Here's a quick five pictures of unknown people but in familiar places: Those first three are for the same project, but apparently different days since the lady in the first is much more dressed up in the third. The first picture is obviously in the studio, while the second and third are in the old control room without tape recorders across the back part, in front of that black acoustic tile. And with what little we can see of the background, it's also possible the second and third are in a 799 control room, although the background and foreground look exactly to me like in the pic with Frank Laico on the previous page here. These next two I thought at first were Irving Berlin but I don't think that now. Now I think it's an unnamed photographer. I'm posting them because they are a unique view of the area in front of the console and below the window: I think he's fooling with a camera but don't really know. The second one shows a cord hanging down behind him, with what looks like an AC connector to me and a plug plugged in, like for a clock or lamp or something. I left the sprocket holes visible just to show that they are in focus even if the picture is not. Any ideas who any of these people are? As with the previous pictures, these are from MSS 52, The Frederick and Rose Plaut Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University. Gathered by me in October 2015 with help from Emily Ferrigno and Richard Boursy, capable librarians.
Hello again, Things have been kind of hectic since I last posted here. I had a very long work weekend where I was again babysitting a PA and had LOTS of time to work on the pictures, and am now over 3/4 through the collection, adding captions and info to the pictures as known. Again, I put a bunch of what I hope are interesting pictures aside to post here. Today I'm going to continue on the subject of remote recording sessions. Here are five pictures showing Buddy Graham and crew loading gear of some sort into a woody station wagon, and when you see the gear I expect most of you to be as stumped as I am in trying to figure out what's going on. That's Buddy on the right, possibly a studio attendant or musician on the left, no idea who the woman is. Also no idea where they are; that doesn't look like the studio building behind them, although there is a fence similar to the one on the West side of the frontage, but that's definitely not the building that's immediately to the West of the fence at the studio. Here's a closer look at the wooden box they are loading, although wouldn't it be a different wooden box than the one Buddy is helping get in? They wouldn't move the same box into the car multiple times, would they? And actually, it looks like Buddy is inside the car in that second picture, arranging the gear inside. Here's a closeup of the box and man in the second picture: I could be persuaded that those boxes are some kind of caskets, except that in this next picture of a different one it looks like there is a raised portion of the lid, like it was to let sound out. Could these be 33 1/3 LP record player prototypes? Or some kind of musical instrument? Finally for this post, here is a view of the opposite side of the street along with a shot of the working man who helped load stuff into the car: That car that is behind him looks a lot to me like the Buick convertible that we spent so much time looking at in the Most Happy Fella picture series early in this thread. It would be cool if it were the same vehicle, and if it was Buddy's car. These and the next batch of pictures are from MSS 52, The Frederick and Rose Plaut Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University. Gathered by me in October 2015 with help from Emily Ferrigno and Richard Boursy, capable librarians. PS: I see that I did a pretty poor job of cropping these, i.e., not at all.
Continuing with the remote session theme, here are a couple of road cases and an unknown person with Fred Plaut at the Marlboro Music Festival, proving that all their gear didn't go in nothing but packing blankets: It's interesting that recessed latches weren't a thing yet, apparently. I'm guessing that's because ABS plastic on plywood was also not a thing yet, and the cases were made of that fiber stuff and not wood. (The vertical line in the picture is the edge of the protective plastic sleeve that the negatives live in.) Don't yet know the date of that picture, but from the look of Fred I'm going to guess it's late 50's if not early 60's. Here's one of a nicely dressed Buddy in a nice remote location, attending to the tape machines: That's one of those Ampex tape decks in the portable case like we've seen was briefly in the old control room; maybe someone can explain why that one is in a case while the others are just in some kind of frame within a road case? Does that make it easier to tweek on them somehow? If so, why is the one in a full case during operation? And just to show that they didn't always use a station wagon for transport, here are a couple of pictures of the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival, which CBS recorded. Those speakers on the scaffold are a version of the Altec Voice of the Theater (larger than those use as room monitors in 30th St) with the bolt-on Low Frequency extenders on the front of the two outside boxes. We are looking at the backs of three low frequency cabinets, with outboard High Frequency horns on top, each with two drivers going to one throat. Don't ask me what all those cables hanging below the guy wire above the truck are. Don't know who the two guys are. Here's another view of what I think is the same truck, with a bunch of recording gear in it That's Remote Engineer (Remote Control Man?) Frank Bruno on the left. Somewhere during my research into the circumstances of how Columbia came to record the Newport Jazz Fest I found a story about how Goddard wanted to cancel the remote recording after it was all advanced because it was going to be too expensive for too little return but somebody (George Avakian? John Hammond?) stood his ground and made a good argument and got Goddard to OK it. If you know that story feel free to post it. Oh, since that's only 4 pictures, here's one of the lady from the previous post getting ready to lock the back door of the woody station wagon and showing how the spare tire lived in the rear hatch: Not real relevant but a cool detail of a cool car. That's it for today.
