Count Basie and his Orchestra - Swingin' The Blues LP

Side 1:
01. Swinging The Blues
02. John's Idea
03. Blue & Sentimental
04. Texas Shuffle
05. Panassie Stomp
06. Sent For You Yesterday And Here You Come Today
07. You Can Depend On Me
08. Every Tub

Side 2:
01. Jumpin' At The Woodside
02. Time Out
03. Jive At Five
04. Oh Lady Be Good
05. Shorty George
06. Out The Window
07. Topsy
08. Doggin' Around

Swingin' The Blues LP (Mega)

Swingin' The Blues LP (Zippy)

I've included "LP" in the title of this post and also in the tagging of this album because, as many of you will be aware, I've previously posted the cassette version of this collection. It was re-upped in March 2015 here:

https://bebopwinorip.blogspot.com/2015/03/count-basie-his-orchestra-swingin-blues.html

That was in response to a request for a re-up of the album which was originally posted in August 2008 here:

https://bebopwinorip.blogspot.com/2008/08/count-basie-his-orchestra-swingin-blues_8959.html

Last year I came across this LP while browsing in a local charity shop, so here for your delectation is the vinyl version. The sound on the vinyl rips differs considerably from the cassette rips, being clearer, although there are the inevitable clicks, pops and crackles to remind us that the source is a second hand record.

These are recordings made between July 1937 and February 1939 for Decca in New York (the band having migrated from Kansas City in 1936). The lineup includes tenor sax duo Lester Young and Herschel Evans (replaced by Chu Berry in the final session as Evans was in hospital with the heart condition which would cause his death 6 days later). There is the All-American Rhythm Section of Freddy Green (guitar), Walter Page (bass), Count Basie (piano) and Jo Jones (drums). Earl Warren features on clarinet and alto sax, Buck Clayton on trumpet and, shouting the blues on 2 numbers, Mister Five by Five himself, Jimmy Rushing.

Full band lineups and recording dates are on the back cover along with an essay by jazz critic Stan Britt.

Illinois Jacquet & Lester Young - Battle Of The Saxes re-up

Side One:
01. Flying Home - Illinois Jacquet
02. Blow Illinois Blow - Illinois Jacquet
03. Goofin' Off - Illinois Jacquet
04. Illinois Blows The Blues - Illinois Jacquet

Side Two:
01. D.B. Blues - Lester Young
02. Lester Blows Again - Lester Young
03. On The Sunny Side Of The Street - Lester Young
04. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid - Lester Young

Battle Of The Saxes (Mega)

Battle Of The Saxes (Zippy)

A requested re-up of a reconstruction of an early Aladdin LP from 1951 which I originally posted back in April 2009. I used some artwork from Joan plus rips from vinyl LPs to reconstruct this 10 inch LP. The original post with more of Joan's artwork on display is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.com/2009/04/illinois-jacquet-lester-young-battle-of.html

The LP consists of sides recorded by Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet in the 1940s for the then new indy label Aladdin, and its immediate predecessor Philo.

The Illinois Jacquet Sides

Flying Home recorded in July 1945 in Los Angeles. Personnel: Russell Jacquet (trumpet); Henry Coker (trombone); Illinois Jacquet (tenor sax); Arthur Dennis (baritone sax); Sir Charles Thompson (piano); Ulysses Livingston (guitar); Billy Hadnott (bass); Johnny Otis (drums). Originally issued as Philo 101.

Blow Illinois Blow and Illinois Blows The Blues recorded on 1st April 1947 in New York. Personnel: Fats Navarro, Joe Newman, Russell Jacquet (trumpets); Jay Jay Johnson (trombone); Jimmy Powell (alto sax); Illinois Jacquet (tenor sax); Leo Parker (baritone sax); Sir Charles Thompson (piano); Freddy Green (guitar); Al Lucas (bass); Shadow Wilson (drums). Both sides originally released on Aladdin 3001.

