Vic Dickenson Septet

Well I hope everybody had a great New Years!!  Me?  Well I took my family downtown for the 'kids' New Years celebration, which included fireworks at 9:00pm.  We had a great time and with the kids in bed, my wife and I quietly brought in the New Year with some 20 year Scotch.

This album is something I am wildly excited to share.
Compilations/reissues of this kind are exactly what we need as jazz fans.  Taking really rare and pricy albums from the past, and making the music available for a reasonable price.

The liner notes are extremely well written, and tell the whole story behind this comp, so I won't go into too much detail.  What I will say is that there is no doubt this music represents Dickenson's greatest contribution to jazz.  This double LP set, released in 1972, was taken from 4 - 10" LPs recorded in the early 50's for the Vanguard imprint.  What we now call mainstream or small group swing, really got it's beginnings from the players on these tracks.  There was a time when the big band players were in a kind of limbo, in between bebop and Dixie.  They managed to carve a niche for themselves, and Dickenson's septet help lead the charge.

Musically, most of the tunes are laid back with a jam-like feel.  The soloing is top notch and inspired.  Luckily, the fidelity is incredible from vinyl which I would categorize as only being very good.  I cleaned it up and the results are excellent.  I think you'll find there's wonderful clarity and the soloists are up front with lots of immediacy.  From what I can tell, this collection was released to CD at some point but definitely appears to be OOP.  Perhaps somebody can shed some light on that for us.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC...enjoy the first post of 2013!!!

Vanguard VRS 8520/1
1972

Vol. 1

Vol. 2

Record 1 

Tracks 1 - 5

Vol. 3

Vol. 4

Record 2 

Tracks 6 - 12

Dave Burns - Warming Up!

Dave Burns is another one of those top flight players who was consistently overlooked by listeners, and grossly under recorded by the labels. Probably his biggest, and best known date, was on Art Taylor's Blue Note, A.T.'s Delight. Burns played as a member of the Al Grey/Billy Mitchell sextet and cut a couple albums on the Argo imprint with that group.

This outing is essentially a septet, but the core members are the same as the Grey/Mitchell group.
Although Mitchell and Grey make their presence
known on this side, there's no doubt it's under DB's leadership. He gets most of the shine as far as solo's are concerned, and two of his own compositions are used. Aside from this album, Burns cut another for Vanguard which makes this the follow up. There's no doubt in my mind that this is the best session to get to know Burns as an artist.

That said, this group was well experienced and at this point, ultra tight. All the players are at the top of their game and it"s evidenced in the loose and creative solos. Billy Mitchell in particular is a wild man, playing behind and on top of the beat, inside and outside...he's absolutely inspired.

This LP is absolute mint and of the highest fidelity. It's never seen a CD reissue. Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC, you guys are sure to be entertained to the utmost. Enjoy!!!

Vanguard (VRS-9143)
1964

Dave Burns (tp);  Al Grey (tb);  Billy Mitchell (ts);  Herman Wright (bass fiddle);
Harold Mabern (p);  Bobby Hutcherson (vh);  Otis Finch (d);  *Willie Corea (tymboli)
* on Richie's Dilemma and Rigor Mortez only

1. Day By Day   2. Now Ain't It   3. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
4. Richie's Dilemma   5. Slippers   6. Warm Up   7. My Romance   8. Rigor Mortez