#norman-granz — Public Fediverse posts

Count Basie and Oscar Peterson, Night Rider, 1980 on Pablo

One of my favorite Pablo records, bringing together two legends: Count Basie and Oscar Peterson, with support from Louis Bellson and John Heard. Produced by Norman Granz and engineered by Val Valentin, with liner notes by Nat Hentoff.

Basie plays organ on “Memories of You” and Peterson plays electric piano on “Blues for Pamela.” The opening 12:38 cut of the title track is, as they say, worth the price of admission on its own.

My copy, via Beatnick Records in Montréal, QC, is a Canadian pressing (Manufactured and Distributed in Canada by RCA Limited).

Oscar Peterson - "Oscar Peterson Collates" (1952)

#NowPlaying #OscarPeterson #NormanGranz #ClefRecords #vinyl #VinylRecords @vinylrecords

https://youtu.be/JVNUEjp4LmE

Oscar Peterson & Dizzy Gillespie, 1975 on Pablo

Pablo records, with a logo and name inspired by Picasso, was started by Norman Granz (who also produced this record) in the early seventies. There’s a ton of great Pablo jazz records—I generally pick them up whenever I see them.

Recorded in 1974 in London, this release brings together two greats but it is not a “legacy” album – their playing is still super vibrant here. (Gillespie won a Best Jazz Performance Grammy for this recording).

My copy via Antone’s Records in Austin TX

#1970s #1975 #AntoneSRecords #AustinTX #DizzyGillespie #NormanGranz #OscarPeterson #PabloRecords #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Billie Holiday, Songs for Distingué Lovers, 1958 on Verve

Great set of recordings, with liner notes by Norman Granz. No real detail on the sessions on the record itself, but apparently recorded during sessions in January 1957 in Hollywood – the same sessions that yielded All or Nothing at All and Body and Soul.

Wonderful versions of “Stars Fell on Alabama” and “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” in particular.

Granz writes on the liner notes:

. . . quite possibly the best liner notes ever written about Miss Holiday singing songs would be simply to say to the listener ‘this is a fact: Miss Holiday has happened to some songs’ and to the discriminating listener that ought to suffice.

My copy is a 2024 Barnes & Noble exclusive pressing on yellow vinyl, pressed at GZ Media. May be from a digital source (no credit for mastering – though it is a licensed recording, not a grey market one) but sounds great.

#1950s #1958 #barnesNoble #BillieHoliday #jazz #NormanGranz #Verve #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Ella & Louis: Complete Studio Small Group Recordings, 2015 on Waxtime

Waxtime is sometimes a controversial label. Based on some differences between US and EU copyright law, they’re releasing classic jazz recordings without explicit access o the source material. This means they might be working from a CD, or even a needle-drop on a good vinyl copy- but the source material is more or less unofficial.

That said, I’m a huge fan of the work Ella and Louis did together. There are two primary releases: 1956’s Ella and Louis, which I have a 1956 pressing of, and 1957’s Ella and Louis Again, which I don’t currently have (but am on the hunt for). The latter is a 2xLP release, which includes some tracks that feature one or the other but not both.

This Waxtime release puts together then first Ella and Louis LP plus the tracks from Ella and Louis Again which feature both of them. (As they put it: “This edition includes all of their duets from these sessions while discarding the songs on which either Ella or Louis sit out”).

Note Ella and Louis are backed here by basically the Oscar Peterson Trio: Peterson, Herb Ellis, and Ray Brown, plus Buddy Rich (sides A&B) or Louie Bellson (sides C&D) on drums. These original sessions were all done in Hollywood and produced by Norman Granz.

For my money this is a great edition, despite unclear / unstated source material. (Direct-metal-mastering straight from a CD?). It’s well pressed, with a low noise floor, and the mastering makes the material sound lively and present. Now maybe on high end audiophile equipment one would notice more difference, but these are studio recordings from the 50s and they sound great. I’ll keep looking for an original (or an audiophile reissue) of Ella and Louis Again but in the meanwhile happy to have these on vinyl.

#1950s #1956 #1957 #2010s #2015 #BuddyRich #EllaFitzgerald #HerbEllis #jazz #LouieBellson #LouisArmstrong #NormanGranz #OscarPeterson #RayBrown #Reissue #Verve #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds #Waxtime

#Jazz

Here's a great clip from the #NatKingCole Show in the 50's featuring musicians from #NormanGranz 's #JazzAtThePhilharmonic #JATP group including but not limited to Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Stan Getz, Illinois Jacquet, Coleman Hawkins, Jo Jones & Roy Eldridge.

Most people don't know that #Nat got his start in jazz as a piano player & transitioned to being popular music singer.

There are some get sets w/Nat featuring a variety of JATP musicians which are timeless.

This early 50' period in jazz is called #Modern but I call it #Timeless bc it is my favorite period in American jazz history.

Nat's performance of "Paper Moon" & "Tenderly" are classic.

https://youtu.be/po9dxA7iFOc

Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, Ella at Duke’s Place, 1966 on Verve

The album is divided between “The Pretty, The Lovely, The Tender, The Hold-Me-Close Side” and “The Finger-Snapping, Head-Shaking, Toe-Tapping, Go-For-Yourself Side.” Recorded by Val Valentin and produced by Norman Granz (those are his black & white photos), this is Verve at its mid-60s best.

In addition to Ellington and Fitzgerald, personnel included Louis Bellson on drums; John Lamb on […]

#1960s #1966 #BusterCooper #CatAnderson #ChuckConners #CootieWilliams #DukeEllington #EllaFitzgerald #HarryCarney #HerbJones #jazz #JimmyHamilton #JimmyJones #JohnnyHodges #LawrenceBrown #LeonardFeather #LouisBellson #MercerEllington #NormanGranz #PaulGonsalves #RusselProcope #ValValentin #Verve #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds #WorcesterMA #WorcesterRecordRiot

https://wp.me/p4tTZ-6Hw

Django Reinhardt, Nuages, 2017 on Jazz Images

Nuages was first issued under that name in 2002, as a reissue of The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt, a 1953 10″ record on Norman Granz’s Clef label, plus 4 bonus tracks that had been issued as singles by Decca (also in 1953).

This vinyl issue was produced in 2017 by Jazz Images, presumably a digital-to-vinyl transfer. I know some analogue purists find such reissues distasteful, but I […]

#1953 #Clef #Decca #DjangoReinhardt #FatsSadi #jazz #JazzImages #JeanLouisViale #MartialSolal #MauriceVander #NormanGranz #PierreLemarchand #PierreMichelot #Reissue #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds #WorcesterMA #WorcesterRecordRiot

https://wp.me/p4tTZ-6CY