'The Benny Goodman Treasure Chest' 3LP set Question

The Benny Goodman Treasure Chest - Wikipedia

Benny Goodman – The Benny Goodman Treasure Chest (1959, Vinyl)


This is a three LP set released in 1959, described as "Performance Recordings 1937 - 1938 by The original Orchestra, Trio and Quartet".

Are these radio performances?

 

Just saw this. Yes. Goodman experts will correct me if I'm wrong, but these are recordings originally recorded from radio broadcasts by Bill Savory. I believe these LPs are the only way to get these Savory-Goodman recordings (apart from the so-called "Jazz Concert No.2"). Indispensable, until they are released again . . . someday . . . maybe, IMO. Had it been permitted, some of these might very well have made it into the Mosaic Savory set (in better "Mosaic" sound, no doubt). Some contend these have at least a bit of added reverb. I say not to my ears. I don't think these were ever released on CD.

 

Confirming misterjones just above, these are Bill Savory linechecks from broadcasts, and they are one of the two main original sources for his Goodman goodies. (Not counting a jazz sampler LP and some 7-inch 33rpm "bonus" / promotional singles.)

Listening to these LPs against original sources, very definitely reverb and what I'll call "production applause" has been added.

I'm not aware of CD issues. I've seen digital files shared around that likely come from needle drops off a 2-LP MGM-Japan set (MGM MMZ 8103 / 8104).

With the Savory material available to researchers onsite at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, we're finding that a few of the long-accepted dates are in error. (In mock exasperation I recently wrote to one of my colleagues asking if we were going to have to tear up the floorboards on this data. )

Some trivia - in the US there were at least two widely-spaced (timewise) issues / press runs of this material from MGM (1959 / late 1970s?), and another from the Book of the Month Club (1981). James T Maher wrote the MGM notes, and Russ Connor wrote the BoMC booklet. And Russ noted a nomination for the longest album title connected with Goodman: an open-end interview LP for radio stations promoting the MGM set is titled... {take a deep breath} -- "Benny Goodman DJ Interview - B/G Himself Answers Your Questions About His Original Performance Recordings 1937 - 1938...."

 

I haven't heard the original sources. But I have heard other instances where reverb has been added, and these LPs don't sound nearly as egregious as those.

I don't believe we will ever see these recordings officially released, so the MGM LPs will have to do (at least in our lifetimes). One of these days I will have to go to the Jazz Museum. Something to do after I retire, which is soon.