Goofin' Off  recorded on 10th September 1947 in New York. Personnel: Joe Newman, Russell Jacquet (trumpets); Illinois Jacquet (tenor sax); Leo Parker (baritone sax); Sir Charles Thompson (piano); John Collins (guitar); A1 Lucas (bass); Shadow Wilson (drums). Originally released on Aladdin 3011.

The Lester Young Sides

D.B. Blues and Lester Blows Again recorded on 20th December 1945 in Los Angeles. Personnel: Vic Dickenson (trombone); Lester Young (tenor sax); Dodo Marmarosa (piano); Red Callender (bass); Henry Tucker (drums). Both sides originally released on Aladdin 123.

On The Sunny Side Of The Street and Jumpin' With Symphony Sid recorded in October 1946 in Chicago. Personnel: Lester Young (tenor sax); Argonne Thornton (piano); Fred Lacey (guitar); Rodney Richardson (bass); Lyndell Marshall (drums). Jumpin' With Symphony Sid originally released on Aladdin 162. On The Sunny Side Of The Street released on Aladdin 164.

Below is a short film which frequently appears on YouTube. You can currently find it at  -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88PwJX5gyxU

The film features the contrasting styles of Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet. Directed by Gjon Mili, it is years ahead of its time in look and feel.

The Be Bop Wino summer of rock 'n' roll has come to an unexpected halt as I've broken the stylus on my new turntable! I am currently awaiting the delivery of two new styli, so digitising of vinyl should resume next week! Hang on in there ...

Count Basie & His Orchestra - Swingin' The Blues (re-up)

These classic recordings for Decca were cut between July 1937 and February 1939. The band line-up included the twin tenor sax threat of Lester Young and Herschel Evans, and of course the All American Rhythm Section of Freddy Green (guitar), Walter Page (bass), Jo Jones (drums) and the Count himself on piano. There’s a tremendous blues shouting performance by Jimmy Rushing on the classic “Sent ForYou Yesterday” which is a number I just can’t get out of my head at present.

“Jive at Five” and “Lady Be Good” were recorded on the third of February 1939, just five days before Herschel Evans died of a heart condition. On these tracks Chu Berry deputized for the ailing Herschel. Berry himself was to die in an automobile accident just two years later.

The tracks were ripped from a cassette issued in 1984 by Charly Records. Inlay card with notes is included in the download.

Ripped at 320 kbps

1. Swinging The Blues

2. John's Idea

3. Blue & Sentimental

4. Texas Shuffle

5. Panassie Stomp

6. Sent For You Yesterday

7. You Can Depend On Me

8. Every Tub

9. Jumpin' At The Woodside

10. Time Out

11. Jive At Five

12. Oh Lady Be Good

13. Shorty George

14. Out The Window

15. Topsy

16. Doggin' Around

New download link:

http://www82.zippyshare.com/v/9cCIFLS2/file.html

The original post from 2008 is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/count-basie-his-orchestra-swingin-blues_8959.html

Re-uploaded at the request of a Be Bop Wino fan!

Lester Young And His Tenor Sax Volume1 (re-up)

Today's re-up is another LP from the Aladdin "... and his Tenor Sax" series. Like the Illinois Jacquet and Lynn Hope albums, this LP originally appeared as a 10" LP in 1954, but this time around the 1956 reissue as a 12" LP was spread over 2 volumes. Back in July 2010 I "reconstructed" Volume 1 of "Lester Young and his Tenor Sax" by ripping the tracks from a couple of old second hand / charity shop vinyl compilations, so you still get that authentic click and hiss, although not from a reissue of the original LP!

The original 2010 post is here:

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/lester-young-and-his-tenor-sax-volume-1.html

It contains a more detailed look at the various issues of this album, label and cover scans sent in by Joan K and other kindly people, and a full run down on the tracks - when, where and who, plus original release. All of the tracks were originally released as 78 rpm singles on Philo / Aladdin.

Your new download link is here:

http://www47.zippyshare.com/v/owcyxhYj/file.html

Tracklist:

1. D.B. Blues

2. Lester Blows Again

3. These Foolish Things

4. Jumpin' At Mesner's

5. It's Only A Paper Moon

6. After You've Gone

7. Lover Come Back To Me

8. Jammin' With Lester

9. You're Driving Me Crazy

10. New Lester Leaps In

11. She's Funny That Way

12. Lester's Be Bop Boogie

13. S.M. Blues

This is the running order of the original "Volume 1" album, but I'm not sure where the divide between Side 1 and Side 2 should be! Can anyone help?