A few things, Dan: 1) Are you able to see a year on a license plate in any of the full resolution images? 2) In *general* those photos look like 30th Street, no? They definitely don't look like the area around Seventh Ave and 52nd Street, as far as I know. 3) The tape machine in a road case is an Ampex 350 transport, while at least one machine (probably both) in a "frame" is an Ampex 300 transport. The 350 was available in a "portable" case, but I'm not aware that the 300 ever was, so that would be some sort of custom case. 4) At least 2 of the machines are stereo/2-track, which would date the photo no earlier than about 1956, and *probably* no later than 1957. I say probably because they quickly switched to 3-track for stereo, although it's possible that 3-track wasn't immediately utilized for remote work. 5) At the moment I have no idea what the wooden boxes are.
Before replying to Luke's excellent post, in reading it closely I realized that his was post #999 in this thread, so with any luck this will be post #1000. I think that's pretty amazing and am grateful to him and the rest of the diligent posters and readers for making it fun to continue our search in this public forum. I've learned so much from many of you and am grateful. Here are some pictures of one of the most beautiful and intriguing women in cinematic history to celebrate this auspicious occasion, who also had some history in 30th St. even though these pictures are not in that exact location: Her legs were fetishized to some degree by the movies she did with Josef Von Sternberg, and Fred clearly was aware of them (movies and legs both), so here's another one that I love: I spent some time cleaning these up with the powerful photo processing program iPhoto*, and thought it might be interesting to compare before and after. There was a lot of dust, hairs, and other gunk on the plastic sleeves in the folders, and in the interest of onsite speed I didn't remove any of that fluff but got pics as fast as possible. Thanks again for our first thousand posts, and I'm looking forward to what we learn in the next thousand. Dan *
You are a smart cookie. Zooming way in on that first picture where Buddy and the crew are loading the casket/record player, we see which shows that it is 1953. That would be a bit later than the 1948 introduction of the LP. Regarding the area where those pictures were taken, yes, it looks like it could be 30th St. The other area that it could be is around 10th Avenue and W. 56th (CBS complex takes up the entire block now between W. 56 and 57th and 10th and 11th Aves, I think). That area on the side streets could also have looked similar to E. 30th St. in terms of residences and building construction. I can't quite place the picture in the existing block of 30th St, but it could be where that newish Verizon building is, maybe. Maybe the fellow who works in the Verizon building can look towards 3rd Ave and across the street to the South and see if the stoops line up?
Earlier in the thread I posted about an album that Muhammad Ali made at the beginning of his boxing career when he was still Cassius Clay and before the first Liston fight. In honor of that extraordinary man's passing, here are a few more from that time: I'm not sure but feel pretty strongly that this is a Don Hunstein photo, and shows Ali singing/declaiming into an M49 microphone in 30th St. Frank Laico was the engineer for that weeklong session of rehearsals culminating in the recording before a live audience in 30th St, and talks a little in the first video I made with him about his incredible experience with a once-in-a-lifetime talent and personality. That starts at 19:00 in the video at and is much too short. Frank got to be with him for a week and had some incredible memories. Sam Cooke was Ali's musical director for the session, although I believe the musical part of the album was done later in LA and not in NYC. Here are a couple of cool pics from there, though, which are notable because Ali was in training for the fight (or was just through with it) so he was in pretty good condition, and the side view shows what a massive guy he was: There are some fascinating videos available on Netflix with archival footage showing him training and fighting at various times, and the one with the fight in Zaire is really mind-boggling in its spectacle. R.I.P., amazing person. Ali bomaye!
Actually, posting those three pictures in this thread is the first time I've seen them all together (they are spaced out in my photo library). Since Ali is wearing what appears to be the same shirt in each one, it's not too much of a jump to come to the conclusion that they were all done on the same day, and the use of the M49 with the kind of floor visible in the third picture makes me hope they were all done in 30th St, although I have no idea what kind of mics or floor they had in the Hollywood studio. Anybody here know? Do the mic stand and baffles look like NYC or Hollywood? Well, to answer my own questions by looking at the CD booklet, all tracks were recorded August 5-7 and 9, 1963, except one that was done March 3, 1964, and all were done at 30th St. So those definitively look like 30th St mic stands and floors. And the Liston fight was February 25, 1964, in Miami, so the August sessions would have been before the heavy training while the March one would have been capitalizing on his new World Championship. That song, "The Gang's All Here", is posted in another thread by Kevin55. Songs that mention Muhammad Ali » Second post from the bottom. Ali and Cooke are wearing the same clothes as in these three pictures, so that's likely the same day, too. Could that be in 30th St? It seems to be a remote for an interview TV show. Don't know who the interviewer is. He sounds and looks British? It's fun finding these connections.
Definitely not Hollywood, which had parquet floors. From the photos it would be hard to tell if it was 30th Street or 799 Seventh Ave, but if the CD says 30th Street, it seems we have our answer. Not 100% certain, but that looks like it's probably a TV studio to me.
