I just discovered that the Mosaic box set Classic 1936-1947 Count Basie & Lester Young Studio Sessions contains a new transfer of "Ti-Pi-Tin." It's a vast improvement over the distorted version on Wrappin' It Up: The Harry James Years, Part 2.
Yes! If only Mosaic could reissue the entire Goodman Victor recordings!! Ok, not BG, but the Una Mae Carilsie recordings has some amazing best Lester Young on record! At least it’s kind of relative because Goodman was a big Lester Young fan...
I borrowed The Essential BG from the public library and have been examining its contents. It's an odd duck. It claims its takes of "Don't Be That Way" and "Moonglow" are previously unissued but that's false; the first was released on The Harry James Years, Vol 1 back in 1993, and the second on the Complete RCA Victor Small Group Recordings. Matt Cavaluzzo is credited with 78 rpm transfers, Harry Coster with digital sound restoration, and Vic Anesini with digital remastering; I don't know why they apparently did fresh transfers for a compilation when recent transfers for many of these tracks already existed. I A/B'd two Columbia small groups tracks to their Chronological Classics equivalents. The version of "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" on The Essential sounds significantly worse than the Chronological Classics version, and I'm not someone who usually notices big differences between masterings. This time there's no contest. The CC version almost sounds like a modern recording in comparison to the Essential, which sounds flat and dead. OTOH the two versions of Rachel's Dream (sextet) sound virtually the same to my ears.
Back to the very first question of this thread...If I could buy only one Benny Goodman Lp or CD it would be this one. The producer really knew what he was doing with this song selection, with the one exception of the exclusion of my favorite, Madhouse. I would have replaced Ti-Pi-Tin with it. This encapsulates the excitement of the 1935-37 band, has Helen on some outstanding tracks, and includes some of Goodman's later '38 hits. In addition, the SQ is outstanding on this. DSCM sounds new, crisp, and bright. It makes me wonder what power this music could have had were it recorded in stereo. EDIT: how could I forget? It has Ella!
Yes, this is one I mentioned a couple pages back as "they didn't monkey around with it." Released in 1987, just as I got my first CD player, and my copy's off the 1A1 stamper. Down South Camp Meeting was recorded in RCA's Hollywood studios, where the sound dampening in the studio wasn't as severe and you get a better idea of how the band sounded in person. The transfer's probably off an original metal part with no "NoNoise" or CEDAR processing. Even the New York-originated selections sound great off the original parts on this release. If this were an LP, I'd have worn out Sing Me a Swing Song or Anything For You decades ago. Basin Street Blues is unfortunate - taken from a shellac pressing, so by this time apparently no metal was available or usable. Same transfer got NoNoised to death on "The Birth of Swing" 3-CD set. Overall I'd agree this is a great one-disc intro to the band at its height. Best of all, it's still in print.
Yes, that’s a good Cd and certainly represents Goodman’s best band. but, who could just by one Goodman Lp or Cd . Benny Goodman in Hi-Fi is definitely a contender and an essential BG Lp or Cd. Ruby Braff was a guest soloist and is awesome. Guitarist Steve Jordan lays down an excellent swinging rhythm. The version of “Jumping at the Woodside” is astonishing. It’s as if the band levitates during the ride out. Big Band swing at it’s best. Of course, Goodman is in fine form, probably his best fifties work. Again, it’s not the great 1937-38 band, but it’s a swinging one! https://www.amazon.com/B-G-Hi-Benny..._3?keywords=BG+in+hi+fi&qid=1581267355&sr=8-3
I have the LP version (and a sealed back up) just to mess around with the pitch. There is something about that vintage of Bluebirds that just sound great. I honestly can't pick a favorite track, but Sing Me a Swing Song would certainly be a contender. My ears may deceive me, but I think that is the cleanest version of King Porter Stomp other than the one on the 8x2s.
I found a very clean original LP version at my local record shop years ago, and yes, I agree. I have such a strong preference for the 35-38 bands that Bluebird came to mind first. But Hi-Fi is another "must-have" single disc.
Wow, do I like this disc. The SQ is a little harsh (too crisp, not enough high-end filtering on some tracks) but it is better than the other copies of some of the tracks I have on Membran. I recently fell head-over-heals for the Joe Venuti-Eddie Lang tracks, which led me to purchase this. Glad I did.
And another one. This is not Benny, but it certainly helps blur the line between what was Fletcher's and what was Benny's. I've always loved anything Henderson did. A great set.
Man, I've been grooving to some of these older Goodman orchestra sides online and need to make a trip to my local thrift to see what I can turn up. When those horns play in unison it's beautiful stuff.
I just finished my Sunbeam collection (SB100 through SB158) with this disc and it was sure worth the wait. Not only does it have a romping version of Madhouse, more importantly it has a superb version of Sing Me a Swing Song (and Let Me Dance) with a vocal from Helen Ward I've heard no where else. This disc is all air checks... beautifully clear and unusually well mastered for the Sunbeams. Highly recommend. (My cover is slightly different; more colorful).
Having just finished my Sunbeam collection and seeing references to it in Connor's 1988 book as "bootlegs", does anyone know how the owners of Sunbeam were able to get around copyright for so long, esp. since Goodman seemed quite protective of his legacy? I could see one or two or even five discs, but they put out 58 discs. I only realized they were bootlegs about halfway through my collecting them, but kept going since many of Goodman's early songs are only available on LP through Sunbeam. Does Connor discuss this somewhere? I may have missed it.
