

Chubby Jackson Band: Bop Goes To School

Chubby Jackson (ldr), Norman Faye, Dale Pierce, Red Rodney (t), Mario Daone, Rob Swope (tb), Frankie Socolow (as), Ray Turner, Al Young [Epstein] (ts), Marty Flax [Flachsenhaar] (bar), Teddy Charles (vib), Red Mitchell (p, b), Chubby Jackson (b, con), Red Kelly (b), Tiny Kahn (d), Joe Harris (cng)

a. Three Men On a Bass - 2:56 (Tiny Kahn) / arr: Tiny Kahn

Date: May 17, 1949

Location: Nola Recording Studios, New York City

Label: [private recording]

Gene Roland's Boppers

Gene Roland (ldr), Dan Baxter, Dan Blue, Jerry Lloyd, Dale Pierce (t), Gene Roland (t, vtb), Al Cohn, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims (ts), Gerry Mulligan (bar), Gene DiNovi (p), Red Kelly (b), Tiny Kahn (d)

a. Sid's Swing Symphony (Ontet, Symphony Sid's Symphonette) - 3:31 (Gerry Mulligan) / arr: Gerry Mulligan b. Oh! Them Saxophones - 3:05 (Gene Roland) / arr: Gene Roland

c. Blues (Blues In Our Times) - 2:51 (Gene Roland) / arr: Gene Roland

d. Sid's Swing Symphony (Ontet, Symphony Sid's Symphonette) - 1:43 (Gerry Mulligan) / arr: Gerry Mulligan

All titles on: Uptown CD: UPCD 27.75/27.76 — Chubby Jackson Big Band: Ooh, What An Outfit! New York City 1949 (2014)

regarding the upcoming Chubby Jackson 2CD on Uptown from the Tiny Kahn discography,

http://www.attictoys.com/TinyKahn/Tiny_Kahn_discography.php

edited for dreadful formatting!!!

Edited March 8, 2014 by Clunky

[Big Beat Steve]

Well, though I have the Mopaque LP (which has the above March 12 AND March 5, 1949 live recordings, BTW), I do need that CD anyway!

So .... thanks for the info (and for the track listing of the Howard MCGhee CD too - enough new material there too, though I have the Philo and Melodisc studio dates - too bad with these overlaps but I guess one of these days the barrel of new and never-before released discoveries from that era just is bound to be exhaused ... )

[John Tapscott]

Both the McGhee and the Jackson CD's are available for ordering now at the Uptown website.

http://www.uptownrecords.net/home/store/99.html

[mjzee]

What's the music on the Chubby Jackson like? This band was prominently mentioned in Ira Gitler's book "Swing To Bop."

[John Tapscott]

I would like both of these, but I'm hesitating over sound quality. I honestly found the sound on the Jacquet/Parker CD well below Uptown's usual standards and almost unlistenable (yes, I know the source was not great to begin with).

[Dan Gould]

If anything makes me hesitate its the number of tunes that are 3 minutes or less ... kinda tells me that, with another tenor player listed, we might not be getting nearly as much Teddy Edwards, and truth be told, he's not a small part of what made this release, at first blush, look so exciting.

Oh hell I'm still gonna buy it ...

[AllenLowe]

the key to the Chubby Jackson stuff are any Tiny Kahn arrangements.

[Larry Kart]

I would like both of these, but I'm hesitating over sound quality. I honestly found the sound on the Jacquet/Parker CD well below Uptown's usual standards and almost unlistenable (yes, I know the source was not great to begin with).

That was my reaction, too.

[Ted O'Reilly]

It looks like Gene DiNovi is the pianist on most of the Chubby Jackson release. Gene's now a long-time Torontonian, and still highly active.

I wonder if he might be the only one on the list still alive and playing?

[jlhoots]

I believe I can live without these 2.

[Dan Gould]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Uptown website is shipping these releases immediately but I do know that if you want to be among the first to get a copy, go to cityhallrecords.com where it's only $14.43, US shipping included. I got an even better price as I found 5 Ace Records releases that are out of print and got the 20% volume discount. But since City Hall Records is the distributor they aren't waiting til the release date to ship.

On the sound quality: I just finished listening on my high-quality computer speakers and the sound is perfectly fine. I'm sure I'll listen on the studio-quality monitors in my music room at some point but I doubt they will reveal any noticeable flaws. The source materials and the mastering is very good, audio-wise.