Notice the 4 playback speakers. I'm guessing the one right above the control room glass is for talkback? I'm not familiar with the recordings. Was the music done at RCA Hollywood, given Sam Cooke's involvement? If so, I'm guessing the music was done on 3 track...
Almost certainly not, as it was Columbia's policy that artists had to record in their studios. The Byrds with Eight Miles High is an example. I'm not very familiar with the material, but perhaps some was done at 30th Street and some at 799 Seventh Ave?
"Tracks 1 to 9 recorded August 5-7, 1963 Tracks 10, 11 recorded August 9, 1963 All background music for tracks 1 to 11 recorded August 9, 1963 Track 12 recorded March 3, 1964 All tracks recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studios, NYC." Based on the photos and notes, I would guess that the spoken word bits were done with an audience at 30th Street, while the music was recorded in Studio A.
Hi - This is not a picture of George Avakian. Not sure who it is, but I'm George's daughter, and it's definitely not him Anahid Avakian
Doug Pomeroy send a letter to Dad and asked me if there was a picture of Dad playing Clarinet. I can confirm that yes, this is my father, George Avakian on clarinet. He learned how to play clarinet during his high school years, but you are correct, he wouldn't be considered in the same class as Mitch ;-)
If you have questions for George, let me know. He really doesn't check his email much anymore (he's 97 now, he's entitled!), but I talk with Mom and Dad daily, so I can try to get answers!
Perhaps someone else has some more specific questions to ask, but here are a few that might lead to more open-ended answers: - Does he have any memories of Columbia first setting up shop at 30th Street? Initial impressions? - Based on photos, the studio underwent renovations in 1949, shortly after it opened, and again in 1955 or 1956, which removed most of the acoustic treatments that were added in 1949. Does he remember these renovations at all? If so, does he remember why they were done, how they impacted the sound, etc? - Any general thoughts on members of the engineering staff? Fred Plaut, Frank Laico, Harold Chapman, etc. Thanks Anahid.
I was recently listening to some of your father's Charles Lloyd productions, including an album I had when in high school way back in 1969. Going from 30th St. to the Fillmore Auditorium as recording locations must have been interesting. I just learned of your mother's career thanks to Google. Congratulations on your distinguished lineage!
Fabulous - welcome, Anahid. Hope Dad is well...my thanks to him for the rich history of music he was part of bringing to life...
Wow, Anahid, you have truly made my day! Thanks for posting here and answering some questions right away, and for offering to pass others along to your Dad. I'm with Martin in being grateful to him for all he did for the music world in a long and distinguished career. And huge thanks to Doug for telling you about us. My questions: 1) Your Dad's parents were Armenian. One of the former occupants of the 30th St. church building was the Armenian church that moved over to 34th St around 1923. Were your family members of that church, and if so, do you know of any pictures from before 1923 that taken anywhere in the church building (wedding receptions, school, meetings, services of any kind, etc.)? 2) I've read Marc Myers' wonderful interview with your Dad Interview: George Avakian (Part 1) » a few times and enjoyed his recollections of his youth and career. Are there other articles or books about him that you and he enjoy? 3) In that interview your Dad talks about how he signed Miles Davis for Columbia and how the album Round Midnight came about. My late friend Frank Laico was the recording engineer for that and many other Miles records and lots more besides. Does your Dad have any stories about Frank or working with Frank? 4) Last for today, I have all the pictures from the Fred Plaut collection and am going through them trying to identify who is in them and what is going on; there are many attempts at identifications in this thread (that's where that picture of Al Brate, a technician with Columbia who I mistakenly identified as your Dad, came from). There are many people who are unknown to me and to the readers of this thread but who must have been significant people since Fred bothered to take their pictures; would your Dad be open to looking at pictures and identifying those who he knows? Related to that, do you think he'd enjoy looking at this thread and our attempts to figure out what happened in 30th St and when? Certainly he could just read it on a computer, or I'm thinking of coming to NYC in September and would be happy to show him (or anybody else) some of what I have collected. "Some" because it's almost 12,000 pictures by now. Thank you for taking the time to post here and sharing with us, and again thanks to Doug for getting in touch with you. PS I found out that the pic of Al Brate was not your Dad shortly after posting it, but the posting program used on this forum does not allow editing a post more than about 30 minutes after it's posted, so errors will live on forever unless very quickly fixed.
If you're talking about Love-In, I just recently re-acquired a copy. My oldest brother gave me a copy when I was a young, young kid (still in elementary school) and I trashed it years ago. It's really nice to have a copy again! I didn't realize that George Avakian had produced it. Fantastic album. DeJohnette kills on that one!
Mine was Journey Within, recorded at the same Fillmore concert. DeJohnette is great on all the Lloyd albums for Atlantic...but that's off topic here, I guess.
