Alternate takes on vintage recordings
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:59 am
Any one into this stuff yet?
Alternate takes are different, frequently similar takes of recordings made, usually, at the same session of the same song and not necessarily ever meant to be issued.
Before digital recording, before tape - there was no way to correct any errors in the performance, so they would often do two or three recordings of the same song, then pick the one they liked best and/or had no errors on it and issue that take. The rest of the stuff stayed in the vault.
But every now and then, even back in the day, some stuff would accidentally get issued.......like Goodman's "Clarinet a la King".
In later years, on LP and on CD, more and more mistakes were made in issuing old recordings. Alternate takes that were never meant to see the light of day...did. Krupa's MASSACHUSETTS came out on a 2 LP box set in a take where Anita O'Day stumbled on a lyric. For years I wondered wht she was trying to say. I didnt realize that Columbia had issued a rejected take until I heard the released take on a CD. Different solo by Roy Eldridge and Anita doesn't screw up.
There's a Woody Herman LP on the Columbia/Harmony label with a couple radically different takes on some of his mid-40s recordings, including HAPPINESS IS JUST A THING CALLED JOE.
In a recent post in the "Al Donahue" thread, I noted that a recent CD issue had not issued an alternate take, but pulled the entirely wrong master from the recording session and released the wrong song, but calling it TUXEDO JUNCTION, when it was in reality BEETHOVEN BOUNCE.
Vocalion 5384
AL DONAHUE & HIS ORCH
TUXEDO JUNCTION
25878-1
1/24/1940
Vocalion 5384
AL DONAHUE & HIS ORCH
BEETHOVEN BOUNCE
25879-1
1/24/1940
Columbia is more prone to errors of this sort because of the way they recorded and preserved their master recordings, but RCA Victor has made their mistakes over the years issuing an alternate take of Artie Shaw's SHADOWS on their CAMDEN label and an alternate take of SUMMERTIME on RCA Victor.
Glenn Miller's TUXEDO JUNCTION came out back in 1940 using 2 different takes - by accident.
As Jazz and Swing collectors and fans began to have some input into what labels would issue, alternate takes began to be issued on purpose, usually to acclaim by collectors who enjoyed hearing the different solos or tempo changes or alterations in arrangements made right there in the studio.
But not everyone was happy.
RCA issued a take of Earl Hines famous BOOGIE WOOGIE ON ST. LOUIS BLUES done at the same session as the original - the difference? All the "vocal exhortations" were not recorded. No one shouting "Play until 1951!" They issued a purely instrumental take. Collectors were thrilled - except those that bought the LP expecting to hear the historic take issued in 1939. When they issued a 2 LP set of the "Complete Earl Hines 1939 - 1942" they made sure to issue the original take, as liner note writer Stanley Dance noted, as well as noting that RCA had heard from the public previously.
An alternate take of Bunny Berigan's famous classic I CAN'T GET STARTED came out on a souvenir LP issued by a cruise ship line. It was something really special with Berigan playing many different variations on his original solo recorded, perhaps, maybe 10 minutes earlier.
An alternate take of Benny Goodman's SING SING SING (Part Two) came out on an RCA BLUEBIRD 2 LP set in the 70s.
There is frequently no way to know what take is being issued because the producers of the reissue dont know themselves that they are issuing an unissued take. Or their information from whoever is in charge of the vault there is incorrect.
This is all bonanza time if you like to hear alternates. Most collectors like them because they already have the original takes, so now they get to hear the 'other thoughts' of the men who recorded the music.
OTOH - As someone pointed out, too many alternates of the same song can be kind of a burden because unless you have a very retentive mind, you can't appreciate all the differences in the various takes. The Basie sets on his 30s and 40s Columbia sides are a great example or, perhaps, too many takes. Do you want 6 takes of LOVE JUMPED OUT? many people do not...even die hard collectors and Basie fans.
That's a sort summary of the joys and despairs of alternate takes from the Swing Era.
But the next time you are looking at some cheapie CD from SONY/BMG that has all tunes you already have....consider buying it...because it may contain alternate takes on any number of Goodman, Krupa, James, Herman sides.
