Well, here it is, the beginning of the year, and I’m afraid that the best reissue of 2014 has already been determined. There is just NO WAY that Mosaic, Sony Legacy or Concord are going to match the wonderfully voluminous 11 cd set just released by Fresh Sound Records.
To appreciate this massive boxed set, you have to start with a simple question:
Who was Harry Lim?
Basically, he was to Keynote what Alfred Lion was to Blue Note in setting the tone and direction of the company. This Javanese jazz fan came to the label and like a kid in a candy store started recording every jazz artist that he could find worth putting on wax. The beauty of this set is that Lim recorded major artists like Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Dinah Washington, Earl Hines, Nat “King” Cole, Count Basie, and Benny Carter as well as lesser knowns such as Allen Eager, Serge Chaloff, Willie Smith and Joe Thomas. What makes it a DOUBLE beauty is that the years that Lim recorded these gents (and ladies!) was that jazz was in the sublime transition of moving from swing to the nascent thing called “bebop,” so you get to encounter that paradigm shift at ground zero. What a treat!
Thus, sessions with Young, Hawkins, Red Rodney, Lennie Tristano, Chubby Jackson point to the future with startling vision while other recordings with Hines, Charlie Shavers, Rex Stewart, Barney Bigard and Bud Freeman show that swing could still be the thing. There are even recordings that capture the resurgence of “traditional”, and the fact is in vivid display as the first disc opens with George Hartman’s band playing Chicago styled tunes, followed in sequence by the leader of the newest sound in town, Lester Young. Prez is at his absolute zenith here, and floats on “Sometimes I’m Happy” and “I Never Knew,” while Hawkins comes in on following sessions and is majesterial on “Cattin’ at Keynote” and “’Bean at the Met.” Red Rodney’s Beboppers are total hipsters on “The Goof and I” while Lennie Tristano’s Trio burns with dry ice on “Coolin’ Off with Ulanov” . You also have some smoking big band sessions, such as Neal Hefti giving his portend of Basie things to come on “I Woke Up Dizzy” and “Sloppy Joe’s” and Chubby Jackson showing his Herd instincts on “Norhwest Passage.”
What is also delightful about this collection is that Lim brings to light artists that deserved more of a spotlight than they originally received at the time. Rich toned tenor Corky Corcoran, who was a sideman for Harry James, leads a cooking orchestra that also included trumpeter Emmett Berry with some nice charts on “What Is This Thing Called Love” and “Minor Blues.” Altoist Willie Smith, also was a sideman for James, fronts a large band along with Les Paul/g and Billy May/tp-arr on a gorgeous “September in the Rain” and snapping “Moten Swing.” Lots of Ellingtonians pop by for some small group takes, with Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney sneaking into Billy Taylor’s ’44 Big Eight and Barney Bigard leading a quintet with Johnny Guarnieri for a sublime ’45 version of “Coquette.” After taking in this music, even in small doses, you start realizing how individual each musician sounds on his instrument. No one went to Berklee or Manhattan School of Music in those days. Heck, a lot of these guys couldn’t even READ music; all they had was their own personality and a bucket load of ideas with an incessant sense of swing. To paraphrase Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, “We didn’t need dialogue, we had FACES.”
Obviously, you’re getting the basic picture here, but the part of this set that makes the whole package irresistible is the accompanying 124 page booklet that gives EXHAUSTIVE background information on each of the sessions and recording artists. If these liner notes don’t win a Grammy, there’s no justice this side of heaven as writer Jordi Pujol puts together a history of the label and Lim, lists encyclopedic session notes, and even brings in vintage Downbeat and Metronome articles to deliver a background of the times and sounds. Photos of EVERYONE that graced the 78s is included on a wonderful mini-poster, and photos of the artists in and out of the studio are graced throughout the booklet. This is not only the best thing you might buy this year, but it also wouldn’t be doing you much harm if it were even the ONLY thing you bought this year. Take it in, soak it up and start living a fuller life!
Fresh Sound Records