Coleman Hawkins with Horace Silver - Complete Birdland Broadcasts

"Coleman Hawkins and Horace Silver were only recorded together during the two Birdland broadcasts presented here, which had never previously appeared on CD. As a bonus, we have added Hawkins' complete quartet set at the First Playboy Jazz Festival in 1959 and a seven-minute Hawkins interview, which also appear here for the first time ever on CD."

How great is it that this kind of stuff continues to show up? These are certainly not the greatest recordings ever or anything like that, but given the level of the participants, how can you possibly resist?  These tracks are from the golden age of radio when live dates with the giants of jazz were a regular weekly event. Jump into the 'Wayback Machine' and spend an hour or so transported back to a time when jazz was still popular music in the spotlight.

Roy Eldridge At Jerry Newman's (1940) [vinyl]

From the danair vinyl collection.

Side A
1. Sweet And Brown....................3:49
2. Body And Soul*......................3:42
3. Lemon House........................3:10
4. Jazz Rose*...........................3:48
5. Sweet Lorraine.......................3:34
6. I Can't Give You Anything But Love . .. 3:15

Side B
1. I Surrender Dear (Take 1)...............5:16
2. I Surrender Dear (Take 2)...............4:24
3. The Way You Look Tonight (Take 1).....3:39
4. The Way You Look Tonight (Take 2).....3:16
5. The Way You Look Tonight (Take 3).....2:56
6. Rags (Take 1)..........................3:37
7. Rags (Take 2)..........................3:37


Roy Eldridge, Trumpet; Willie Smith, Alto Sax; Herbie Fields, Tenor Sax; Tony D'amore, Piano; Buddy Weed, Piano*;
Mike Bryan, Guitar; Tony D'amore, Drums*; George T. Simon, Drums; Margie Harris, Vocal

(Recorded November 19,1940)

The Commodore Years - Tenor Sax: Coleman Hawkins And Frank Wess

I am really excited to be sharing this great album of classic jazz.  This was released in 1973 as part of a reissue program at Atlantic.  They involved Milt Gabler and unlike the overwhelming (but incredible) complete discography that Mosaic released, they selected some of the best performances for this 2LP offering.  For those of you who have the Mosaic set, this post is probably not too interesting but for everybody else - you're in for a real treat!!!

                                                                                                                                                            
             

Commodore Records was a United States-based independent record label known for issuing many well regarded recordings of jazz and swing music.  Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Milt Gabler, who in 1926 had founded the Commodore Music Shop in Manhattan, New York City, originally at 136 East 42nd Street (diagonally across the street from the Commodore Hotel), and from 1938–41 with a branch at 46 West 52nd Street – an address commemorated in Chu Berry's 'Forty-six, West Fifty-two'. The bulk of Commodore's issues were of Dixieland jazz, though other styles also sometimes appeared on the label. Eddie Condon recorded frequently for the label, with such notables as George Brunies and Pee Wee Russell often

in his band. Commodore was one of the first labels to list the full personnel of bands on the label.
Billie Holiday also recorded for Commodore (in 1939 and 1944), with "Strange Fruit" and "Fine and Mellow" first appearing on that label.
Like his UHCA label, Gabler initially arranged for recording and pressing made by ARC, then Reeves Transcription Services and Decca, so both Commodore and UHCA used various matrix number series, depending on where the session originated from.
After World War II Gabler went to work for Decca Records, and his Commodore label was later used by Decca for reissuing earlier jazz recordings on LP. In the early 1960s a series of Commodore albums were compiled by Gabler and part of the Mainstream label. Mosaic Records issued three LP sets of the label's complete output. - Wikipedia

The whole album is great, even the alternates.  My copy is mint condition and was ripped at 24/44.1 wav, dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC.  The anomolies you may hear are from the source recordings. Aside from that the fidelity on these recordings is brilliant, especially considering the age!!  I am assuming they did some
ripping of their own to get all of this music together!!  Enjoy!!

This attractive two-LP reissue (whose contents have since been reissued in Mosaic's massive Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings box set) consists of four interesting swing sessions. The first two are quite classic. The great tenor saxophonist Coleman

Hawkins is heard with a pianoless sextet in 1940 that also stars altoist Benny Carter and trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Their four selections (plus two alternate takes) are all impressive but it is this brilliant version of "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" (during which Carter takes solo honors) that is most memorable. The other Hawkins date is with a septet from 1943. Trumpeter Cootie Williams and clarinetist Edmond Hall are in fine form, but it is the participation of the remarkable pianist Art Tatum that makes the set particularly historic. The other two sessions, among the final ones for Commodore, showcase Frank Wess (on tenor and 

flute) with a variety of Count Basie's sidemen (including trombonists Henry Coker, Benny Powell and Urbie Green, trumpeter Joe Wilder and pianist Jimmy Jones) on some lightly swinging modern jazz.     -  4.5 / 5  Scott Yanow/AMG