These days the world of jazz recordings is full of good news, as labels that used to be very active in the field once more return to the fray
–reissuing classic performances from their catalogues (often in digitally remastered pressings that also are available on compact discs) and making new jazz albums as well.
Perhaps none of these revivals is more welcome than the one that is taking place at RCA, for that label probably has the richest of all jazz archives to draw upon–a mass of material that begins in the mid-1920s with Jelly Roll Morton`s magnificent Red Hot Peppers sessions, a lot of Johnny Dodds and some vital Bix Beiderbecke and continues through the Swing Era, when RCA recorded much of the best music made by the big bands of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Earl Hines, Tommy Dorsey, Bunny Berigan and Charlie Barnet, plus the delightful small-group sides of Lionel Hampton and Fats Waller and some essential Louis Armstrong.
Much of that material has been reissued before–particularly in the mid-1970s, when RCA`s Bluebird series, under the leadership of archivist Frank Driggs, seemed determined to restore everything of value to the catalogue. But when the recession of 1980 hit the record business, that noble effort was dropped–leaving veteran collectors and new fans to search the cut-out bins for what remained of RCA`s complete Goodman, Shaw, Dorsey and Barnet sets, while the Waller and Berigan series were cut off in midstream and other worthwhile projects were never realized.
So before we turn to the bounties that RCA`s revived Bluebird series has to offer, let`s look at the process itself–for even those who have passed through one or more of the feast-or-famine cycles that typify the record industry`s relationship to jazz may not understand the reasons why things happen this way.
Veteran producer Steve Backer, 49, is in charge of Bluebird this time around, and he also is the man responsible for RCA`s Novus label, whose roster of artists includes pianist Adam Makowicz, guitarist Alex De Grassi and saxophonist-composer Henry Threadgill.
Backer knows a good deal about the record business–having labored with considerable distinction in the jazz field at Arista in the 1970s, before he left to serve a five-year term as east coast operations director for Windom Hill–and he explains that ”these waves of acceptance and indifference
(toward jazz) usually come about for reasons that have to do with cycles that are running through the industry as a whole.
”For instance, the end of the 1970s was a downward cycle for all the major record companies–because the economy was in a severe slump and almost every major label had been suffering from mismanagement at the pop-music level for some time. So there were tremendous cutbacks, during which anything that leaned toward the esthetic side of music was purged.
”Then, in 1983 or so, the economic picture turned more positive, and you started to see the major labels once again trying to become involved in all the different types of music. But it`s taken RCA this long to get back into things, because the company`s prior management didn`t feel any sense of obligation to jazz, or to the esthetic side of music in general. And now there is that feeling of obligation.”
That sounds good, as far as it goes. But in an industry that was, still is, and probably always will be, ruled by the bottom line, is a ”feeling of obligation” enough–especially when that feeling can vanish overnight?
”First and foremost,” says Backer, ”you must have the political ability to enhance the things you believe in. If you`re not able to convince the powers-that-be, then you`re not able to do anything.
”Mostly what I say to them is that aside from the financial imperative there`s a moral imperative to deal with this music, as perhaps America`s only original art form. Then you argue that the financial imperative can be a positive thing.
”So ideally what will make this new wave of jazz activity last is the proper reaction on the part of the consumer. And by `proper reaction` I mean sales, because a great deal of it is about the bottom line today.”
RCA-Bluebird`s first batch of reissues includes some superb music
–including a 4-record boxed set, ”Duke Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band,” that would be a good first choice for any respectable jazz collection, and the massive ”Benny Goodman: The RCA Victor Years,” a 16-record compilation of every track Goodman`s big band and small groups released for RCA, plus some alternate takes.
A case can be made that Duke Ellington is America`s greatest composer, regardless of musical category; and much of that case rests on the recordings his band made for RCA between 1940 and 1942–when Ben Webster was Ellington`s tenor saxophonist and the band`s rhythm section featured the astonishingly virtuosic bass work of Jimmy Blanton (who left in late 1941, suffering from tuberculosis, and died the following year at age 22).
There are 66 performances on ”Duke Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band,” and about half of them are among the absolute masterworks of jazz, while most of the rest are merely excellent.
The savage dissonances of ”Ko Ko,” the formal grace of ”Concerto for Cootie” and ”Sepia Panorama,” the dervishlike rhythms of ”Conga Brava”
and ”The Flaming Sword,” the fantastic swing of ”Cotton Tail” and
”Jumpin` Punkins,” the humane wit of ”Harlem Air Shaft,” the sensuousity of ”Chelsea Bridge” and ”Warm Valley,” the brooding textures of ”Blue Serge”–well, that list doesn`t begin to exhaust the treasures to be found here.
And even if one has these performances on other sets, ”The Blanton-Webster Band” is essential, because digital remastering adds significantly to the vividness of what were, for the time, very good recordings. Especially noticeable in reed and brass ensembles, in the brightness of drummer Sonny Greer`s cymbals and the clarity of Blanton`s bass lines, the remastered sound is striking and should be even more so on the soon-to-be-issued, three-compact-disc version of the set.
The same is true of ”Benny Goodman: The RCA Years”–a fitting tribute to the late King of Swing that will be self-recommending to Goodman`s many fans and should be explored by others as well, because the great clarinetist not only led a very popular band but one whose jazz credentials were never in doubt. (Listen to the swing of the saxophone and trumpet sections and the brilliant solos and background work of pianist Jess Stacy.)
Highlighted by the Ellington and Goodman boxes–which are available, respectively, for about $30 and $85–the first set of Bluebird reissues also includes ”Body and Soul,” a fine Coleman Hawkins double-album that adds to the famous title track a great deal of long-unavailable Hawkins material from the `40s and `50s, and Volume Two of ”The Complete Bunny Berigan.” (What remains to be reissued in the complete Berigan and Waller series eventually will emerge, says Backer, if all goes well.)
In a modern vein, Bluebird has two more double-albums–bassist-composer Charles Mingus` ”New Tijuana Moods,” which includes all the original performances, plus newly discovered alternate takes, from the 1957 session that Mingus felt to be his best, and tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins` ”The Quartets Featuring Jim Hall,” which collects everything recorded by the group with which Rollins returned to action in 1962, after his famous, two-year musical hiatus.
RCA-Bluebird`s next batch of reissues, due in March, will include single or double albums from Paul Desmond, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Hodges, Dizzy Gillespie, Shorty Rogers and Fats Waller. As for compact discs, Backer says that in addition to CD versions of the Ellington, Mingus, Rollins and Hawkins sets, ”we`re going to have separate CD compilations, probably called the
`Treasury` series, each of which will package a great deal of those individual artists` work.”
The material RCA has to draw upon is, as Backer says, ”rich and diverse.” So one hopes that the label`s powers-that-be will continue to listen to him, because all that diversity and richness doesn`t mean very much if the public isn`t able to hear it.
