Playing Favorites: Reflections on Jazz of the Later 1940's

[JSngry]

5 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

That's a more thorough issue, but just for the mojo, Alamac AGAIN!!!!

Note the deep luxuriance of the highest quality bootleg label too!

 

[Gheorghe]

15 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Is that ‘Airmail Special’ the one with the Ernie ‘Bubbles’ Whitman intro? Some great Navarro on that one.

Yes, it´s really "Show time". Those Dialogs between Ernie and the musicians :

Are you Ready Billy?
Ready and Steady !

Then start the beat and give us some heat".

Or the one with Sarah Vaughan !

"That´s a nice green Dress you are wearing Sarah"

"Thanks Ernie, that´s a nice red tie you are wearin"

"Red Tie? Oh that´s my tongue hangin out ! 

[BillF]

1 hour ago, Gheorghe said:

Yes, it´s really "Show time". Those Dialogs between Ernie and the musicians :

Are you Ready Billy?
Ready and Steady !

Then start the beat and give us some heat".

Or the one with Sarah Vaughan !

"That´s a nice green Dress you are wearing Sarah"

"Thanks Ernie, that´s a nice red tie you are wearin"

"Red Tie? Oh that´s my tongue hangin out ! 

[Gheorghe]

Here´s another one from late 1949. I love that record ! 

It´s great to hear Sonny Stitt together with Bud in his prime. 

And the "cool and relaxed" tunes J.J.Johnson-Stitt-John Lewis is also very fine. Afternoon at Paris , great ! 

[BillF]

2 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Here´s another one from late 1949. I love that record ! 

It´s great to hear Sonny Stitt together with Bud in his prime. 

And the "cool and relaxed" tunes J.J.Johnson-Stitt-John Lewis is also very fine. Afternoon at Paris , great ! 

Yes, that's an excellent one. Glad you share my views about Bud's prime. The latest Bud I owned was from '53, but I had just about all his leader dates (and a great amount otherwise) from the years before that.

I think it's all summed up in the first Bud album I ever owned:

Absolutely prime one side, but considerable decline on the other (from '47 to '53).

Edited March 20, 2020 by BillF

[Gheorghe]

15 hours ago, BillF said:

Yes, that's an excellent one. Glad you share my views about Bud's prime. The latest Bud I owned was from '53, but I had just about all his leader dates (and a great amount otherwise) from the years before that.

I think it's all summed up in the first Bud album I ever owned:

Absolutely prime one side, but considerable decline on the other (from '47 to '53).

Dear Bill ! I have not seen the cover of your record yet, but from what you say it´s very possible it´s the one I have here. The Roost Sessions, 1947 on Side A and 1953 on side B. I would not start now a discussion about how great Bud was in the early years and how sad some of his later recordings sound.... but I just want to state that there is still very much worth listening in the best of his later work. Sure, the 1953 Roost sides have some dark, melancholy side, but no one could play a ballad like "Embraceable You" and "My Devotion" in a more moving quality than he did in his unique manner. That´s really deep stuff, those chords, the dynamics....

[BillF]

Nice to hear these tracks again in a new format.

[Peter Friedman]

[BillF]

12 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

Now that is one I don't know.

[Gheorghe]

Those british Spotlite albums really were treasures of unissued Bird material. We collected them all and bought them as soon as they came out. 

Well, here the first side is Bird with the rehearsal band of Gene Roland, but that´s 1950 and not the topic here.

But what I want to mention is side B with the original Parker quintet 1948 live at I think "Onyx". Though most of Miles is cut out (the Benedetti method), but it´s Bird at his best, very exiting solos, let´s say on "Dizzy Atmosphere". And you have Kenny Haggood singing "his" "All the Things you Are". 

At one point it seems you hear some castagnettes, is it possible there was a floor show of Baby Lawrence ?  I´ve read much about his tap dancing with stellar bop musicians playing.

[Brad]

I was able to speak to Tony Williams a couple of times years ago and was fortunate to purchase the following:

Jay McShann Orchestra Featuring Charlie Parker - Early Bird - Spotlite Jazz 220

Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Berman and Fats Navarro on Dial – The Complete Dial Sessions (1946-1948) - Spotlite Jazz 132

Dexter Gordon - The Complete Dial Sessions - Spotlite Jazz 130

Dodo Marmarosa on Dial - The Complete Sessions (1946-1947) - Spotlite Jazz 128

 

[Peter Friedman]

[Gheorghe]

Also from the Spotlite label. 

This is Bird in 1946 in California. There is some tunes from the famous "Billy Berg´s", some broadcast encounter with Benny Carter and Willie Smith (with the funny Ernie Bubbles Whitman as M.C.) and a set from the Finale Club with Miles (playing a lot of Dizzy licks here, quite unusual for Miles) and Joe Albany on piano, also very fine.....

[Gheorghe]

I´d like to ask a Question : 

Though this is strictly "late 40´s" …… could we post also some early 50´s Albums ? I think that Maybe it would not be too much OT, since very much of 1950-53 Recordings of the bop masters still are very very much vintage bop , I think if we discuss ….. let´s say "Diz-Bird at Carnegie 1947" there might be also room for "Diz Bird" 3 or 4 years later and nevertheless it remains a "Bebop-thread"...….

[Peter Friedman]

No, I disagree. Gheorghe, why don't you begin a thread titled best recordings of the 50's.

That makes far more sense to me than "cheating" on this 40's thread. 

[Gheorghe]

27 minutes ago, Peter Friedman said:

No, I disagree. Gheorghe, why don't you begin a thread titled best recordings of the 50's.

That makes far more sense to me than "cheating" on this 40's thread. 

okay, thank you for your kind advice. I´ll think about it. 

[Gheorghe]

Some great, rare 1949 broadcasts here. 

[Gheorghe]

This one is from 1947. 

Side A is Roy Eldridge with Flips Phillips. 

I think Roy Eldridge was really very much ahead of his time, since he also plays the bop anathem "Ornitology" in the outing of "How High the Moon".

Side B is most memorable for that allstar session featuring Fats Navarro, Buddy Rich, Charlie Ventura and Allen Eager.

I never heard Fats´ speaking voice, some say he had a high pitched voice. On "Sweet Georgia Brown" it seems that he is the one who shouts "Buddy Rich" before Buddy´s drum solo. 

[Peter Friedman]

Some excellent playing by Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and others.

[Gheorghe]

 

Great "modern" boppish Lester at the Royals Roost. 

 

[BillF]

And now for Lester's little kiddies.

(Recorded 1949-52. Let's not be pedantic about the date, eh?)

Edited April 25, 2020 by BillF

[Gheorghe]

Right now the Dial Sessions done in NY in late 47, the classic quintet and on one session augmented with J.J. Johnson. 

[Gheorghe]

Great encounter between Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell. That´s the great 1946 session with the long tracks. And on each side there are also 2 tunes of Fats with Dameron, and fine vocal on "Gone with the Wind" and "That someone must be you" (with singer Kay Penton). 

"Webb City" is vintage bop. I think later in his career, Art Blakey and the Messengers performed it once......

[gmonahan]

9 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Great encounter between Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell. That´s the great 1946 session with the long tracks. And on each side there are also 2 tunes of Fats with Dameron, and fine vocal on "Gone with the Wind" and "That someone must be you" (with singer Kay Penton). 

"Webb City" is vintage bop. I think later in his career, Art Blakey and the Messengers performed it once......

Great stuff here--some really prime Fats! If memory serves much, if not all of it, is on the Mosaic Savoy Bop set.

 

 

gregmo

[Gheorghe]

another one for @gmonahan