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just wondering… Grauer died suddenly in December 1963 and Riverside went bankcrupt in the course of 1964… so apparently the whole trouble with the Computer, Keepnews… must have happened really quickly, i.e. rather in 6 months than in 12? thinking about your image of Keepnews as the man with the stop watch… where did the consistent high quality of Riverside albums have its origin? for instance Thelonious Monk’s series of albums for Riverside may be the most carefully produced series of albums of his career? (latter statement is of course disputable) was that Bill Grauer’s influence?
just looked through the Riverside discography of 1960/1961 again, not only your New Orleans and Chicago projects but also this Cannonball Adderley series with more or less unknown artists… maybe it just looks like „self-destructive documentation“ (nothing wrong with that!
) to me because I grew up in a world where jazz was a very small and risky market…thank you for clearing the thing about the companies accumulating albums for fear of losing the artists! i can understand all the unreleased Grant Green Blue Note albums much better now…
something completely different… is there any contemporary jazz or other contemporary music you are following/recommending/finding especially interesting…?
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WerbungChris, thanks for answering my question. Your answer made me think about the European/American aspect of jazz and the important role that Europeans played in promoting jazz not only in Europe, but worldwide. Lion (Löw) and Wolff were Europeans (actually German jews from Berlin) and you were born in Iceland, but educated in Denmark and Britain. So what do you think about the role of Europeans in promoting jazz – not in playing it, but in recording and producing jazz records?
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Ohne Musik ist alles Leben ein Irrtum.When it comes to early awareness of the importance of jazz, the Europeans definitely have it. I remember going to the U.S. Information Service library in Copenhagen around 1949, looking for anything that might feed my newfound hunger for jazz. I did find a couple of books, but the record collection—a large room behind an „American Music“ sign—contained only one jazz item, a Keynote album containing 2 Lennie Tristano discs. I took it home and liked it as much as I did Bessie Smith and Jelly Roll. I should mention that there also was, tucked away in a corner, a Library of Congress recording of Bozi Sturdivant singing „Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down.“ Not jazz, but I think European ears heard the music and were less concerned with labeling it—at least that was so in my case, if it was good, it was good, no matter what you called it.
I recall reading in Danish papers early 1930s reviews of Sam Wooding’s first Copenhagen concert. The critics were the regular ones (i.e. classical music press) and they were overwhelmed when they recognized „Du holder Abendstern“ from Tannhauser (Sam was a clever one). One critic labeled it „blasphemy,“ but added that he loved it.
When it comes to pioneer promoters, think of Ernest Ansermet, Robert Goffin, Panassié, et al. When it comes to recording, think of Sam Wooding in Berlin and Barcelona, Coleman Hawkins in Paris and Hilversum, then think of all the important European labels that captured great postwar jazz. Of course, when it comes to jazz recordings, no country can beat the U.S., but Europe has been an essential part of promoting and preserving the music, from reissues to new recordings.
That said, Japan has done its part, too.
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interesting! may i ask… do you remember what types of records were in the room behind the american music sign? just one jazz record for american pre-1950 music feels strange!
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.It felt strange to me, too, but it tells us something about how government bureaucrats looked upon black music. What makes it particularly odd is the fact that the U.S. Government played jazz on the Voice of America and would soon be sending jazz performers on State Dept. tours. As I thought about it, much later, it occurred to me that this was 1948, a time when black music was embraced in the U.S. by those damned left-winger, the commies. :) What I do recall seeing in the collection was music by American composers like Charles Ives, Menotti, Copeland, ND Virgil Thompson, plus, some Broadway musicals and that really awful patriotic pop stuff with big choirs and strings.
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Given that it was the only record, Tristano was surprisingly modern jazz at that time! Do you think that record was an „accident“ or was it more something like „finally a jazz artist who is decent, white and sufficiently high-brow?“
Talking about commies – was this mostly a one-sided thing of Leftists embracing jazz? was the jazz mainstream of the fifties politically interested? vaguely related, how „intellectual“ was jazz at time, would people like Zoot Sims or Sonny Stitt read books
? the way the story of jazz is told one often gets the impression that, naively put, it somehow started in the hands of people who just „did it“ and then in the course of the fifties and sixties was overtaken by people who had thoroughly developed views about politics, religion, life in general… hope the question makes enough sense to allow for an answer…--
.Chris Albertson
That said, Japan has done its part, too.Of course. Thanks again, Chris.
I was thinking if one of the major factors in the appreciation of jazz was the different attitude of Europeans and Japanese about race. Of course, there was racism in Europe and Japan, but did people there acknowledged the artistry of the black musicians in a better way than white Americans did? And was Europe for a time during the 50s and 60s maybe more open in terms of race, because racial segregation did not exist in the same way as it did in the United States? Or would you argue that my statement is overblown?
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Ohne Musik ist alles Leben ein Irrtum.
AnonymRegistriert seit: 01.01.1970
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When I return, there will be some loose ends re John Hammond and more recollections of some kind. I may even open up that envelope from Lonnie Johnson.
Was war denn nun in Lonnie Johnsons Brief an Miss Bell Sims zu lesen?
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Happy 80th Birthday, Chris!
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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, #158 – Piano Jazz 2024 - 19.12.2024 – 20:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba
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