Charlie Barnet

[CafeSavoy]

I have the three Giants of Jazz releases, 1935-1939 Make Believe Ballroom [Giants of Jazz #53274, 1997], 1939-1940 Cherokee [Giants of Jazz #53277, 1996], and 1940-1945 Skyliner [Giants of Jazz #53280, 1996], quite cheap, and with "The Right Idea", "Cherokee", and "The Gal from Joe's" being my absolute favorite tracks.

Unfortunately, and expectedly for the low price, the remastering is not very good (or maybe the masters weren't to good to start with), so I'm eagerly awaiting Hep, Jazz Oracle, JSP, Timeless, Retrieval, Frog, or one of the other wizards of transfering 20's to 40's stuff into gold, to give those Barnet recordings a shot (and please do the same with Erskine Hawkins' wonderful 30's and 40's production as well, by the way)...

/Jonas

Don't think i have any of the Giants of Jazz recordings, mostly Bluebird, Decca, and ASV/Living Legend, so I can't compare them to those. However I have found that the Jazz After Hours label, in spite of their sucky (i.e., non-existent) liner notes, sometimes do a decent job remastering.

[swing-o-logy]

We like Charlie's "Murder At Peyton Hall" mostly for Balboa-spinning and also "The Right Idea". - For solid Lindy Hopping we often spin the Bluebird 78 from his "Flying Home". - Do you know that incredible "Telegram For Charlie Barnet" with its congenial Bop-Scat-singing?- We love it!

[AlekseyKosygin]

I have the three Giants of Jazz releases, 1935-1939 Make Believe Ballroom [Giants of Jazz #53274, 1997], 1939-1940 Cherokee [Giants of Jazz #53277, 1996], and 1940-1945 Skyliner [Giants of Jazz #53280, 1996], quite cheap, and with "The Right Idea", "Cherokee", and "The Gal from Joe's" being my absolute favorite tracks.

Unfortunately, and expectedly for the low price, the remastering is not very good (or maybe the masters weren't to good to start with), so I'm eagerly awaiting Hep, Jazz Oracle, JSP, Timeless, Retrieval, Frog, or one of the other wizards of transfering 20's to 40's stuff into gold, to give those Barnet recordings a shot (and please do the same with Erskine Hawkins' wonderful 30's and 40's production as well, by the way)...

/Jonas

I think the sound quality is quite good on them...(but then again my standards might be lower than a lot of people on this board), obviously as the years get higher (ie. the 40's) the sound quality gets better...

Wizard's eh...the most skilled audio restorationist passed away recently: John R. T. Davies....most of those labels you listed consisted of a library, the majority of which he personally worked on...there are a few of his colleagues that are doing a good job (ie Ted Kendall), but he was the best...I would check out his website and pick up ANYTHING he worked on...BTW I would think the label that would most likely put out Barnet or Hawkins out of the ones you listed would be Hep...

John's site is below, which his wife Sue still runs...

http://www.jazzrescue.com/

Alex

[Charleston Charlie]

I own several of the Jazz Oracle releases - RT Davies was involved with that label; amazing stuff - much of it.

I will not rest until I own the catalogue.

Jazz Oracle: http://www.jazzoracle.com/

[AlekseyKosygin]

As I stated before he wasn't only involved with Jazz Oracle...Here are the labels he did work for (below)...so I think you have your work cut out for you but good luck!

Collectors Classics - Denmark

Cygnet - England

Forte & Jazz Oracle - Canada

Frog - England

HEP - Scotland

Jazz Crusade - USA

JSP

Kings Cross - England

Lake - England

Retrieval - Holland

Sensation - Canada

Timeless - Holland

Alex

[trev]

Anyway, to keep things on topic - what i would like to see is a lable like HEP release a bunch of properly remastered Charlie Barnet stuff from the late 30s/early 40s.

But yes R.T Davies = Good.

[CafeSavoy]

Anyway, to keep things on topic - what i would like to see is a lable like HEP release a bunch of properly remastered Charlie Barnet stuff from the late 30s/early 40s.

But yes R.T Davies = Good.

I think allmusic lists one Hep release, live transcriptions.

[AlekseyKosygin]

Anyway, to keep things on topic - what i would like to see is a lable like HEP release a bunch of properly remastered Charlie Barnet stuff from the late 30s/early 40s.

But yes R.T Davies = Good.

I forgot I had that...yup Hep has a live Barnet transcriptions CD...It's a great CD...

Instead of wishing for labels to put out this or that, just email the label (in this case Hep) and tell them what you'd like to see them put out, Hep is run by one Alastair Robertson and he always gets back to you and tells you what's in the works...Coming up is 30's Isham Jones I believe...

http://www.hepjazz.com/

Alex

[Toon Town Dave]

It's good to hear Hep is responsive to it's customers. I've been quite happy with the CDs I have so far. They're also reasonably priced too!

[trev]

There is a new release (July 2005) of his recordings he made in 1958. Great sound and new arrangements of some of his classics. Includes the version of Cherokee that Mike mentions.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009W5JGO

I just recieved this and I'm a little disappointed. "Cherokee/Redskin Rhumba" is great, though perhaps a little long for DJing at 7 minutes. "East Side, West Side" is a bit of fun, and "Wild Mab of the Fish Pond" is also okay. The majority of the album however has too much of a 50s concert jazz feel to it and made me sleepy. For the most part I prefer the originals.

[Eyeball]

The post 40s Barnet stuff just doesn't seem to have the kick of his earlier work. I have listened to maybe 6 albums oif stuff and they are largely disappointing...not 'bad'...just a let down.

i9 have 2 old LPs for sale if anyine ants them. All 39 - 42 barnet sides on Bluebird....super sound quality...from the old RCA Vintage series which had the best sound going during the 60s and 70s when they were being issued in LP.