Recorded at the Savoy Ballroom

[lipi]

For no particularly good reason: any recommendations of things recorded at the Savoy (or, more precisely, off the wire from the Savoy)?

Things I have:

Ella Fitzgerald and Her Orchestra, "Live at the Savoy - 1939-40" -- excellent disc, pick it up if you don't have it yet.

Benny Carter and His Orchestra, "Benny Carter, Count Basie: Legendary Radio Broadcasts" -- five tracks are Benny Carter at the Savoy, 1939. Not great for lindy. There's only one I might play at a dance, and it's on the fastish side, where I have lots of excellent (better) tracks to choose from.

Billie Holiday with Count Basie and His Orchestra, three tracks from 1934 and 1937 on various CDs (all three are, for example, on Billie's "Rare Live Recordings")--the best by far is "Swing, Brother, Swing".

I may have others that I just haven't labeled properly in iTunes, though I think a mention of the Savoy would have caught my attention in the liner notes. Anyway: any others you recommend?

[Haydn]

Here are two I can think of at the moment and recommend.

There's another good Ella Fitzgerald live CD on the Buddha label, which includes broadcasts from the Savoy. It's called In The Groove

This Coleman Hawkins/Erskine Hawkins CD is great: Stompin At The Savoy - Two 1940 Broadcasts

The sound quality is a little rough for DJing, but get it if you're looking for great music recorded live at the Savoy.

These two labels have a lot of other good live stuff, and most of it doesn't seem to be available for download at the moment - you have to buy the CDs.

[lipi]

Ordered the Ella immediately. I'll keep my eye out for the Hawkins^2 one.

Thanks!

[CafeSavoy]

The Basie Columbia box set, America's #1 Band, is another source for the live Basie tracks. The Jazz Archives cd Count Basie, The Golden Years Vol 1, opens with the announcer going "We're stomping at the Savoy" and it goes into Moten Swing. Then he announces the band and introduces "shout and feel it"
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Years-1-Co ... B000001N3W

[lipi]

The Jazz Archives cd Count Basie, The Golden Years Vol 1, opens with the announcer going "We're stomping at the Savoy" and it goes into Moten Swing. Then he announces the band and introduces "shout and feel it"
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Years-1-Co ... B000001N3W

Ah, that's right! I actually have that CD, and have even played that track at a dance before. Thanks for the reminder!

[lipi]

Found another one I already had: "Complete 1940 NBC Broadcasts", Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra. Disc 1 is from two evening in January of 1940 at the Savoy. Disc 2 is from two evenings in February and March of 1940 at the Roseland.

[anton]

This is what the latest edition of Tom Lord's Jazz Discography lists (nice search features!):

Count Basie, June 30, 1937
Benny Carter, May 20; July 24, 1939
Ella Fitzgerald, July 16, 20; August 15, 24, 26; December 14, 1939; January 22, 25, 1940
Coleman Hawkins, July 19, August 4, 8, 25, 1940
Erskine Hawkins, March 4, 1940, c. Jan 1945
Buddy Johnson, October 16, 1945
Jay MacShann, October 13, 1942
Lucky Millinder (possibly at Savoy), 1941-1943
Luis Russell, c. 1945
Chick Webb, December 10, 1937
Cootie Williams, 1944-1945
Lester Young, c. February 22, 1950

[lipi]

This is what the latest edition of Tom Lord's Jazz Discography lists (nice search features!):

Thanks for searching! The discography I have has a crappy search feature, so I hadn't gone through it yet. With your list it's easy!

Count Basie, June 30, 1937
11 tracks, 10 of which are on "Jazz Archives 73: The Golden Years Vol. 1". The closing "One O'Clock Jump" is missing. You can find it on the complete Masters of Jazz series. This is the famous date with Billie Holiday.

There's also a session in July of 1954 that's listed as "Poss. Savoy Ballroom, New York" in Bruyninckx. Does Lord's say anything more about that one? I don't have any of it.

Benny Carter, May 20; July 24, 1939
May 20th: 5 tracks, all on the "Count Basie, Benny Carter: Legendary Radio Broadcasts" CD.
July 24th: 9 tracks, all on "On the Air" (Jazz Up/Nueva), which I can't find for sale anywhere, unfortunately.

Ella Fitzgerald, July 16, 20; August 15, 24, 26; December 14, 1939; January 22, 25, 1940
January 1940: 20 tracks, all on "Complete 1940 NBC Broadcasts".

My discography unfortunately doesn't list any of the other sessions, but here's what I have collected:
July 16th, 1939: 2 tracks on "in the Groove", 4 others on "Live at the Savoy"
July 20th, 1939: 3 tracks on "in the Groove", 3 others on "Live at the Savoy"
August 15th, 1939: 3 tracks on "in the Groove"
August 24th, 1939: 2 tracks on "in the Groove", 3 others on "Live at the Savoy"
August 26th, 1939: 2 tracks on "in the Groove", 6 others on "Live at the Savoy"
December 14th, 1939: 2 tracks on "in the Groove", 2 others on "Live at the Savoy"

I'm very pleasantly surprised there is no overlap between "in the Groove" and "Live at the Savoy". Anton, if you have time, can you let me know whether I'm missing a lot from these sessions?

