The Complete Dial Modern Jazz Sessions (#260)
http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=260-MD-CD
Each Mosaic project falls into at least one of three categories.
Some sets we know will be significant because of the demand for a hard-to-find jazz artist or the unique scope of a Mosaic box. Some sets we bring out because, popular or not, the music must be heard. And sometimes… we just love it. Want it. Have to have it.
Which brings us to The Complete Dial Masters. As the saying goes, check all the boxes.
As most jazz fans know, among the most important records to hear in your life are Charlie Parker’s Dial Sessions, recorded between 1946 and 1947. They are classics with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Howard McGee, Wardell Gray, J. J. Johnson, Duke Jordan, Teddy Edwards, Teddy Wilson, Errol Garner, Tommy Potter, Max Roach and others.
But Dial was way more than Parker. It was a microcosm of the explosive changes happening at a moment in time. And we have everything. Every master, every important alternate, and many intriguing false starts, on nine CDs. The set was only previously collected in Japan 20 years ago. Now it’s available worldwide at last, if you hurry.
An Unforgettable Era in Music
A perfect storm of circumstances allowed this music to be created.
Dial founder Ross Russell, whose Tempo Music Shop was a West Coast Mecca for jazz lovers, launched his indie label just after the Musician’s Union lifted its infamous ban on recording. Parker, Gillespie, and other inventors had been working on bebop completely out of the limelight for a few years. The new sound hit record buyers like a ton of bricks.
Another important element was, the music started flowing within a year of Germany’s surrender in World War II. The public was hungry for something fresh, a new breed of player, and for the exuberant frenzy that bop delivered.
Thirdly, Parker, Gillespie, Dexter Gordon and others were in the midst of long-term engagements on the Coast, which meant Russell and his customers were hearing them. Major labels were reeling from the requirement to pay royalties for the first time, and from what the War did to them economically. Dozens of one-man shops like Russell’s, often run by devoted jazz fans, could work more efficiently and serve the demand. Russell cornered the market on the new sound on the West Coast and he got busy documenting it.
First Date
A February 1946 recording date was supposed to be all Bird and Diz under the name the Dizzy Gillespie Jazzmen, but a chaotic session produced only one track („Diggin‘ Diz“). When the session resumed the next day Parker was nowhere to be found. Now called Dizzy’s Tempo Jazzmen, a reconstituted lineup made rousing versions of „Confirmation,“ „Diggin‘ For Diz,“ „‚Round Midnight“ and others.
Bird was in command for a March 1946 date featuring Lucky Thompson, Dodo Marmarosa, Vic McMillian, Roy Porter, Arvin Garrison, and his new hire Miles Davis. This is the essence of bebop, the brilliance of Parker, the soul of the era, and recorded music at its most emotionally affecting. Parker was playful and relaxed on multiple takes of „Moose the Mooche,“ „Yardbird Suite,“ „Ornithology,“ and „Night in Tunisia,“ crafting solos displaying his exceptional inventions in rhythm, harmony, and phrasing.
Not so at a July date featuring Bird with Howard McGhee. Parker was clearly ailing, and later that night he would set fire to his bed, wind up in jail, and eventually be committed to the California State Mental Hospital at Camarillo. Despite questions about how the music was made (apparently Ross Russell had to hold Parker up to the microphone to support him), there are listeners who point to „Loverman“ as one of the most poignant recordings of Parker’s life. And McGhee is spectacular throughout.
Bird Relaxes.
After a six-month stay at the institution, Parker was back on his feet. The day of his release, he proved it at an informal home session that was delightfully affirming. Russell put Parker back in the studio just over two weeks later with Erroll Garner, Red Callendar, Harold „Doc“ West, and Earl Coleman. It’s an exceptional study in contrasts to hear Garner’s two-fisted style of playing and Coleman’s refinement supporting Parker, who virtually skips through multiple takes of „This Is Always,“ „Dark Shadows,“ and instrumental wonders „Bird’s Nest“ and „Cool Blues.“
A week later, Bird was back in the studio again to blow on „Relaxin‘ At Camarillo,“ „Cheers,“ „Carvin‘ the Bird,“ and „Stupendous,“ this time with McGhee, Wardell Gray, Dodo, Barney Kessel, Callendar, and Don Lamond. It was billed as the Charlie Parker All Stars, and with McGhee and Gray, the title was no exaggeration.
