Various Artists - The Sound Of Jazz

 

Mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound, from the original 3-track tape

180-gram LP plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings!

First time gatefold old style tip-on jacket from Stoughton Printing with gorgeous photos!

Featuring "Wild Man Blues" "Dickie's Dream" and more!

"The only reason Classic Records failed to reissue this one back in the 1990s and 2000s is because the reel containing one side had gone missing. For this reissue Sony/BMG located the original 3 track recording from which this stereo record was sourced so it's one generation ahead of the mixed two track master. This tape probably hadn't been played in almost sixty years and so sounds remarkably fresh. ... Analogue Productions reissued this in a tip-on gatefold sleeve with great black and white photos taken at the recording session of Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Ben Webster. A moment in musical time perfectly captured that's easy to recommend for the music, the sound and the packaging. The reissue sound is somewhat drier than the original, which makes it all the more intimate and less dated. A great lacquer cut by Ryan K. Smith." — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. To read Fremer's full review, click here.

This 180-gram Analogue Productions LP reissue is a magnificent-sounding recording of a historic TV event. For a rare and glorious one-hour nationwide broadcast, CBS brought together 32 towering heavyweight jazz musicians of the swing era for the jam session to end all jam sessions.

See the video above for a look at how the program went down.

The one-hour program aired on Sunday, December 8, 1957, live from CBS Studio 58, the Town Theater at 851 Ninth Avenue in New York City. The show was hosted by New York Herald-Tribune media critic John Crosby, directed by Jack Smight, and produced by Robert Herridge. Jazz writers Nat Hentoff and Whitney Balliett were the primary music consultants.

"The Sound of Jazz" brought together 32 leading musicians — a Who's Who of the swing era — including Count Basie, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Billie Holiday, Jo Jones and Coleman Hawkins; the Chicago style players of the same era, like Henry "Red" Allen, Vic Dickenson, and Pee Wee Russell; and younger 'modernist' musicians such as Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk, and Jimmy Giuffre. These players played separately with their compatriots (see the song list below), but also joined to combine various styles in one group, such as Red Allen's group and the group backing Billie Holiday on "Fine and Mellow".

Columbia Records released this LP in 1958 that is actually a rehearsal that preceded the telecast (recorded on December 4 at Columbia's 30th Street studios), and is not its soundtrack. The LP was released in 1958 as Columbia CL 1098, with liner notes by Eric Larrabee, and the cover photo is by Tom Yee. The recording doesn't include all of the performers on the TV show (Mulligan refused to participate because no additional payment was involved) and includes several who were not on the show. Bassist Walter Page rehearsed, and is featured on the LP, but collapsed on the way to the studio for the telecast.

For this Analogue Productions reissue we started with the original tape and the best mastering available — Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound did a steller job, and naturally, plating at Quality Record Pressings was handled by master plating technician Gary Salstrom. Our 180-gram QRP platters serve up an utterly noiseless background that lets the superior sonics shine through.

The show's performance of "Fine and Mellow" reunited Billie Holiday with her estranged long-time friend Lester Young for the final time. Jazz critic Nat Hentoff, who was involved in the show, recalled that during rehearsals, they kept to opposite sides of the room. Young was very weak, and Hentoff told him to skip the big band section of the show and that he could sit while performing in the group with Holiday.

During the performance of "Fine and Mellow", Webster played the first solo. "Then", Hentoff remembered: "Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard, and [he and Holiday] were looking at each other, their eyes were sort of interlocked, and she was sort of nodding and half-smiling. It was as if they were both remembering what had been — whatever that was. And in the control room we were all crying. When the show was over, they went their separate ways."

Within two years, both Young and Holiday had died.

 

 

 

 

Side 1

1. Wild Man Blues – L. Armstrong, F.J. Morton

2. Rosetta – W.H. Hoode, E. Hines

3. Fine and Mellow – B. Holiday

4. Blues – Giuffre, Russell

Side 2

1. I Left My Baby – Rushing, Basie, A. Gibson

2. The Train And The River – Giuffre

3. Nervous – Waldron

4. Dickie’s Dream – Basie, L. Young

Customer Reviews (5.00 Stars) 6 person(s) rated this product.

Truly a Piece of History posted on 12/13/2020 5 Stars Reviewer: Danny D This gets better every time I listen to it. I've had it a few weeks, and was not really sure of it when I bought it. Wow. I have old recordings that sound old, but somehow, this sounds completely modern. This was so well done, it's really amazing. I own many of the usual suspect albums we all collect for their sound. If you don't have this one, get it. This entertains you from front to back, and it will be a new reference album.

add this to my list of reference vinyl posted on 07/06/2017 5 Stars Reviewer: b weaver

Amazing sound posted on 07/05/2017 5 Stars Reviewer: Richard Meyer This is jazz at its best with a recording to match the great artists on this album. If you like or listen to jazz this is a must for your collection. I was blown away by the sound of this vinyl masterpiece. It's warm, defined and amazing. If you pass on this you'll regret it.

Highly recommended! posted on 06/06/2017 5 Stars Reviewer: Grateful This was, in the end, a curiosity purchase for me as I was unfamiliar with the original TV broadcast and the story behind it. But I became more interested as I read more about it and decided to take a chance. That being said, my expectations were not particularly high based on the overall history of television events and the lousy sound that often accompanies them. I thought this might be one of those acquisitions that would disappear onto a shelf after a couple of listens. What can I say.....? I love it when I'm wrong! This is an absolutely unique musical event that manages to avoid being ruined by corporate and network interference. The musical spirit is wonderful and you feel it every bit as much as you can hear it. It is obvious that the participants enjoyed having the opportunity to simply be themselves and to share the joy of playing the music that they loved and embraced. This reissue is first-rate in every respect and I am grateful to all responsible.

It feels like the musicians are all around me posted on 05/19/2017 5 Stars Reviewer: Danny WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW! The remastering is phenomenal. I feel like I'm right among the musicians as they play (and I'm using really low level audiophile equipment to listen). The vinyl is super quiet and the music – I don't think I've ever heard jazz like this before. I guess I'm used to the "typical jazz sound" so it was a treat to listen to something different. Plus it's cool to know I'm listening to rehearsals before a TV show. Thanks for this great LP!

Knockout, off the charts, must have! A+++++ posted on 03/23/2017 5 Stars Reviewer: Danny Kaey Another A+++++ title from Chad and team. When I first heard of this record via an email, I wasn't quite sure what to expect: compilations like these rarely sound good; rarer still are the ones even worth considering. Now then, eagerly awaiting the arrival of this record, I wasn't prepared for what was to come - in fact, the first message to Chad was "did you change something to the presses, this is the best pressing I've ever heard from you (that is, until I played all the rest of the titles I had ordered, which were equally incredible). My next message was "never heard anything like it" - I stand by it. Great music, great recordings, outstanding reissue, another winner for Chad and team. A+++++

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