The quote below relates to the Madhattan room sunbeams but all of the sunbeams are bootlegs and none of them come near the sound quality of the Savory material that has been released (the MGM and Columbia’s from the 50s) and that resides at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. I was told that Goodman was not happy about the Sunbeams but suing wasn’t worth it in the long run. The Vipers Nest Cd’s of the Madhattan room broadcasts have slightly better sound and George Buck’s Circle label did a nice job on the cds for Congress Hotel releases. “Through its 15-week engagement in the Madhattan Room this time around, the band was broadcast by the several networks, on a sustaining basis, at least once each evening. These "remotes" are the source of the very first bootleg LPs of Benny Goodman air checks. In the 1950s, an even dozen of Benny's half-hour broadcasts from the Pennsylvania were trans- ferred from broadcast acetates onto 12" vinyl pressings, over time. They were sold on an "exclusive" basis-no more than 50 of each were to be produced. For those years, they were expensive, $25 each, a price that progressively eliminated "subscribers" to the series. Very few complete sets of all 12 are extant. The original LPs have blank labels, and thus no catalog numbers; and there are no inscribed matrices. They are listed herein in order of perfor- mance (they were sold out of chronological order), and are arbitrarily num- bered "LP 1," "LP 2," et cetera. In general, the original LPs offer good audio. In the 1970s, the entire set was duplicated on subsidiary bootleg LPs, SB 116-127 inclusive, with indifferent results. The SB LPs were later re- processed and rereleased, with some improvement. Precise personnels for all 12 of these broadcasts”
Thanks. That is helpful. I completely agree on sound quality of the Sunbeams and have stated multiple times down thread that the SQ on some is bad. I guess if they're the only source for a song, its better than nothing. I'm still surprised Goodman didn't sue. There's a ton of material on the 58 discs. Too bad there was never an official anthology of his pre-Victor Years.
Do you have these: https://www.amazon.com/Tracks-One-D...enny+goodman+50+records&qid=1584396764&sr=8-1 I don’t have this set. I have them on the TAX label. Also look for the “all star Bill Dodge” session on the Circle label. Otherwise, he was mostly a sideman before 1934 and true the stuff is spread out. Oracle put out the complete Red Nichols and some early Goodman. Also, the Timeless label has a good set, 1931-1935, with what would be the early Victor band’s Columbia sides.
This really is amazing...Steve Allen was great in the "Benny Goodman Story", but he wasn't Benny Goodman. Here's a terrific clip I posted on Vimeo from a few years ago, but it's NOT Goodman (although that IS him on the film soundtrack)...
Yes. My discussion of that CD is buried down thread somewhere. The "50 Tracks" CD has MUCH better SQ than SB 101-103. Also to note are the Circle CDs CCD-111 (Bill Dodge All-Star), CCD-50 (Let's Dance Broadcasts), and CCD 171-173 (The Congress Hotel Broadcasts). All of those are superb. And another fav is the Decca/GRP CD GRD-609 (B.G. & Big Tea in NYC). The SQ on the latter is better than other versions I have.
My guess is that these CDs are just burns of the material available on this site ( Old Time Radio Researchers Library ) that someone down thread helpfully suggested. They look cheap and with Steve Allen on the cover, my guess is that it is quick and dirty job to land a few bucks from people who don't know you can download them at the linked site.
For pre-Victor Goodman there is also, “The Young Benny Goodman” on Timeless, CBC 1-088 and “Benny Goodman 1931-1935” CBC 1-065. And, on Jazz Oracle, “Benny Goodman and his Orchestra 1930-1931 and Steve Washington and his Orchestra 1933.” Then there is also on Jazz Oracle the Ben Pollack 7 volume series, BDW 8015-8017, 8026,8032, 8042, and 8044.
I'll happily "push" the Circle CDs 50 and 171-3, as they were authorized by the Goodman Estate back when. I was happy to participate in "legitimizing" the Congress Hotel airchecks on 171-3; they were my first liner note writing gig. What Russ Connor didn't mention was that the original-issue Madhattan Room LPs were put out by Boris Rose - those 1950s "limited edition" blank-label discs (and this was not stated, but they were pressed on red vinyl). Alan Roberts at Sunbeam used copies (possibly via tape) to master his LPs, and indeed his 12-LP box set does sound a bit better than some of the individually-released LPs. The folks at Viper's Nest had access to a set of the original Rose LPs, and they did a fine job digitizing; David Weiner's liner notes are up to the same high standard too. Jazz Oracle's CD of Goodman & Steve Washington - the producers went to great lengths to find the best-condition 78s to remaster. Trust me, the originals are generally pretty miserable; the Goodman Melotone releases were 25-cent discs when 35-cent discs were considered a bargain. The Timeless releases mentioned above were remastered by John R T Davies and Hans Eekhoff, so you're in good hands sound-wise there. John R T was one of the co-founders of the Jazz Oracle label; he remastered the Ben Pollack series, while Ted Kendall handled the Goodman Melotone/Steve Washington disc. Indeed, Goodman's lawyers looked into charges against Sunbeam, but the cost of litigation (given the situation in the early 1970s) was far more than they would have gotten back. Benny (and his reps) did send out letters to distributors alerting them as to the status of those releases; I have a copy of one on file. There was one LP reissue of Goodman's "sideman years" worth a mention. When the Connor-Hicks "BG On The Record" book was published, Neil McCaffrey also commissioned a 2-LP set through Columbia Special Products: "Collectors' Gems 1929-1945," to tie in. Almost three quarters of the tracks are pre-1935, and they're all fun to hear.
Not to get too far off-topic, but there are six CDs of Artie Shaw "Rhythm Makers" material on Flyright. Worth checking out. I think there were similar Bunny Berigan and possibly Charlie Barnet sessions, as well. For some reason, they just attached the "Rhythm Makers" label to some of these transcription sessions.
