Enjoyment of Jazz

In December of 1949, a striking full-page ad appeared in Down Beat touting the latest effort by producer and label owner, Norman Granz. This time it wasn't about another of his JATP tours. Instead, it promoted a unique album that Granz had created called "The Jazz Scene." It was a premium item, costing all of $25 for 12 sides. The illustration is by David Stone Martin.

Predicting the future is never easy. Predicting the future of this music we call jazz is darn near impossible. How many times have we heard "the big bands are back"? Or that X (insert "Dixieland," "soul jazz," "psychedelic," "fusion," "hip-hop," etc.) is the next big thing? Remember the Fender Rhodes? Steinways were the keyboard of the past. Anthony Braxton was the next Charlie Parker one year, unemployed and scuffling only a few years later.

So your guess is as good as mine when it comes to jazz's destiny. Who could have predicted Wynton Marsalis? Not me.

Norman makes a point.

But back in the late 1940s, jazz's leading impresario took a stab at jazz prognostication. Norman Granz decided to issue an album that would feature some of the music's finest talents and would offer a glimpse not only of the contemporary scene but also of what lay ahead for jazz. To grab the public's attention, Granz planned to market this recording as a special collector's edition, limiting the total pressing and selling it at a premium price. The records would be packaged in an elegantly designed case, accompanied by detailed notes and beautifully executed photographs by Gjon Mili of the artists involved.

This milestone Granz christened "The Jazz Scene." 

Released in early 1950, "The Jazz Scene" went for a stiff 25 bucks and was capped at 5,000 copies, with the stipulation that "no copies will be available after the first edition is sold." It was received with accolades by the jazz press and got a special two-page review in the industry's unofficial pub, Down

Down Beat's 1950 review of
"The Jazz Scene."

Beat magazine. To increase the album's appeal, Norman numbered and signed each copy. Buyers were secure in the knowledge that the music contained within was authorized and approved by jazz's Sol Hurok. The fans regarded the album as a must-have, though for many the price was prohibitive.

A portion of the music on the "Scene" was provided – no surprise – by members of Granz's stable of artists. Among them were Charlie Parker (recently signed), Lester Young, Bud Powell and Flip Phillips. Norman also recorded non-Mercury artists Willie Smith, Ralph Burns, Neal Hefti and George Handy. He seemed to have favored the arrangers on the album, hinting that at least some of jazz's future lay with writers rather than with improvisers. 

"The Jazz Scene" in its
original 78 rpm issue.

Of the compositions, George Handy's "The Bloos" stands out. It's at once anachronistic and startlingly original. It couldn't be written today, but it's unlike anything being written in 1949, too. Michael Levin called it a "satire" in his Down Beat review, and that seems about right. There are no solos, and it's the arrangement that gets top billing. Handy retired from music not long after this, claiming that the "music biz and all connected stinks."

Of the Parker contributions, "The Bird" is a piece based on "Topsy" (if I recall correctly) that runs almost five minutes – the longest performance Bird ever recorded in a studio setting. It's good, but not first rate Parker and kind of peters out at the end. According to Phil Schaap, Charlie was upstairs making "The Bird" when Neal Hefti was downstairs with the orchestra recording "Repetition" and "Rhumbacito." Parker stopped by on the way out of the studio and asked if he could sit in on the former tune. The result was Bird soloing over Hefti's arrangement during the latter half of "Repetition." A spontaneous collaboration and it works. 

Gjon Mili's photo of Harry
Carney at work.

The Ellington sides are really features for Harry Carney and an unnamed string section. Duke figures in only as the composer of the two tunes. My understanding is that Ellington did not like Granz and pretty much had nothing to do with him (until late in his career), so for Norman to credit these tunes as he does is a bit of false advertising. That said, Carney sounds great, and it's nice to hear Billy Strayhorn tickle the ivories.

The true gem on the album is Coleman Hawkins' stellar "Picasso." According to the notes, the Hawk spent many hours formulating this free-form, solo saxophone masterpiece, and it shows. Hawkins did two or three other solo improvisations after this first effort, but "Picasso" stands out as a remarkable document by jazz's elder statesman of the tenor sax. If you've never heard it before, you're in for a treat.

The album was originally released on 78 rpm discs with a Mercury/Clef imprint. Despite Granz's pledge, the recordings were eventually issued again (and again), first on various LPs and more recently on CD. These dubs were taken from an American Recording Society release. The ARS was a record club of the variety popular back in the '50s, and it had a special deal with Granz to reissue Clef and Verve releases for its members. Each ARS record came with detailed liner notes – something the originals often lacked.

The liner notes for the ARS release of "The Jazz Scene."

The sound quality of this album is very good considering its age. We've cleaned things up here and there, and you may notice the occasional click, but mostly these files are broadcast quality. As always, they were taken from the original vinyl.

