The record changer (Jan-Dec 1949)

and get the artwork done. During all this time, I didn't bother to talk about getting paid for my idea and services, and all the money I had spent on traveling, phone calls, and buying drinks was entirely out of my pocket. A real patron of the arts, you might say — or a dope, perhaps. After I did the album notes, Bob Stephens suggested that I ought to be paid. I agreed, and let Decca name the price, since they were well aware of what had gone into the making of the ^lbum. Well, there's no sense embarrassing anyone or making myself look foolish, so I won't say what it was, except that I had no qualms about accepting a research job from Columbia a few weeks later. What do I think of the Chicago album now? The album, I think, had its good effects. It focused attention on the historical aspects of good jazz, and encouraged the production of albums aimed directly at jazz collectors. My polite bowing-out did not kill Decca's intention to follow through with similar albums — the New Orleans and Kansas City ', albums were produced by others, though the New York album never was made, and perhaps all for the best. At the time, records by such men as Bud Jacobson, Floyd O'Brien, and Boyce Brown were almost non-existent (four, to be exact, covered all three of them), and many of the others were skimpily recorded for the most part — when it came to good records. The style, 1 think, is still fine and its present-day neglect is unfortunate. Whether it was successfully recaptured on these records, I hesitate to say, but the Condon date sounds (to my ears at least) quite different from any other by this clique, and the MacPartland session was a unique sound that no other date has ever produced. v. I suspect that what I really .feel about the album is that it showed you can't actually go back, but it's good to try when the goal is worthwhile. Ten years later, I am more convinced than ever that jazz is a sociological phenomenon, and that environment is one of its most important ingredients. Artificial effects were imposed in order to produce the performances in this album, and the same sort of thing has been done many times since without as much realization or announcement of aims, on the part of the directors' of the recordings. You can get any kind of a date at any time, but it won't sound quite as it would if the environment of the musicians and the music were natural to the results you want. 4 NEW SIDES by the CASTLE JAZZ BAND Castle 5 Original Dixieland One Castle 6 Loveless Love Step Sweet Georgia Brown Sugar Blues OTHERS AVAILABLE Castle 2 Ory's Creole Trombone Castle 3 Kansas City Stomps Georgia Camp Meeting Darktown Strutters Ball Castle 4 No Bop Hop Scop Blues Tiger PRICE $1.05 DISTRIBUTED BY RAMPART RECORDS IN THE EAST CASTLE RECORDS 5126 S. E. 37th Avenue Portland, Oregon verdi (Continued from Page 12) cello and piano, against the domestic version with orchestra. Given in somewhat faster tempo, the import requires an adjustment of the listener's conception. This accomplished, the reward is handsome. La Procession is done with piano accompaniment and exerts much the same hold as did the living performance at Carnegie Hall — only yesterday, it seems. Within the week, I have had the unexpected thrill of hearing the original Sharpless sing and act his role in Madama Butterfly almost a half century after its premiere and I'm here to tell you that Giuseppe De Luca, now in his seventy-third year, was the only person on the stage who could be heard clearly throughout the entire performance. This ageless Soul remains the personification of what we mean when we say, "Good Theatre." His suave self-possession was helpful to an otherwise helpless Pinkerton; the Cio Go San (Miss Albanese) learned that it is not always possible to maneuver the baritone's back to the audience ; and the manner in which he showered indulgences upon the child who impersonated "Trouble" suggests that, when she is an old woman, she may tell her greatgrandchildren, "I made my operatic debut in the arms of the last of The Old Guard." She will be right ! DIZZY GILLESPIE DISCOGRAPHY (continued from page 8) JAZZ AT THE PHILHARMONIC CRAZY RHYTHM 1-2 DISC 2003 S'l'EET GEORGIA BROWN 1-2 DISC 2004 JOE MARSALA CHEROKEE/MELANCHOLY BABA BW 13 LUCKY U ILLINDER WHEN THE LIGHTS GO ON/ARE YOU REAOY DE 18529 RED NORVO SLAM SLAM BLUES/HALLELUJAH COMET T6 CONGO BLUES/GET HAPPY COMET T7 CHARLIE PARKER (DIZ PLAYS PIANO) BILLIES BOUNCE/NOWS THE TIME SA 573 KO KO SA 597 THR IV IN FROM A RIFF SA 903 OSCAR PETTIFORD WORRIED LIFE BLUES/EMPTY BED BLUES PT | MA 1002 EMPTY BED BLUES PT 2/SOMETH IN'3 FOR YOU MA 1034 BOYD RAE BURN INTERLUDE/D I0NT KNOW ABOUT YOU GU 107 MARCH OF THE BOYOS/SUMMERT IME GU I I I PRISONER OF L0"E/l WANNA GET MARRIED GU 104 I PROMISE YOU/THIS HEART OF MINE GU 1 08 TONY SCOTT ALL TOO SOON/lO LESSONS WITH TIMOTHY GOTH 105 YOURE ONLY HAPPY WHEN IM BLUE GOTH ||7 SARAH VAUGHAN WHAT MORE CAN A WOMAN 00/RATHER HAVE A DREAM . . tfONT 6008 SIGNIN OFF/MEAN TO ME CONT 6024 EAST OF THE SUN/ 1 NTERLUDE CONT 6031 TRUMMY YOUNG 7TH AVENUE /SORTA KINOA CONT 6005 BILLY ECKSTINE OPUS X/THE REAL THINJ HAPPENED TO ME DELUXE 3002 I