Alternate takes are different, frequently similar takes of recordings made, usually, at the same session of the same song and not necessarily ever meant to be issued.
Before digital recording, before tape - there was no way to correct any errors in the performance, so they would often do two or three recordings of the same song, then pick the one they liked best and/or had no errors on it and issue that take. The rest of the stuff stayed in the vault.
But every now and then, even back in the day, some stuff would accidentally get issued.......like Goodman's "Clarinet a la King".
In later years, on LP and on CD, more and more mistakes were made in issuing old recordings. Alternate takes that were never meant to see the light of day...did. Krupa's MASSACHUSETTS came out on a 2 LP box set in a take where Anita O'Day stumbled on a lyric. For years I wondered wht she was trying to say. I didnt realize that Columbia had issued a rejected take until I heard the released take on a CD. Different solo by Roy Eldridge and Anita doesn't screw up.
There's a Woody Herman LP on the Columbia/Harmony label with a couple radically different takes on some of his mid-40s recordings, including HAPPINESS IS JUST A THING CALLED JOE.
In a recent post in the "Al Donahue" thread, I noted that a recent CD issue had not issued an alternate take, but pulled the entirely wrong master from the recording session and released the wrong song, but calling it TUXEDO JUNCTION, when it was in reality BEETHOVEN BOUNCE.
Vocalion 5384
AL DONAHUE & HIS ORCH
TUXEDO JUNCTION
25878-1
1/24/1940
Vocalion 5384
AL DONAHUE & HIS ORCH
BEETHOVEN BOUNCE
25879-1
1/24/1940
Columbia is more prone to errors of this sort because of the way they recorded and preserved their master recordings, but RCA Victor has made their mistakes over the years issuing an alternate take of Artie Shaw's SHADOWS on their CAMDEN label and an alternate take of SUMMERTIME on RCA Victor.
Glenn Miller's TUXEDO JUNCTION came out back in 1940 using 2 different takes - by accident.
As Jazz and Swing collectors and fans began to have some input into what labels would issue, alternate takes began to be issued on purpose, usually to acclaim by collectors who enjoyed hearing the different solos or tempo changes or alterations in arrangements made right there in the studio.
But not everyone was happy.
RCA issued a take of Earl Hines famous BOOGIE WOOGIE ON ST. LOUIS BLUES done at the same session as the original - the difference? All the "vocal exhortations" were not recorded. No one shouting "Play until 1951!" They issued a purely instrumental take. Collectors were thrilled - except those that bought the LP expecting to hear the historic take issued in 1939. When they issued a 2 LP set of the "Complete Earl Hines 1939 - 1942" they made sure to issue the original take, as liner note writer Stanley Dance noted, as well as noting that RCA had heard from the public previously.
An alternate take of Bunny Berigan's famous classic I CAN'T GET STARTED came out on a souvenir LP issued by a cruise ship line. It was something really special with Berigan playing many different variations on his original solo recorded, perhaps, maybe 10 minutes earlier.
An alternate take of Benny Goodman's SING SING SING (Part Two) came out on an RCA BLUEBIRD 2 LP set in the 70s.
There is frequently no way to know what take is being issued because the producers of the reissue dont know themselves that they are issuing an unissued take. Or their information from whoever is in charge of the vault there is incorrect.
This is all bonanza time if you like to hear alternates. Most collectors like them because they already have the original takes, so now they get to hear the 'other thoughts' of the men who recorded the music.
OTOH - As someone pointed out, too many alternates of the same song can be kind of a burden because unless you have a very retentive mind, you can't appreciate all the differences in the various takes. The Basie sets on his 30s and 40s Columbia sides are a great example or, perhaps, too many takes. Do you want 6 takes of LOVE JUMPED OUT? many people do not...even die hard collectors and Basie fans.
That's a sort summary of the joys and despairs of alternate takes from the Swing Era.
But the next time you are looking at some cheapie CD from SONY/BMG that has all tunes you already have....consider buying it...because it may contain alternate takes on any number of Goodman, Krupa, James, Herman sides.