SwingDJs

kitkat wrote:But the important question I have for others is: have the pops had a negative impact on DJing from these CDs? Or are they more something you just hear when listening critically in your living room?

I haven't noticed a negative impact when DJing these.

Haydn wrote:

kitkat wrote:But the important question I have for others is: have the pops had a negative impact on DJing from these CDs? Or are they more something you just hear when listening critically in your living room?

I haven't noticed a negative impact when DJing these.

Cool, thanks.

My favorite parts of this set were reading the liner notes and:
1) Seeing Frankie quoted!
2) Seeing confirmation of the Silver Belles' claim that "For Dancers Only" was written for Apollo showgirls, not lindy hoppers
3) Listening to "For Dancers Only" after learning that in the 2nd time through the song, there's a huge rest between trumpet passages so that the trumpeters had time to throw their trumpets in the air and catch them. Up to 30 feet.
That visual is going to stick with me every time I hear the song.

The Chu Berry set is listed as "Running Low". This is one of my favourite Mosaic sets so if you've been holding out, I'd recommend jumping in as soon as possible.



http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.a ... =236-MD-CD

The Webb/Fitzgerald set is now available for pre-ordering (and, ordered!)!

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/genres.asp?dept=50
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Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-41)

New Release expected to be available early October

Mosaic Records’ new release, The Complete Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) is the most complete collection ever of this incredibly important collaboration between the man who was the first “voice” on drums and the unassuming teenage girl who would blossom into the most revered vocalist in music. - Limited Edition: 5,000 Copies

8 CDs - $136.00

I don't think I'll be getting the Ella/Chick one - I pick up an Ella Fitzgerald Box Set (The Jazz Masters series) a while back and I'm quite happy with the Audio quality on it. Between that set and Strictly Jive I'm only missing sessions A-E and R and a handful of other tracks and alternate takes.

I can really recommend these Jazz Masters sets, there's also a Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong set. I believe its a French reissuer. The audio is up there with Proper and JSP (though not as great as Mosaic) and they have some rather decent liner notes too. Much cheaper than Mosaic too.

I'd like to get it. I have very little Webb on CD and it would also replace about 6 - 8 LPs I have had since the 60s and 70s.

Slowly working my way thru the Ella/Webb set. I'm liking what I'm hearing. There is minor distortion on some of the loud parts, but that seems pretty typical from these kind of releases. Otherwise this is the best quality I've heard of this material - It's slightly "brighter" (more music, more hiss, less muddy). Recommended if you don't already have the HEP "Strictly Jive" or GRP Decca Ella CDs.

Edit: WARNING: has LOTS of cutsey Ella vocals

trev wrote:Edit: WARNING: has LOTS of cutsey Ella vocals

All too true.

However, what would be a good definition of a "cutesy vocal"? usually all the cutesy stuff is novelty songs, some novelties are not (overly) cutesy, like ATATasket. OTOH - I Want the Waiter with the Water and Chew Chew Chew Your Bubble Gum are a bit too much for me.

A mini review of the Ella/Webb set:

I've managed to do a little bit of A/B listening and it's interesting stuff. For most tracks this Mosaic set has better audio quality than other Ella/Webb CDs out there. They've used a large variety of source material (including other CD releases), so the quality does vary subtly between tracks. It's mostly very good. Some tracks on here are even better than on the John R. T. Davies remastered Strictly Jive set from HEP. They are generally slightly on the "bright" side, but I'm okay with that. I prefer some tracks (such as "Dipsy Doodle") on the GRP Decca "Early Years" set - I suspect because they had access to metal plates back then. As with all Mosaic releases, they have been pitch-corrected (apparently Decca 78s are notoriously off-pitch), so there were some surprises such as "Lindy Hoppers Delight being slowed down to 188bpm.

And, before you rush out and order it, I should reiterate that there are a LOT of Ella vocals on here, and perhaps is more of a collectors thing rather than a DJ must-have. Chick Webb had his sights firmly set on mainstream commercial success when he went into the studio, and swooning was in.