Swingin' Saxophones

Side One
1. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
2. Flying Home No 2 - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
3. Honeysuckle Rose - Ben Webster
4. Blowing The Blues Away - Billy Eckstine & His Orchestra
5. Lunatic - John Hardee
6. IQ Blues - Ike Quebec

Side Two
1. Riffin' At 24th Street - Illinois Jacquet
2. I'm Confessin' - Lester Young
3. The Spider - Joe Morris
4. Long Tall Dexter - Dexter Gordon
5. Hot In Harlem - Tiny Grimes
6. Cole Slaw - Frank Culley

My thanks to the anonymous donor who sent in this comp. It’s a good collection of 1940s tenor sax sides, beginning with some big band swing, and ending with some jazzy R&B combos via detours into boppish small group jazz. However you want to label it, it makes for some mighty fine listening. In fact never mind the label thing, just call it good music.

The sleeve notes are pretty uninformative as you would expect from a bootleg. I’ve looked up the recording details of all the tracks on the LP and listed them at the end of the post. Ben Webster is the soloist on “Cottontail,” Arnett Cobb is on “Flying Home No. 2” and Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons serve up an early example of a tenor sax “chase” on “Blowing The Blues Away.”

On Side Two, Johnny Griffin delivers the most frantic performance of the set on “The Spider” while Red Prysock is the tenor man on “Hot in Harlem.” Ike Quebec’s “I.Q. Blues” on Savoy is really just another version of “Blue Harlem” which he had previously recorded for Blue Note in July 1944. I think I actually prefer the Savoy version for its gorgeous piano break by Johnny Guarnieri. The Blue Note original does have some nice guitar from Tiny Grimes, though.

As for the origins of this comp – there is no label number on the front or back cover, although the back cover does bear the legend “Bop u Rhythm Schallplatten, Saarland.” The sleeve notes are written pseudonymously and claim to date from 1952. I think this is probably a bootleg of a bootleg, or a reissue of an album which originally appeared in the mid to late 1950s on the legendary Bop-Rhythm label. I’m sure that the original release would have had a different front cover from the one which was sent to me. It doesn’t look like a 1950s style cover at all.

Bop-Rhythm was a strictly “underground” label whose issues of jazz, R&B and even some early rock and roll were much coveted by hopheads and beatniks around Europe. Their operation was based in the Saarland which for much of the 1950s was detached from the German Federal Republic and thus provided a haven for a motley group of jazz fanatics and dope fiends who were zealous spreaders of the gospel of groove. They took advantage of the Saarland’s unique status of being beyond the reach of German civil law and set up a record pressing plant from which they distributed all kinds of bopmungous vinyl goodies to adjacent countries. The music was sourced from records provided by American service personnel based in West Germany.

When the Saarland was incorporated into West Germany in 1957, Bop-Rhythm Records was doomed, although they managed to keep going until 1960 when their pressing plant (situated in the basement of a house of ill repute in Fraulautern, Saarlouis) was raided by an Interpol organised task force of police from three different countries – France, Germany and Belgium – plus a contingent of US Military Police. I hope that at the last, the stoned jazzers of Bop-Rhythm went down swinging as the forces of law and order stormed into their HQ.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www29.zippyshare.com/v/7xovktql/file.html

Recording Details:

1. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra

Recorded in Hollywood CA, 4th May, 1940. Released on Victor 26610
Personnel: Rex Stewart (cnt) Cootie Williams, Wallace Jones (tp) Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown (tb) Barney Bigard (cl,ts) Johnny Hodges (as,sop) Otto Hardwick (as, bassax) Ben Webster (ts) Harry Carney (bar,as,cl) Duke Ellington (p) Fred Guy (g) Jimmy Blanton (b) Sonny Greer (d )

