Back in May 2017 I posted this series of pictures of people unknown to me, seeking names, and MLutthans likely ID'd the drummer and bassist as possibly Art Taylor and Wendell Marshall, respectively. From other pictures, I tend to believe that's who they are. IIRC nobody has been able to name any of the others, though. Recently I found a name for the guitarist: Art Ryerson The picture in the Wikipedia isn't the best and others in a Google search are marginal, although I think this one in a Youtube video has his look. So that was fun to finally find.
Just found the Hugh Downs sessions! They were April 7, 22, and 30, 1959 at 30th St., starting at midnight, 11:30pm, 11:30pm and ending at 3:30am, 3:30am and 4am respectively.* As earlier reported, Mundell Lowe, who died not long after we were talking about this session in the quoted post, was both leader and a guitarist at all sessions; also, Millard Thomas is the other guitarist, and George Duvivier on bass, as you confirmed. Flutist (flautist?) on the second session was Herbert Mann (no foolin'! Herbie?). On the third session, the other musicians (not in these pictures, which are apparently from the second session) were Ed Shaughnessy on drums; Charles Leighton on harmonica; and Stan Free (presumably Freeman) on accordion. They recorded a total of 12 songs at the three sessions; that equals the number of songs on the album. NOTE: one of the fascinating aspects of this project that I'm enjoying discovering is the juxtaposition of different musicians in the same studio on the same day albeit not at the same time: On April 22, 1959, from 2:30-5:30pm, the Miles Davis Sextet, with Miles, Julian Edwin Adderley, John William Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, William J. Evans, Paul Chambers, and James Wilbur Cobb recorded "Flamenco Sketches" and "All Blues", a total of 21 minutes and 57 seconds of music that would change the world. (Unless it was remade later, which I don't know about but I bet some of you would.) The respective producers present for all these sessions were uncredited in the reports I'm reading. *Because the studio practice was to have sessions starting after midnight appear on the previous day's schedule so that crew knew they had to work "that night" rather than "the next calendar day after sleeping tonight", it's not clear to me if the Downs session followed or preceded the Miles session. Either way, they were basically on the same day. Since these are Musicians Union reports rather than studio schedules it seems likely that Downs preceded Miles, but...
While we're at it, also on April 22, 1959, from 7-10pm, Sylvia Syms and Ralph Burns and His Orchestra (which included George Duvivier, Kenny Burrell, and 16 other people) recorded 4 songs in 30th St.
Ran across this while browsing Getty. Alberta Hunter at "a recording studio" in NY, NY 1977. Looks like 30th St to me, looking to the SE corner. There's a couple more photos in their sequence if you search for Albert Hunter. View of American Jazz and Blues musician Alberta Hunter , along with... News Photo | Getty Images Allmusic.com lists the presumed album from this as 1978's "Remember My Name" engineered by Frank Laico. Remember My Name - Alberta Hunter | Credits | AllMusic
Just started another thread here. Today I realized that this is exactly 60 years from 1959, when so many great albums and songs were recorded in 30th St., and decided that it was worthy of its own thread to make a post each day saying what happened this day in 30th St. 60 years ago. So there it is. I invite you to flesh things out if you know anything about those people, sessions, songs, composers, whatever. My hope is to illuminate what went on and who did it. I'm not naming engineers yet because I don't have that info at hand or so far, so feel free to contribute that. Or anything else.
RIP Carol Channing. Shown here in 1953 with Eddie Bracken for archy and mehitabel, in which she played mehitabel. He played a cockroach and is showing his antennae. Original Cast Recording in 30th St.