The Jazz Scene

Various Artists

Mercury/Clef

New York, NY; Various dates, 1949

1. Repetition 

Neal Hefti Orchestra featuring Charlie Parker

2. I Want to Be Happy

Lester Young with Nat Cole, Buddy Rich

3. Tanga

Machito with Flip Phillips

4. Introspection

Ralph Burns Orchestra with Bill Harris, Herbie Steward

5. Sophisticated Lady

Willie Smith with Dodo Marmarosa, Red Callendar, Jo Jones

6. Frustration

Harry Carney with Billy Strayhorn, Oscar Pettiford and strings

7. The Bloos

George Handy

8. All God's Chillun Got Rhythm

Bud Powell with Ray Brown, Max Roach

9. Sono

Harry Carney with Billy Strayhorn, Oscar Pettiford and strings

10. The Bird

Charlie Parker with Hank Jones, Ray Brown, Shelly Mann

11. Rhumbacito

Neal Hefti Orchestra

12.Picasso

Coleman Hawkins

Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/h2nc925q5r8qwaz/Jazz_Scene.rar

A Norman Granz Two-fer

In his characteristic short-crown fedora and sweater vest, Norman Granz is caught in rare repose by photographer and jazz writer Bill Gottlieb and his Speed Graphic. By the early '50s, when this photo was taken, Granz was the captain of jazz industry. Photo by William Gottlieb

I have two little EPs from the early days of the 45- and 33-rpm format and I was trying to come up with a way to post them here on Gems without forcing you, our esteemed visitor, to have to devote an entire CD to a paltry 15 minutes of music. Then an idea came to me – why not pair them under the unifying element of their producer, impresario Norman Granz? Works for me. Now you can download a more-efficient paltry 25 minutes of music.

But ... who was Norman Granz? Where to begin?

The originator of the "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert concept, Granz was a Los Angeles native who pioneered integrated jazz shows in the forties, owned numerous successful record companies, managed top jazz talents, marketed national and international tours, and made the careers of jazz stars like Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. A shrewd businessman in an industry rife with well-intentioned amateurs, Granz was to some a savior and prophet, to others a manipulative Machiavelli.

In the fifties, Norman would regularly buy spreads in multiple jazz publications touting his next JATP tour, or his star players' jazz poll victories, or his latest concept album ("The Jazz Scene" being the first in a series of high-priced "collector's items"). His name appended to a jazz concert usually guaranteed a capacity audience of hooting, whistling and "Go, man!"-screaming jazz maniacs. And he would frequently record the results and issue them in a never-ending series of albums (78 and 33 rpm) under the JATP rubric. With Norman, everybody made money.

The great Chicago jazz DJ, Dick Buckley, worked for a while for Granz in the mid-'50s. While he never really criticized his former boss on air, I heard Buckley more than once mention that Norman got rich while his stars wound up scuffling for nickels and dimes. I myself saw Norman as a commercializer, a guy more interested in making a buck than in making art. When Norman moved permanently to Switzerland in the early '60s, I remember thinking he probably wanted to be closer to his money.

All of which is beside the point. The guy did much to support the music and its artists, and these two EPs are evidence of the wonderful stuff that could be produced under his direction. I don't believe this music is currently available in digital form, though it was issued on several LPs back in the day.

Three of the four Basie tunes have the Count fronting a sextet featuring Joe Newman and Paul Quinichette. Quinichette is often dismissed as a Lester Young-wannabe, but to my ears he exhibits real individuality here. Lester never sounded like this. "Tippin'" is a big band performance with a nice solo from "Lockjaw" Davis, probably an Ernie Wilkins chart. This is Basie before the arrangers were brought in to make over the band, and they swing hard. That's the Redbank Kid with bassist Gene Ramey in the photo, by the way.

Bob Brookmeyer was a rising talent when this EP was issued. He'd been working with Stan Getz (another Granz property) at the time of this recording and had been in a number of top-level big bands including those of Woody Herman and Claude Thornhill. He's heard here with a West Coast rhythm section, playing perhaps a little too laid back by East Coast standards (these things mattered in the mid-'50s). Brookmeyer was unusual in that – unlike most trombonists of the day – he played a valve version of the horn. David Stone Martin thought otherwise – he shows Bob with a standard slide trombone on the cover. You can see Brookmeyer with the correct instrument in the picture.

As always, the files here were ripped directly from the originals with only a slight cleaning up of pops and clicks. Your choice as to whether the music gets filed under Basie or Brookmeyer. Or Granz, for that matter.

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The Count Basie Sextet, Clef EP 186
Count Basie, org, p; Joe Newman, tp; Paul Quinichette, ts; Freddy Green, g; Gene Ramey, b; Buddy Rich, d.
New York, NY; December 13, 1952

*Count Basie, p; Renauld Jones, Paul Campbell, Joe Newman, Wendell Culley, tp; Henry Coker, Benny Powell, tbn; Marshall Royal, as, cl; Ernie Wilkins, as, ts; Eddie Davis, Paul Quinichette, ts; Charlie Fowlkes, bar; Freddy Green, g; Jimmy Lewis, b; Gus Johnson, d.
New York, NY; July 22, 1952
 

1. She’s Funny That Way  4:10
2. Tippin’ on the QT*  2:59
3. Count’s Organ Blues  3:09
4. As Long As I Live  3:09

 

Bob Brookmeyer Plays Bob Brookmeyer, Clef EP 322

Brookmeyer, v tbn; Jimmy Rowles, p; Buddy Clark, b; Mel Lewis, d.
Los Angeles, CA; December 26, 1954

5. There Will Never Be Another You  4:23
6. Bulldog Blues  8:01

(Link fixed again!) Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/cz8rr9d3km9ifuz/Norman_Granz_2-fer.rar