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In Reply to: Jazz on the Pablo label... posted by nobody on September 11, 2006 at 07:52:53:
The label was started and overseen by Norman Granz. He recorded many of the artists he had championed in the fifties and sixties, but who had fallen out of (commercial/critical) favor with the advent of free jazz and fusion. There's some tremendous small-group Basie on the label (a little irony is the fact that Granz had resuscitated the Count's career once before, continuing to record his superb big band through the 50s after most had given up the format for dead); a wealth of stuff by Oscar Peterson; stellar sets by Ray Bryant, Joe Pass, Sweets Edison, Milt Jackson, and others. A lot of the recordings, in the tradition of Granz' productions for Norgran, Clef, and Verve, were loose jam sessions with rotating leaders, so some of the performances meander, but overall it's quality stuff, well-recorded.Just because the alleged tastemakers in the press and industry had moved along to the next big thing doesn't automatically negate the later efforts of established masters. For my ears, just about any one of the Oscar Peterson or Ray Brown releases on this label outshines the bulk of the tepid fusion efforts that took up so much air- and shelf-space in the wake of Miles/Chick/Herbie's groundbreaking, earthshaking efforts.
Follow Ups:
"Past Their Prime" might be a little strong and while the material is consistently good, it is hard to put this stuff up against each "great's" best work. Be that as it may, there is certainly some wonderful stuff mentioned by others in this thread. I'd say that the Duke stuff is quite fun, if you are into later period Duke, and I value that material quite a bit. Ditto Ella's stuff, especially with Pass.I have to nitpick re: the "fallen out of favor". I can assure you that while yes, fusion did outsell Pablo, Pablo did much better than "Free Jazz" (whatever that is) by a wide margin. While the critics, ahem, may have championed more cutting-edge material, there is no way you can compare a private pressing of a Jerome Cooper solo drum performance with a Ray Bryant session (or insert Joseph Jarman or Billy Bang or . . .). In any event, one thing we can agree on for sure is that the "commercial jazz" of the era simply sucks. If I ever see another Bob James record, I'll . . .
> > In any event, one thing we can agree on for sure is that > > the "commercial jazz" of the era simply sucksI don't really have any problem with the 70's jazz, maybe except some Columbia Freddie Hubbards etc.
Bob James, late 70's Lonnie Liston Smith is lightweight stuff I have to admit, but always full of interesting ideas and it's real music, and it's not like pure muzak that the 80's brought forward.
Or maybe I don't really understand what is jazz. I only know what I like.
I agree with what you've written. I also think the early Pablo recordings, when Norman Granz was firmly in control after he left Verve, are sonically the best. Some if not all of those early recordings are on red vinyl, as I recall. At the end, the recording quality seems to have dropped off a bit. But the artists were always top quality.
a bad choice of cliche, but I'll take her stuff from the 60's with Duke (live at the Cote D Azur, and the Nelson Riddle/Gershwin song book from 59'.Some Pablo recordings like "Duke Ellington In the Uncommon Market" was released in 1986 but recorded in the 60's (some previously released on Verve), this is a pretty good sounding LP and the performance is great ("Star Crossed Lovers" with a great Hodges solo). Just my opinion.
your "tastemakers", abandoned Ellington much earlier than the 70's, as you'll recall his "comeback" is generally regarded as Newport 56'.
HJ
like a few of the records mentioned in the thread below. The playing was basically never less than inspired, much like hearing his roster of artists live and in person. And I repeat, nowhere else will you hear Sarah Vaughn and Dorival Caymmi sing one together, or Basie play trio (!) with Ray Brown and Louis Bellson. I second your bosh if I may...
P
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