I really want to hear this recording. Thanks for these posts. Notice the RCA ribbon mics in the photos, which I thought had mostly fallen out of favor for classical recording by '55. dan c
I followed mdr30's advice at the time and found both the album and a CD that has a bunch of other things, too. This is the CD version; although it says it's one disc in a box set, mine is at least 3 discs plus the booklet. There are more pictures and larger in the LP (duh), but the CD has identities for at least some of the other people in the pictures with Bruno. Since they seem to be Fred Plaut pictures, that is a bonus for me and us. (So far I've only had time to glance at these once and not listen at all, alas.) I've meant to reply to mdr30 and thank them for the tip. Hopefully they will read this and see my gratitude.
That floor looks pristine, and the handrails to the control room hallway have changed! Is that Hunstein's book?
That’s one of a few photos taken shortly before it closed, although they usually float around in really low quality.
It looks like at least one of them may have been serving only as a talkback mic, but it's hard to tell from the close-in photos.
There is a whole series of those shots in the archives, all in color slides, all taken by Don Hunstein (although that series is not in the most recent book I have that came out a year or two before Don's death, and all in the book are in B&W). They are dated on each slide February 1981. There is a B&W one in this thread early on looking over two pianos to the place where the old control room used to be. That was taken at the same time as this one. I can't imagine that those were the last taken before it was torn down but have not been able to find ANYTHING closer to the end than these. The Barnum sessions, which I think might be the other contenders for "late pictures" were over a year before that last Glenn Gould session. The Goldberg Variations movie is within a couple weeks before the last session, so I guess that counts as "later pictures". I, too, am curious in which book that picture is on page 257.
The same photo (cropped differently) was posted by lukpac on page 1, post 20, as taken from the 2008 Morrison Hotel gallery exhibit: In Session At The Columbia Records 30th Street Studio Sony's Icon Collectibles appears to be a dead site. Maybe they published a catalog for the exhibit. I can't find the photo at Morrison Hotel Gallery. It must be in Sony's archive.
It's from the Complete Glenn Gould 1955 Goldberg Variations Sessions box set. The book is too large for my scanner. Sorry no one quoted or tagged me so I didn't get a notification (and none of you are on my ignore list so I didn't miss a notification from that either )
Sorry about that. I don't know about notifications, I just reload the page to see activity. Thanks for posting the info. The book that comes with the box set is over 257 pages?
The big box set says it has a 280 page hard cover/coffee table book. https://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Gould-Variations-Unreleased-Recording/dp/B06XH58TSY/
Yes it comes with a very detailed book as someone else says 280 pages. There is not much about 30th St in it, it really focuses on Gould and the recordings/performances. There are many more pictures from those recording sessions, that last shot I posted was the best one. The rest are of Gould playing piano and the shots are closer. One tidbit I did find interesting is they brought in numerous pianos for him to try out to find one that he liked, and he modified the action on it. This was sort of unusual thing to do for a relatively young, nobody at the time. Columbia certainly marketed this album extremely well, I believe it is the best selling classical album. A bit unusual that this would have been the first and in many cases the only performances of the Goldberg Variations people might have heard.
That picture with Gould and the Steinways is so stunning. I’d love to own an art print of that. It is unusual to have all those pianos moved and set up, particularly when the Steinway showroom was, what, a few blocks away? Most (all) top pianists would just go to Steinway to pick a piano for a recording or recital. dan c
At that time (until a couple of years ago) they were at least a mile apart. (57th and 7th? vs. 30th and 3rd.) Now it's 43rd and 6th. In traffic, either is a ways from 30th St. if that matters.
I recall Steinway Hall at the time would've been on W 57th, across from Carnegie Hall (they moved a few years ago). Regardless, it's a PITA to move, set up and retune a piano no matter how close. I've been to the Steinway factory in Queens (so has OP), and there seemed to be minimal effort in the rooms where artists can try pianos - just a bunch of pianos in a big room. You can also see this in the Gould film. I guess if you really need to hear how it sounds in the venue, and have the pull, you'd try a few at Steinway Hall and/or the factory, and have them taken to the studio. We have a couple of piano techs at work, and it's always amusing to chat with them about what players want them to do to the piano (both the really famous and non).
