Howard Carter could not have been more excited by the prospect of excavating untold treasures than Loren Schoenberg must be auditing, at last, the collection of jazz recordings made by William Savory which have been donated to the National Jazz Museum, Harlem.
It seems no exaggeration to say that these recordings may well make a shift in the geography of the landscape of classic jazz of seismic proportions, allowing us to look afresh at the work of relatively unacknowledged masters like Herschel Evans.
And, here, too – another page in the scrap book, a video of the processes through which the sounds are being coaxed from these venerable aluminium platters which could not find a happier home commercially than on the Mosaic label, on which point, more breaking news here.
Ian, if we, Ellingtonians, have learned one great lesson from our Duke that is "never quit." I remember this story, told By Nat Hentoff, about retirement and it's worth repeating here:
ReplyDelete"After one of his more than 200 wearying
one-nighters a year — like from Toronto to Dallas — I saw him between trips. He looked as if he needed many more days off, and I said: “You don’t have to keep going through this. With all the standards you’ve written, you can retire on your music publishing income at ASCAP.” Ellington looked at me in exasperated wonder. “Retire?” he snapped, “to what?”"
Keep on keepin' on.
Ehsan
(By your permission I'll post this fantastic N.Y.T. video on my blog)
Hey, I return to captivity and find a remarkable adjective attached, which makes for a fine howdy-do as I settle in once again. Thanks and thanks again--many thanks in fact!
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