Eyeball wrote:However, what would be a good definition of a "cutesy vocal"? usually all the cutesy stuff is novelty songs, some novelties are not (overly) cutesy, like ATATasket. OTOH - I Want the Waiter with the Water and Chew Chew Chew Your Bubble Gum are a bit too much for me.

Well, lets say that the set is 90% vocals, and many of those vocals are cheery songs with not a great deal of substance to them. Some are more novelty value than others.

trev wrote:

Eyeball wrote:However, what would be a good definition of a "cutesy vocal"? usually all the cutesy stuff is novelty songs, some novelties are not (overly) cutesy, like ATATasket. OTOH - I Want the Waiter with the Water and Chew Chew Chew Your Bubble Gum are a bit too much for me.

Well, lets say that the set is 90% vocals, and many of those vocals are cheery songs with not a great deal of substance to them. Some are more novelty value than others.

Ya - I get what you are saying. 'substance factor lacking'.

Is STAIRWAY TO THE STARS on this set? Or is that post Webb material? That's a sweet side w/o novelty.

Eyeball wrote:Is STAIRWAY TO THE STARS on this set? Or is that post Webb material? That's a sweet side w/o novelty.

Yes it it. It includes all the Decca material recorded when Ella was fronting the band after Chick died. Up until 1942 when the group was disbanded.

There are many recordings on this set with a similar romantic feel to "Stairway to the Stars".

trev wrote:

Eyeball wrote:Is STAIRWAY TO THE STARS on this set? Or is that post Webb material? That's a sweet side w/o novelty.

Yes it it. It includes all the Decca material recorded when Ella was fronting the band after Chick died. Up until 1942 when the group was disbanded.

There are many recordings on this set with a similar romantic feel to "Stairway to the Stars".

Well, thats good then. Not for dancers, i guess, but for fans of song properly performed.

Looks like she began doing less novelty stuff after Webb died?

john

Eyeball wrote:Looks like she began doing less novelty stuff after Webb died?n

I'm not too sure about that - songs like "Betcha Nickel, I Want the Waiter, My Wubba Dolly, Deedle-De-Dum" were all recorded post-Webb, and the liner notes mention that there was a lot of leadership instability after Webb died that meant there was lack of creative vision. They capitalised on Ella's popularity but she was still very young (early 20s) to be the leader other than in name.

trev wrote:

Eyeball wrote:Looks like she began doing less novelty stuff after Webb died?n

I'm not too sure about that - songs like "Betcha Nickel, I Want the Waiter, My Wubba Dolly, Deedle-De-Dum" were all recorded post-Webb, and the liner notes mention that there was a lot of leadership instability after Webb died that meant there was lack of creative vision. They capitalised on Ella's popularity but she was still very young (early 20s) to be the leading other than in name.

Ugh. haha. Thx for the tip. Those are tunes I have never liked EVEN THOUGH I cannot recall hearing "Betcha Nickel".

I think the nursery rhyme ship sailed right after they recorded 'Tasket.' 'A tisket a tasket, the rest toss in the basket'.

I beg to disagree each type of song has its place.

As a dancer you can follow and interpret the singing even more than an instrument as you listen to what they are singing about .
Some dancers tell me that they sometimes prefer sung tunes to purely instrumentals as they can relate more easily to them. I will play some sticky sweet music and enjoy the smiles of the dancers as they digest the songs meaning .
The musicians and singers were all trying to make a living and they must produce pop music to interest the 14-20 year olds of that generation and pay their bills ! As its is today pop culture changes very quickly and thus musicians are trying to follow the trends of their time. It was a big business already and a hit wether sweet or hard swinging could a fortune for the artists .

Our best record of this is can be seen in the movies of the time ( many of which replay the popular tunes of the year )and clearly "sweet" sung music was extremely popular by mid 1939 and Ella is just following this trend that also produced the major singing stars Frank Sinatra , Peggy Lee ,etc that would eclipse the bands eventually.