Coleman Hawkins, July 19, August 4, 8, 25, 1940
I have none of these. Some are on the Tax CD Haydn mentioned.
July 19, 1940: 5 tracks (4 incomplete)
August 4, 1940: 8 tracks
August 8, 1940: 2 tracks
August 25, 1940: 8 tracks

Erskine Hawkins, March 4, 1940, c. Jan 1945
Again, I have none.
March 4, 1940: 9 tracks (on the Tax CD mentioned earlier)
January 1945: 2 tracks

Buddy Johnson, October 16, 1945
16 tracks (15, really, since "Walk 'em" and "Opus Two" are together), all on "At the Savoy Ballroom"

Jay McShann, October 13, 1942
6 tracks, on lots of early Bird CDs. Many are hard to find, but Amazon has the MP3s: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002B41ZBQ/ (tracks 11-16 on disc 1). Also available on emusic on various collections.

In Bruyninckx, there's one more that's listed as either "Clark's Munroe's Uptown House" or Savoy Ballroom, NY, with Charlie Parker, in early 1942. Just one track, "Cherokee".

Lucky Millinder (possibly at Savoy), 1941-1943
6 tracks. May only be available on vinyl. I can't find a track listing of the Chrono Classics for this period (they're not available as MP3s on emusic or Amazon in the U.S.)

Luis Russell, c. 1945
5 tracks. Haven't found a CD yet.

Chick Webb, December 10, 1937
3 tracks, available on vinyl: http://www.amazon.com/Bronzeville-Stomp ... 002WJ2H26/

Cootie Williams, 1944-1945
Our discographies differ quite a bit here. I have none of these.
Jan-May 1944: 3 tracks either at the Apollo Theatre or the Savoy Ballroom.
late 1944: 2 tracks
Fenruary 12, 1945: 9 tracks
May 2, 1945: 1 track
probably late 1947: 4 tracks

Lester Young, c. February 22, 1950
Wow! 40 or so tracks! This is excellent! It'll be hard to get a hold of, though. There is a release of the first 30 or so on Sound Hills, the fancy Japanese label, and in the OOP Pres Box series on Jazz Up. The last dozen seem to be unissued.

[anton]

Wow, nice summary!

There's also a session in July of 1954 that's listed as "Poss. Savoy Ballroom, New York" in Bruyninckx. Does Lord's say anything more about that one? I don't have any of it.

The Lord says "poss. 'Savoy Ballroom', Cleveland, Ohio, July 1954". Laserlight 15704 [CD]

I'm very pleasantly surprised there is no overlap between "in the Groove" and "Live at the Savoy". Anton, if you have time, can you let me know whether I'm missing a lot from these sessions?

It seems like you have it all

In Bruyninckx, there's one more that's listed as either "Clark's Munroe's Uptown House" or Savoy Ballroom, NY, with Charlie Parker, in early 1942. Just one track, "Cherokee".

Tom Lord has 2 tracks from 1942 ("Cherokee" and "I Remember You") as 'Clark's Uptown House'. He also lists 3 Charlie Parker tracks from 1948-1949: "private recording, 'New Savoy Ballroom', Chicago..

Lucky Millinder (possibly at Savoy), 1941-1943
6 tracks. May only be available on vinyl. I can't find a track listing of the Chrono Classics for this period (they're not available as MP3s on emusic or Amazon in the U.S.)

12 tracks in total, on LP Alamac QSR2425. Not on Chrono Classics.

[lipi]

Thanks for the updates, Anton.

The Lord says "poss. 'Savoy Ballroom', Cleveland, Ohio, July 1954". Laserlight 15704 [CD]
[...]
12 tracks in total, on LP Alamac QSR2425. Not on Chrono Classics.

Shopping time! Edit: er, well, the first one is a different Savoy, obviously, but live Basie is live Basie, so for purposes outside this thread I want it. :o)

[trev]

Don´t bother with the Luis Russell tracks. I have them and they´re pretty darn aweful.

[lipi]

Don´t bother with the Luis Russell tracks. I have them and they´re pretty darn aweful.

That's too bad. Sound quality or music quality? And, for completeness sake, what CD do you have those on?

[trev]

That's too bad. Sound quality or music quality? And, for completeness sake, what CD do you have those on?

This CD: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Bands-At-Savo ... 616&sr=8-2

It's more to do with the playing. Luis doesn't seem to have the same calibre of band here in the 40s as he did in the 20s. The Cootie tracks are passable, but there is better Cootie orchestra tracks elsewhere (like on his Jubilee AARS sessions)

[Eyeball]

12 tracks in total, on LP Alamac QSR2425. Not on Chrono Classics.

Are there any Alamac CDs yet? I know they had cassettes. That label was really hit and miss, but they turned out some really good releases...very inexpensive label.

[lipi]

Thanks, Trev.

John: Amazon doesn't list any. It's possible they were bought and re-distributed by some other label, of course.