Goodman / Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert [Avid #151]

[Jonas]

I've been thinking about getting the new Benny Goodman 4CD compilation "The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert" [Avid #151] which comprises a newly remastered 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, plus the mid-50's LP's "The Benny Goodman Story" and "Date with the King".

http://www.amazon.com/Famous-1938-Carne ... B000J3F7G0
Are the Carnegie Hall remasterings better than earlier available versions? There are a bunch out there.

Does the mid-50's LP material contain any rockin' tunes? Is the sound quality any good on those?

I know there are sound clips available through the link I've provided, but I also know that those clips seldom can compare to the sound you get when you play the CD's on your home stereo equipment, and 30 seconds or a minute of a song doesn't really tell the whole story...

/Jonas

[trev]

I have the Sony set, which was the first release of the full unedited concert. The problem with it is that there is a LOT of surface noise, and the noise is inconsistent (some parts of tracks are clearer than others). This is okay if you just want it for listening, and your brain filters the noise out to hear all the instruments, but I couldn't help think that there must have been a better compromise. Perhaps the version you have linked to is better in this regard.

[CafeSavoy]

I have both versions of the Carnegie Hall Concerts and I agree with Trev that the sound quality is uneven on both of them. I haven't heard the Avid release though. I haven't heard "Date with the King" but the sound quality is good on Benny Goodman in Hi-Fi although i think the some of versions are not quite as exciting as some of the earlier ones. But I think there are some some good songs that you could dj.

[Haydn]

I've been thinking about getting the new Benny Goodman 4CD compilation "The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert" [Avid #151] which comprises a newly remastered 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, plus the mid-50's LP's "The Benny Goodman Story" and "Date with the King".

http://www.amazon.com/Famous-1938-Carne ... B000J3F7G0
Are the Carnegie Hall remasterings better than earlier available versions? There are a bunch out there.

Does the mid-50's LP material contain any rockin' tunes? Is the sound quality any good on those?

I know there are sound clips available through the link I've provided, but I also know that those clips seldom can compare to the sound you get when you play the CD's on your home stereo equipment, and 30 seconds or a minute of a song doesn't really tell the whole story...

/Jonas

The sound quality of the samples is good. If you want the Carnegie concert, I would go for this earlier 3-CD Avid collection instead ... 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.
This one has more tracks (eg. 'Oomph Fah Fah', which is missing from the 4-CD set). I've just ordered one myself (I ordered direct from Avid in the UK) http://www.avidgroup.co.uk/acatalog/Onl ... s_344.html

The 50s material on the 4-CD set sounds interesting, his 50s stuff always has good sound, but the music just doesn't have that bounce.

I bought the Glenn Miller Story, Vols. 1-4 [BOX SET] from the same series, and the sound quality is good.

[aklamo]

None of those recordings from the Carnegie Hall sets strike me as particularly Dj-able, but it's a fantastic slice of history!

[Jonas]

I've been thinking about getting the new Benny Goodman 4CD compilation "The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert" [Avid #151] which comprises a newly remastered 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, plus the mid-50's LP's "The Benny Goodman Story" and "Date with the King".

http://www.amazon.com/Famous-1938-Carne ... B000J3F7G0
Are the Carnegie Hall remasterings better than earlier available versions? There are a bunch out there.

Does the mid-50's LP material contain any rockin' tunes? Is the sound quality any good on those?

I know there are sound clips available through the link I've provided, but I also know that those clips seldom can compare to the sound you get when you play the CD's on your home stereo equipment, and 30 seconds or a minute of a song doesn't really tell the whole story...

/Jonas

The sound quality of the samples is good. If you want the Carnegie concert, I would go for this earlier 3-CD Avid collection instead ... 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.
This one has more tracks (eg. 'Oomph Fah Fah', which is missing from the 4-CD set). I've just ordered one myself (I ordered direct from Avid in the UK) http://www.avidgroup.co.uk/acatalog/Onl ... s_344.html

The 50s material on the 4-CD set sounds interesting, his 50s stuff always has good sound, but the music just doesn't have that bounce.

I bought the Glenn Miller Story, Vols. 1-4 [BOX SET] from the same series, and the sound quality is good.

Thank you for your answers guys!

I actually have the "1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert" [Avid #122] with remasterings that are ok from the concert, and some interesting additional small group and big band studio material from 1945-47 (that said, not the same material as the 50's material on the new Avid release) of which I particularly like a few of the slow to intermediate songs: Oomph Fah Fah, Body and Soul, All the Cats Join In, Whistle Blues, Mahzel Tov and Happy Blues.

If the remasterings of the concert have not improved much on the new Avid #151 release, the 50's material will have to be really good, since I usually prefer more of the 30's-40's stuff for the specific reason of the 50's stuff often not having "that bounce" (Haydn, I think I understand what you mean).

As for the actual dj'ing, I usually don't dj the 1938 concert material very often, but I've thrown in songs like Stompin' at the Savoy, Blue Skies and The Blue Room a few times with moderate success at usual swing nights here in Uppsala, and at Herräng and in London, and the extended and wonderfully rhythmic "Honeysuckle Rose" (with parts of the Basie band!) at late night parties, when some of the best dancers of the Lindy Hop, L.A. Swing and Balboa were still around, and they, like myself, loved it!

From time to time I also listen to the concert at home. If there were better remastering out there, maybe the material could be more of interest for me as a dj, but I realise that the recording itself, with only one mic, was not really optimal

/Jonas

[Eyeball]

I wonder if we will hear hear truly significant 'remastering' on the 1938 BGCHC?

There really is not much to remaster.

[julius]

You played all 16.5 minutes of Honeysuckle Rose?

That's ballsy.