2. Flying Home No 2 - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 2nd March, 1944. Released on Decca.
Personnel: Cat Anderson, Lamar Wright Jr., Roy McCoy (tp) Joe Morris (tp,arr) Al Hayse, Michael "Booty" Wood, Fred Beckett (tb) Earl Bostic, Gus Evans (as) Al Sears, Arnett Cobb (ts) Charlie Fowlkes (bar) Lionel Hampton (vib,p) Milt Buckner (p) Eric Miller (g) Vernon King (b) Fred Radcliffe (d)

3. Honeysuckle Rose – The Ben Webster Quartet

Recorded in New York City, 17th April, 1944. Released on Savoy 506.
Personnel: Ben Webster (ts) Johnny Guarnieri (p) Oscar Pettiford (b) David Booth (d)

4. Blowing The Blues Away - Billy Eckstine & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 5th September, 1944. Released on Audiolab.
Personnel: Dizzy Gillespie, Shorty McConnell, Gail Brockman, Boonie Hazel (tp) Gerald Valentine, Taswell Baird, Howard Scott, Chips Outcalt (tb) John Jackson, Bill Frazier (as) Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons (ts) Leo Parker (bar) John Malachi (p) Connie Wainwright (g) Tommy Potter (b) Art Blakey (d) Billy Eckstine (vcl)

5. Lunatic – The John Hardee Quintet

Recorded in New York City, November, 1947. Released on Savoy 703.
Personnel: Joe Jordan (tp) John Hardee (ts) Billy Kyle (p) John Simmons (b) Cozy Cole (d)

6. I.Q. Blues – The Ike Quebec All Stars

Recorded in New York City, 7th August, 1945. Released on Savoy 570.
Personnel: Ike Quebec (ts) Johnny Guarnieri (p) Bill De Arango (g) Milt Hinton (b) J.C. Heard (d)

7. Riffin' At 24th Street - Illinois Jacquet & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 18th December, 1947. Released on Victor 20-2702.
Personnel: Joe Newman (tp) Russell Jacquet (tp) Jay Jay Johnson (tb) Illinois Jacquet (ts) Leo Parker (bar) Sir Charles Thompson (p) John Collins (g) Al Lucas (b) Shadow Wilson (d)

8. I'm Confessin' - Lester Young & His Band

Recorded in New York City, 2nd April, 1947. Released on Aladdin 212.
Personnel: Shorty McConnell (tp-1) Lester Young (ts) Argonne Thornton (p) Nasir Barakaat (g) Rodney Richardson (b) Lyndell Marshall (d)

9. The Spider - Joe Morris & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 23rd December, 1947. Released on Atlantic 859.
Personnel: Joe Morris (tp) Johnny Griffin (ts) Bill McLemore (bar) Wilmus Reeves (p) George Freeman (g) Emmett Dailey (b) Leroy Jackson (d)

10. Long Tall Dexter – The Dexter Gordon Quintet

Recorded in New York City, 29th January, 1946. Released on Savoy 603.
Personnel: Leonard Hawkins (tp) Dexter Gordon (ts) Bud Powell (p) Curly Russell (b) Max Roach (d)

11. Hot In Harlem – The Tiny Grimes Quintet

Recorded in Cleveland, 1st May, 1948. Released on Atlantic 869.
Personnel: Red Prysock (ts) Jimmy Saunders (p) Tiny Grimes (g) Ike Isaacs (b) Jerry Potter (d)

12. Cole Slaw - Frank “Floorshow” Culley

Recorded in New York City, 17th January, 1949. Released on Atlantic 874.
Personnel: Frank Culley (ts) Harry Van Walls (p) Tiny Grimes (g) unknown b and d.

Lester Young And His Tenor Sax Volume 1 (Aladdin LP 801)

1. D.B. Blues
2. Lester Blows Again
3. These Foolish Things
4. Jumpin' At Mesner's
5. It's Only A Paper Moon
6. After You've Gone
7. Lover Come Back To Me
8. Jammin' With Lester
9. You're Driving Me Crazy
10. New Lester Leaps In
11. She's Funny That Way
12. Lester's Be Bop Boogie
13. S.M. Blues

Album released in October 1956. All tracks recorded in 1945/46 and originally released as 78 rpm singles in 1946/47.

A post for those who worship at the Altar of the Pork Pie Hat. As promised a mere 9 months ago here is the fourth tenor sax player in the Aladdin series of LPs “…And His Tenor Sax” – Lester Young. Back in October 2009 I posted versions of the other 3 LPs in this series by Lynn Hope, Illinois Jacquet and Maxwell Davis. I put out a plea for help in locating suitable artwork and received quite a few replies. So a special thank you goes out to R, Sleepy Cactus Slim, jaybird 69, bigtone, and also to Joan for an EP cover scan.

All tracks in this reconstitution of the 1956 LP “Lester Young and his Tenor Sax Volume 1” have been ripped from vinyl, so although I’ve managed to eliminate the louder clicks and pops, there is still some surface noise audible. “It’s Only a Paper Moon” was ripped from a particularly well worn slab of wax but thanks to the wonders of Magix Audio Cleaning Lab I’ve managed to eliminate the worst of the crackling and hissing.

Like the other albums in this series, this LP was issued and reissued in various forms over the years. It was first issued in 1954 as "Lester Young and his Tenor Sax" - a 10 inch LP (Aladdin LP-706) with only 8 tracks. See below for front and back covers and a label scan of this issue:

In October 1956 the album presented in this post was issued as a 12 inch LP with 13 tracks (Aladdin LP-801). Volume 2 (Aladdin LP-802) which also had 13 tracks was released at the same time. See below for cover scans:

Tracks from the above two LPs were also issued on 3 EPs – Aladdin EPs 502, 503 and 513. See below for Joan’s EP 503 scan:

In 1957 the two LPs were reissued with different titles and covers on Aladdin’s jazz/pop subsidiary Intro. Volume 1 became “Swinging Lester Young” (LP-602) and Volume 2 became “The Great Lester Young” (LP-603). In 1958 they were reissued on the Aladdin budget subsidiary Score (as SLP-4028 and SLP-4029) with the same covers and titles as the Intro issues. See below for Score cover scans:

Subsequent releases of Lester Young Aladdin material on Imperial in the early 1960s were on two LPs (as two volumes of “The Great Lester Young”) with different tracks and covers.


Back in the day with Basie

Ripped from crackly vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/405313666/Lester_Young_And_His_Tenor_Sax.rar.html

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YRXQNOZ4

Session Details

Los Angeles, December 1945 -
Lester Young and his Band : Vic Dickenson (tb-1, 2, 4) Lester Young (ts) Dodo Marmarosa (p) Red Callender (b) Henry Tucker (d):

1. D.B. Blues (Philo123)
2. Lester Blows Again (Philo123)
3. These Foolish Things (Philo124)
4. Jumpin' At Mesner's (Philo124)

Los Angeles, January 1946 –
Lester Young and his Band : Howard McGhee (tp- 5, 7, 8) Vic Dickenson (tb-5, 7, 8) Willie Smith (as) Lester Young (ts) Wesley Jones (p) Curtis Counce (b) Johnny Otis (d):

5. It's Only A Paper Moon (Aladdin 127)
6. After You've Gone (Aladdin 127)
7. Lover Come Back To Me (Aladdin 128)
8. Jammin' With Lester (Aladdin 128)

Los Angeles, August 1946 –
Lester Young and his Band : Lester Young (ts) Joe Albany (p) Irving Ashby (el-g) Red Callender (b) Chico Hamilton (d):

9. You're Driving Me Crazy (Aladdin 137)
10. New Lester Leaps In (Aladdin 137)
11. She's Funny That Way (Aladdin 138)
12. Lester's Be Bop Boogie (Aladdin 138)

Chicago, October 1946 –
Lester Young and his Band : Shorty McConnell (tp) Lester Young (ts) Argonne Thornton (p) Fred Lacey (g) Rodney Richardson (b) Lyndell Marshall (d):

13. S.M. Blues (Aladdin 162)

Recommended purchase:

Blue Note CDP 7243 8 32787 2 5:
The Complete Aladdin Recordings Of Lester Young -
A 2CD set with 40 tracks which include 4 sides recorded for Van with Nat “King” Cole and Red Callender in 1942 and a 6 track December 1945 session with Helen Humes. Liner notes by Leonard Feather.

Available as a 2 CD set at mid-price or as an Amazon mp3 download at a very low price. I would go for the CD!

Listen to "It's Only A Paper Moon" -

Nat Cole Meets The Master Saxes (Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet and Dexter Gordon)

I’ve never really thought of myself as a “record collector”. I’m just a guy who happens to have a lot of records. I don’t pore over dealers’ lists or trawl round record fairs and I guess I’m also too canny to pay those ludicrous “collectors’ prices” that some of the sharks in the second hand market demand. However I like to think that I have some taste in music and also that I know a bargain when I see one!

Regular visitors to the blog will have realised that we’ve gone vinyl here at Bebopwino, just in time for my main sources of second hand vinyl to either start drying up or vanish completely. Yup, those interesting independent record stores are disappearing faster than snaw aff a dyke, certainly as far as Glasgow is concerned. There is a long established shop through in Edinburgh which literally has floor to ceiling vinyl but the prices just aren’t to my taste and as so many crates of LPs are crammed into the shop, customers aren’t allowed in for a casual browse.

Now before you all start panicking and running around yelling “Oh no, Bebopwino is running out of vintage sounds, and life just won’t be worth living once he’s uploaded his last record,” just breath a sigh of relief because there are plenty more LPs in my vinyl vault. And there have been a couple of unexpected reinforcements recently in the shape of a bunch of jazz LPs turning up in my local charity shop and then, thanks to a work colleague, another bunch of jazz LPs kind of fell into my lap. Meaning a jazz collector went to the great second hand record shop in the sky and his collection was possibly heading for the skip until my colleague stepped in and did a great rescue job by contacting people he knew who would be interested in this kind of stuff.

So courtesy of a deceased jazz fan and my co-worker here is the first LP from that batch: Nat “King” Cole with three of the best tenor sax men of the day, specifically 1942 – 1943.

The sides with Lester Young were recorded in July 1942 for Van and several years later surfaced as two singles on the new Philo label. The Illinois Jacquet sides were recorded around the same time and appeared on the obscure Disc label as 12 inch 78rpm singles. “Pro-Sky” is my favourite track on the album as Illinois really cuts loose on it. If I were compiling a collection of sides that illustrated the rise of the honking tenor sax, this track would be on it. And it pre-dates the famous Jazz At The Philharmonic recording of “Blues” by about two years. The Dexter Gordon sides were recorded for Clef and Mercury in late 1943.

This LP was probably the one in the worst condition out of the whole bunch, so despite the TLC which I have lavished on it, there is still substantial, hiss, crackle, and lordy knows what else. Audiophiles beware.

Ripped from rather distressed vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/243141376/Nat_Cole_Meets_The_Master_Saxes.rar

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FGK40LEB

Nat “King” Cole plays piano on all tracks :

1. Indiana / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
2. I Can't Get Started / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
3. Tea For Two / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
4. Body And Soul / Nat "King" Cole Trio (with Lester Young)
5. Heads / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)
6. I Can't Give You Anything But Love / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)
7. I Found A New Baby / Dexter Gordon Quintet
8. Blowed And Gone / Dexter Gordon Quintet
9. Sweet Lorraine / Dexter Gordon Quintet
10. Rosetta / Dexter Gordon Quintet
11. Pro-Sky / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)
12. It Had To Be You / Nat "King" Cole Quintet (with Illinois Jacquet)

Illinois Jacquet & Lester Young - Battle Of The Saxes (Aladdin LP 701)

No, I don’t actually have this 10” LP released on Aladdin in 1951 lying on my record shelves. Joan sent me a scan of the cover many months ago (it was first used on a Jazz Greats post on Lester Young, link removed), and having all the required tracks scattered around on various reissue albums, I thought it would be a bit of fun to reconstitute the original issue and give Joan’s scan the setting it deserves.

