Benny Goodman Yale Archive gem

[Larry Kart]

We've all seen some of this series, probably in used bins, and may have picked up one or two, depending on how one feels about BG and the sideman on that particular date.  Well, I'm here to tell you Vols. 9  & 10 (which I'd never seen before) are exceptional. They seem to be coupled together; 9 is a jam-packed live date from 1953 with BG, Mel Powell, Charlie Shavers, Steve Jordan, Israel Crosby, and Morey Feld; 10 is unissued tracks from the 1983 "Together Again" album that reunited the original quartet (BG, Teddy, Hamp, and Krupa). BG is in top shape on both discs, no rote BG there,  Mel Powell is in fabulous form (people forget or never knew what a terrific, individual player he was), Israel Crosby is a big plus as is Feld, the two of them unite like a deep-toned heartbeat, and Shavers is in fiery form. Very good liner notes by Loren Schoenberg. I should add that Feld intrigues me here; his bass drum is fairly active in an at once somewhat old-time (say Zutty Singleton?) but ultimately very hip way, and Crosby and BG feed on this literally kicking/throbbing pulse big time.

[gmonahan]

Thanks for the heads up on this one, Larry. I'd collected the first five volumes years ago and listened now and then. I confess I didn't know they'd continued to more volumes. I wonder whether the fact that Yale controls this material is a factor in the Goodman Estate's being so unwilling to let other stuff be reissued? I'm thinking here of the sizable trove of Savory material that they wouldn't let Mosaic issue?