Journey Through The Penguin Jazz Guide

[axolotl]

Feel free - though I suspect a little bit of all three choices would be an accurate assessment

I'm hep to your jive.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Charles Mingus - The Complete Debut Recordings

Frustrated by Penguin's inclusion of multidisc collections, my plan as I had stated was to skip over this enormous 12 disc, 169 song, 14 hour collection especially as some essential later Mingus albums are not on the list. So why I am I now on disc 10 of 12 - is it my love of Mingus? My obsession with completeness? Masochism?

Decided to listen not only because of Mingus' early releases (many of which are nice but not essential) but because this includes a lot of other output from Debut records (sadly a short label from 1952-1957 founded by Mingus himself to avoid the compromises of working with larger record companies) - this output includes many albums where Mingus is a sideman to leaders like Thad Jones, Miles Davis, Jimmy Knepper, and Hazel Scott. Also includes Mingus' great Live at the Bohemia (with extra tracks) and the famous Massey Hall concert (with both original form and the version with Mingus' overdubbed bass parts).

Yes, would I prefer Penguin to stick to essential albums or reasonable compilations. Sure, but overall was very much worth going through this

For years I resisted these omnibus boxes but Mosaic Records got me hooked. The key for me is to approach them like a buffet: just because there's a lot of food doesn't mean you have to eat it all at once. I find that breaking a massive set like this one (12 discs! ) into separate albums and excluding the alternate takes on the first spin helps me to avoid musical indigestion.

By the way, I was surprised to see that I missed this collection somehow. Discogs just helped me to remedy that omission.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Fabulous Sidney Bechet and His Hot Six

1951 recordings - great traditional jazz/Dixieland. Spotify has a nice extended edition with extra track

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Jimmy Forrest - Night Train (1952)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Billie Holiday - Lady In Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Stan Getz and The Lighthouse All-Stars Live

Compilation of a series of performances taped at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, CA
First time listen for me even as a Getz fan - nice live performances.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Stan Gets and The Lighthouse All-Stars Live

Compilation of a series of performances taped at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, CA
First time listen for me even as a Getz fan - nice live performances.

What is it that Stan gets?

 

[axolotl]

What is it that Stan gets?

I have a protégé.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

What is it that Stan gets?

I think Rick is using admin functions to edit my post and enter the wrong spelling...and all for a cheap joke

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Gerry Mulligan Quartet - The Original Quartet with Chet Baker (2 Discs)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Wilbur De Paris - The Uproarious Twenties and Wilbur De Paris & His New New Orleans Jazz

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Shorty Rogers - The Sweetheart of Sigmund Freud: The Birth of An American Legend

Despite its cumbersome and unusual title ("Sweetheart..." is a number of Rogers) this is a nice 2 disc compilation of Rogers, a trumpet and fugelhornist that helped pioneer West Coast jazz. Includes tracks with Rogers as a leader as well as recordings with Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and Red Norvo

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Freddie Randall - Shine On

Not much out there streaming on Randall, a British trumpeter who led Dixieland bands in the UK. Really not even much about this Spotify selection as far as years recorded, band - similar tracks to the Penguin recommendation in the Great Traditional Jazzbands series (which of course isn't available)
The Dixieland revival of the 1940s-1950s was important at keeping classic jazz alive and not letting the artists of the 1920s fade away - that being said, I am surprised how much Penguin is focusing on these lesser known revival bandleaders.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall (1953)

Unsure why Penguin duplicated this as it was already included in the Mingus Debut boxed set, but it's so good and so important, no problem spinning again

I have, I'm sure, bemoaned this before but every time I listen to this, I remember my trip to Kansas City which has a small jazz museum next to the Negro League Hall of Fame - the main highlight is Charlie Parker's Grafton acrylic plastic sax from this concert. As a music geek was all excited to see it....only to see a sign that it was on loan to Disney for an exhibit

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Ben Webster - King of the Tenors (rec. 1953 - released 1957)

Getting excited - we're getting to some artists/releases that I really love

 

[axolotl]

As a music geek was all excited to see it....only to see a sign that it was on loan to Disney for an exhibit

Damn that mouse got the jump on Zeeba, again.

Spoiler

Instead, it's a raging, beer-swilling rat.

P. S. I regert being so off-topic these days.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Clifford Brown - Memorial Album (1956)

Love Brownie's playing - such a tragically short career - with his influence heard in most of the next generation of trumpeters such as Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. This compilation combines his early 1953 material as a leader.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

George Lewis - Jazz Funeral in New Orleans (rec. 1953)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Elmo Hope - Trio and Quintet



Great jazz pianist - first encountered during my original “Jazz Excursion”