In October, Dial had relocated to New York where Parker had moved too. His working unit from the Three Deuces (Miles, Max Roach, Duke Jordan and Tommy Potter) provided what Russell regarded as the finest Parker date of all. This was the session that produced „Dexterity,“ „Bongo Bop,“ „Dewey Square“ and more. And the ballads („Bird of Paradise“ and „Embraceable You“) – you just get lost in their lyricism and warmth.
Subsequent New York sessions (the last one adding J.J. Johnson) produced „Scrapple From the Apple,“ „Klact-Oveeseds-Tene,“ „Crazeology,“ „Drifting On a Reed,“ and others, all considered to be the something like the holy scriptures of the jazz canon. Not to mention jaw-dropping runs on ballads like „Out of Nowhere,“ „Don’t Blame Me,“ „My Old Flame,“ and many more. Whatever was going on in Parker’s life was not affecting the music. In fact, Russell was so impressed with all the ways Parker expressed himself on „Crazeology,“ including the aborted fragments, that he took the unprecedented step at the time of releasing those alternates as well.
Other Gems.
If only for the Parker selections, this set would be an impressive reminder of a great time of musical creation. But it includes so much more.
Sonny Berman, Bill Harris, and Ralph Burns led visiting members of the Woody Herman unit – always among the most experimental groups in jazz – on dates where they could stretch and evolve. Serge Chaloff joined them, as he would later in Herman’s band.
Howard McGhee was rewarded for his pressure with Bird on the „Loverman“ date with a sextet set co-led by Marmarosa that also included Teddy Edwards. McGhee would do another session for Dial near the end of the brief era, just before the second Musicians‘ Union strike of the decade that ultimately pushed Russell out of the business. That session included Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, and James Moody. And Marmarosa – who was playing the best music of his career and was always one of Russell’s favorites on keyboard – got his own trio session in December of 1947.
Erroll Garner, who had played so brilliantly on the „Cool Blues“ date that included a few trio recordings without Parker, also got his own solo piano date. If there’s one guy who could work without any additional rhythm, it was Garner, whose rolling, syncopated, ten-fingered approach was completely musical, completely entertaining.
A hybrid date of musicians Fats Navarro, Don Lanphere, Linton Garner, Al Casey, Jimmy Johnson, and Max Roach backed Earl Coleman in an attempt to capitalize on the success of the date the singer did with Bird. The real winner on that date was „Move,“ an instrumental that was a test for newcomer Lanphere (he passed) and a showstopper for Navarro.
Pointing the Way.
The earliest tracks on the set, recorded in New York, were originally done for Comet and acquired years later by Dial. They are from a Red Norvo date in June 1945, featuring Bird and Diz, Flip Phillips, Teddy Wilson, Slam Stewart, and Specs Powell and J.C. Heard alternating. The date is a wonderful meeting of old and new. More accessible tunes like „Hallelujah“ and „Get Happy“ helped bridge the gap for listeners who found „Congo Bop“ so startling. For reasons unrelated to the quality of the music, they never sold well and have always been rare, even in re-releases.
But wait. There’s more. (We’ve always wanted to use that phrase).
It was impossible to be a jazz fan in Los Angeles at the time and not know about the almost nightly tenor battles between Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray in after-hours showdowns. While Dexter had already recorded for Dial, a June 1947 quintet date featured both masters of the tenor, on a particularly fine example of the art titled „The Chase.“ In one song you hear all that Gordon was and why he was so revered for his commanding mastery… and all Gray could have been if he lived a little longer and was able to sustain his fleet, bright talent. On his own, Gordon also performs the mesmerizing „Chromatic Aberration“ and some of his loveliest ballads for Dial. A later tenor battle between Gordon and Teddy Edwards was another study in contrasts, and gave Gordon an opportunity to deliver some beautifully emotional performances on slower tempo numbers that feature him.
Enhanced by our signature Mosaic package and exclusive booklet, this music will bring you joy forever. But as with all Mosaic releases, we will not have the rights to sell it forever. „The Complete Dial Masters“ is a strictly limited release. Please order today.
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The booklet contains a wonderful 1995 essay by Dial founder Ross Russell, bringing to life the jazz scene and the state of independent recording in America in the rapidly changing ‘40s. The invaluable session by session analyses are told by the collective efforts of Tony Williams, Mark Gardner and Max Harrison with “you are there” input and reminiscences by Russell informing each write-up.
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den kompletten Inhalt in unleserlichem Layout gibt es hier:
http://www.mosaicrecords.com/discography.asp?number=260-MD-CD
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"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #164: Neuheiten aus dem Archiv, 10.6., 22:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba