Benny Goodman In Moscow

[Tom 1960]

I heard a track off this a short time ago and it sounds outstanding. The dj listed the players on this date and it sounds like a must have. What say you?

Edited December 9, 2017 by Tom 1960

[Big Beat Steve]

My Goodman records don't (yet) extend that far but maybe this is of some use?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/apr/14/benny-goodman-moscow-observer-archive

 

And while you listen to the music, relax and sit back in your chair and treat yourself to this:

http://www.billcrowbass.com/billcrowbass.com/To_Russia_Without_Love.html

[JSngry]

I've been advocating for this one for decades now, the rec still stands.

[Chuck Nessa]

me 2

[gmonahan]

7 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

My Goodman records don't (yet) extend that far but maybe this is of some use?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/apr/14/benny-goodman-moscow-observer-archive

 

And while you listen to the music, relax and sit back in your chair and treat yourself to this:

http://www.billcrowbass.com/billcrowbass.com/To_Russia_Without_Love.html

Crow's account is priceless. Not exactly a complimentary portrait!!

 

 

gregmo

[mikeweil]

Crow mentions; " Several different trumpeters passed through, including Clark Terry, Jerry Tyre and a Yugoslavian trumpet player Willie Dennis brought down from Berklee School of Music."

Could that be Dusko Gojkovic?

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, mikeweil said:

Crow mentions; " Several different trumpeters passed through, including Clark Terry, Jerry Tyre and a Yugoslavian trumpet player Willie Dennis brought down from Berklee School of Music."

Could that be Dusko Gojkovic?

I thought so too.

[JSngry]

Meet the band!

 

[Ken Dryden]

i've been sharing Bill Crow's extended article for a long time. So many hilarious (and sad) moments...

You know the Phil Woods anecdote after Benny Goodman's death was announced? He called someone and said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is Benny Goodman died. The bad news is that he died in his sleep."

After the way Woods was treated on that tour, I can understand his anger at Goodman.

[JSngry]

Yeah, Goodman was an asshole, Woods was,uh, "prickly", they're both dead now, so who cares? Most everybody on that tour was pissed off except Goodman who was in his own world like he always was. There are splices along the way, oh well, it's a great band and it's a great record.

Best version ever imo, right here. Pissed off Phil Woods be damned, the motherfucker could lead a section regardless of his mood. Check out the section behind Benny's solo, hell check out the band, riffing just right while Mel/Crow/Van Lake (and I'll be damned if I know more than the bare basics about Turk Van Lake) give them something to work wioth. Check out John Bunch's perfect transitional chord to lead into Benny's second chorus..

Jimmy Maxwell was on that tour. Jimmy Maxwell plays the solo here. Jimmy Maxwell played a lot of music in his life. Check out the band behind Jimmy Maxwell's solo, while Benny in mindlessly doodling away. That shit is right!

I'd buy this record just to hear Phil Woods lead that section, but you get plentiful good Zoot Sims, Joe Newman, a.o. as well as a band that knew how to play as a band. You cannot get a big band to play like this today, it's just not possible, people don't have that rhythm in them any more. They have other rhythms, but not that one, not that loosetightness/tightlooseness/however you want to feel it, people didn't feel like that from going to schools, they learned it by playing all kinds of gigs all over the place, dance bands, jam sessions, looking at people, ignoring people, talking to people who knew, talking around people who didn't know but had the check, this is their life rhythm, this generation of people who were in this band.

Zoot, dancing.

 

[gmonahan]

5 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

i've been sharing Bill Crow's extended article for a long time. So many hilarious (and sad) moments...

You know the Phil Woods anecdote after Benny Goodman's death was announced? He called someone and said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is Benny Goodman died. The bad news is that he died in his sleep."

After the way Woods was treated on that tour, I can understand his anger at Goodman.

Ouch!!

 

 

gregmo

[Big Beat Steve]

Those clips won't play here in Europe so - one question: If I get this right they incuded a larger part of the more advanced examples from the book at long last for CD 2 (which is what the LP did not include, right?). How does the sound compare?

Good, cheap secondhand copies of the LP should not be hard to locate here so I am wondering what would be the clincher for the CD (except that I'd like to hear the Tadd Dameron tunes but OTOH am no "late Goodman" completist at all).

Edited December 11, 2017 by Big Beat Steve

[king ubu]

On the other hand, Mr. Woods was so full of himself, how would there even be room for any accurate memories?
The interview snippet I saw (in some tv documentary on that tour or more generally on US propaganda by musicians in the USSR, can't quite remember) was one of the worst I've ever seen ... full of it is putting it very mildly.

But musically, this is excellet stuff indeed! And Bill Crow's story about it is a hilarious read - se non è vero ...

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, king ubu said:

The interview snippet I saw (in some tv documentary on that tour or more generally on US propaganda by musicians in the USSR, can't quite remember) was one of the worst I've ever seen ... full of it is putting it very mildly.

But musically, this is excellet stuff indeed! And Bill Crow's story about it is a hilarious read - se non è vero ...

This one, maybe? (Missed it at the time, unfortunately, hope it gets rebroadcast one day)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_f%C3%BCr_die_Russen_%E2%80%93_To_Russia_with_Jazz

As for Bill Crow's memories being "non è vero" - I'd give it to him that they WERE "vero". He wasn't the only one remembering this kind of behavior. Just read Terry Gibbs' autobography and HIS reminiscences of "The Fog" (aka "El Foggo" ).

Edited December 11, 2017 by Big Beat Steve

[king ubu]

2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

This one, maybe? (Missed it at the time, unfortunately, hope it gets rebroadcast one day)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_f%C3%BCr_die_Russen_%E2%80%93_To_Russia_with_Jazz

As for Bill Crow's memories being "non è vero" - I'd give it to him that they WERE "vero". He wasn't the only one remembering this kind of behavior. Just read Terry Gibbs' autobography and HIS reminiscences of "The Fog" (aka "El Foggo" ).

Yes, that's the one! Was pretty good, but Woods was really hard to take. What a ... what's the word, there's no good one in english for "selbstgerecht" - self-righteous, holier-than-thou ...

And Gibbs is another hilarious storyteller (don't know his autobiography, must be a hoot!), so I guess the same - minor - doubts about all details being told as they happened apply. But in general, I'm sure it's mostly very true.

 

 

[JSngry]

The original was a 2-LP set. The Vocailon release adds nothing new.

 

[Ken Dryden]

I always enjoyed talking to Phil Woods. When it came down to it, he had no tolerance for b.s. or for bad music. About the only people I've interviewed who never had a bad word to say about working with Benny Goodman were Bucky Pizzarelli and Ken Peplowski, though there were at least a couple of Goodman musicians whom I never asked about working with him.