Music-wise, I give this a strong thumbs up, with a few caveats. The radio b-casts that start the disc aren't the greatest, musically, because there's a bit of talk from the announcer over the group, plus two tracks with vocals. The vocals are uniformly fine but personally I would have preferred more from the band.

The band really gets cooking with Howard's Blues, track 6, and the balance of the disc is a great glimpse of the earliest West Coast bebop band.

And I should also mention that as I suspected, Maggie is the musical focus, with much smaller opportunities afforded to Teddy Edwards and the others.

Still another great release by the premier archival label Uptown.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Dan Gould

[Lazaro Vega]

Teddy Edwards on clarinet, which is different. Maggie on "Mop Mop"? Gawdahmighty. The Philo sides are new to me. Good liners. The disc gives a fuller picture of the entertainment nature of the scene and how avant Mags music was within the community. That bebop-boogie thing -- who talks that talk anymore?

[Justin V]

It looks like Gene DiNovi is the pianist on most of the Chubby Jackson release. Gene's now a long-time Torontonian, and still highly active.

I wonder if he might be the only one on the list still alive and playing?

I've mentioned this before elsewhere, but Joe Harris, at 87, is still with us. He came onstage to play a short drum solo at a Roy Haynes concert in Pittsburgh in September 2012. Ira Gitler's superb liner notes, written in May 2012, mention some others who were still alive.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Justin V

[AllenLowe]

I have both; the Maggie is excellent; not his best recordings, but a strong taste of the very electric vibe in those early bop years -

however, the Chubby Jackson is momentous - decent sound on most cuts (some are rougher), brilliant arrangements and ensembles, great DiNovi, and enough playing and arranging to immortalize Tiny Kahn. Plus some terrific Gene Roland, who was a fascinating and brilliant figure.

this cd is absolutely essential.

Edited May 3, 2014 by AllenLowe

[Big Beat Steve]

Interesting to get feedback about these two Uptown releaes. Amazing, though, that both amazon.com and amazon.de have a release date of mid-June scheduled for the Chubby Jackson CD and of 20 May for the Howard McGhee CD. So are theses CDs out (through INTERNATIONALLY accessible channels) or not, I wonder?

Both sound like must haves, despite the duplications. And from Allen's remarks I guess that the live cuts previously released on vinyl have been improved soundwise (they are quite listenable on vinyl too but I would not enthuse as much as Allen did).

[AllenLowe]

be aware that I am a Tiny Kahn and Gene Roland fanatic; so, as they say, YMMV.

[Big Beat Steve]

You can't do wrong with Tiny Kahn with me either, so ...

[Clunky]

Interesting to get feedback about these two Uptown releaes. Amazing, though, that both amazon.com and amazon.de have a release date of mid-June scheduled for the Chubby Jackson CD and of 20 May for the Howard McGhee CD. So are theses CDs out (through INTERNATIONALLY accessible channels) or not, I wonder?

Both sound like must haves, despite the duplications. And from Allen's remarks I guess that the live cuts previously released on vinyl have been improved soundwise (they are quite listenable on vinyl too but I would not enthuse as much as Allen did).

Jazzmessengers seem to have the Jackson.

[Clunky]

I have both; the Maggie is excellent; not his best recordings, but a strong taste of the very electric vibe in those early bop years -

however, the Chubby Jackson is momentous - decent sound on most cuts (some are rougher), brilliant arrangements and ensembles, great DiNovi, and enough playing and arranging to immortalize Tiny Kahn. Plus some terrific Gene Roland, who was a fascinating and brilliant figure.

this cd is absolutely essential.

I've had both of theses discs a few weeks and would concur with Allen. The McGhee well worth it but the Jackson is stellar. Great bebop bigband, fabulous arrangements by TK and sound is more than good enough. It's a stellar issue in everyway.

[Big Beat Steve]

Would love to spring for both, but so far the easily accessible sources over here are fairly expensive (and ordering them individually from the US - oh well, with the postal rates being what they are these days ...). Also, there are some overlaps with what I already have for both of them so not all of it is new. Anyway, very tempting ...

So ... does anybody who has the Chubby Jackson CD also have the MOPAQUE LP that inclues part of the live recordings now reissued on the Uptown CD? If so, how do these two releases compare soundwise? Does the CD actually offer a significant sound improvement?