Although numbered 701, this LP may not have been the first to be issued on Aladdin, the honour possibly going to “Party After Hours” (LP 703), a compilation of tracks by Amos Milburn, Wynonie Harris, Velma Nelson and Crown Prince Waterford.

The 33⅓ rpm vinyl long playing record was a format that was less than three years old when this disc was issued and the paltry (to modern ears) 21 minutes of music contained therein should be seen as a major improvement over the usual 3 – 4 minutes contained on each side of a 10” 78 rpm shellac disc, a format which had been around since 1901. To be accurate, the longest playing time squeezed on to a 10” 78 rpm disc was six minutes on each side – Rossini on one side and Verdi on the flip side – on Sterno 5022. Doubtless it was a big hit on tavern juke boxes.

If this collection had been released just a few years previously (when the music on it was actually recorded and first released as singles), it would have been in the form of an album – a “book” containing 4 separate 78 rpm discs, each in its own sleeve. The advent of the lightweight vinyl long playing disc meant that multi track collections would inevitably increase in popularity.

None of the music here was recorded specifically for the LP. “Flying Home”, recorded in July 1945, was the first single release on Philo, the original name of what was to become the Aladdin label. The other three Illinois Jacquet tracks all date from 1947. “D.B. Blues” and “Lester Blows Again” were recorded in late 1945, and “On The Sunny Side Of The Street” and “Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid” are from an October 1946 session.

Nowadays we’re used to buying mid-priced 4 or 5 CD sets with over a hundred tracks and more than 5 hours of music. We can download tracks by the hundred or even the thousand, if we so wish. Yet is this necessarily a good thing? How many of the tracks on our hard disks or compact discs are listened to more than once? Back in the early fifties when buying a collection of 8 or 10 tracks was still a novelty, you can bet that each and every track in people’s small record collections (whether on a 45 or on an LP) would be played over and over again, and probably valued more.

Ripped at 256 or 320 kbps. Surface noise audible, especially on the Lester Young sides.

Thanks to Joan for cover scans. Password is, as ever, greaseyspoon

Download from here:

Battle Of The Saxes (Mega)

Or from here:

Battle Of The Saxes (Zippy)

1. Flying Home - Illinois Jacquet
2. Blow Illinois Blow - Illinois Jacquet
3. Goofin' Off - Illinois Jacquet
4. Illinois Blows The Blues - Illinois Jacquet
5. D.B. Blues - Lester Young
6. Lester Blows Again - Lester Young
7. On The Sunny Side Of The Street - Lester Young
8. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid - Lester Young

Second issue of this LP:


Some Aladdin EPs:

Count Basie & His Orchestra - Swingin' The Blues

There’s a distinct lack of swing on the blog since I removed the Jazz Greats links, so it’s time to start uploading some more and what better band is there to start with than that of Count Basie? These classic recordings for Decca were cut between July 1937 and February 1939. The band line-up included the twin tenor sax threat of Lester Young and Herschel Evans, and of course the All American Rhythm Section of Freddy Green (guitar), Walter Page (bass), Jo Jones (drums) and the Count himself on piano. There’s a tremendous blues shouting performance by Jimmy Rushing on the classic “Sent For You Yesterday” which is a number I just can’t get out of my head at present.

“Jive at Five” and “Lady Be Good” were recorded on the third of February 1939, just five days before Herschel Evans died of a heart condition. On these tracks Chu Berry deputised for the ailing Herschel. Berry himself was to die in an automobile accident just two years later.

These tracks are ripped from a cassette issued in 1984 by Charly Records.

Ripped at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www82.zippyshare.com/v/9cCIFLS2/file.html

1. Swinging The Blues
2. John's Idea
3. Blue & Sentimental
4. Texas Shuffle
5. Panassie Stomp
6. Sent For You Yesterday
7. You Can Depend On Me
8. Every Tub
9. Jumpin' At The Woodside
10. Time Out
11. Jive At Five
12. Oh Lady Be Good
13. Shorty George
14. Out The Window
15. Topsy
16. Doggin' Around