Big Jim Mclain (1952)

Billie & De De Pierce / Jim Robinson's New Orleans Band - Jazz At Preservation Hall II (1962) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 203 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 81 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 161 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1962, 2013 Atlantic / Warner Japan / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27391 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Dixieland / New Orleans Jazz / Jazz Blues

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Released in 1963, this is a pair of traditional dixieland jazz performances recorded at the historic Preservation Hall in New Orleans - very distinctly New Orleans sound. Nathan "Jim" or "Big Jim" Robinson was a very reliable New Orleans trombonist who was much more consistent than most of the musicians he performed with, never seeming to have an off day. A jazz pioneer, Robinson played guitar as a child and started playing trombone in 1917, while stationed in France during World War I; he was already 24.

Green Bullfrog were a group that only existed on paper, and scarcely officially in that medium, either, because of all the hairs that had to be split (and names unnamed) in existing contracts to get their record made. Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Ashton, Big Jim Sullivan, Albert Lee, Chas Hodges, Matthew Fisher, and Ian Paice are just some of the luminaries who showed up for the super session, which was recorded in the first half of 1970 and issued on LP in America in 1971, a year earlier than it was in Europe. With the identities of the bandmembers effectively hidden behind pseudonyms, it's not entirely surprising that the album never rose beyond cult status on either side of the Atlantic. The whole project was the brainchild of producer Derek Lawrence, who roped these former members of his stable into doing him the favor.

1952-1953 (2005). From July 26, 1952 to December 12, 1953, Count Basie continued to record for Norman Granz's Clef label, variously utilizing a quintet, sextet, nonet, and 16-piece big band. Released in 2005, this volume in the Classics Chronological Series documents all of the issued studio titles from this time period, neatly omitting no less than 15 Birdland radio broadcasts so as to focus upon the Count's protean adventures within the intimate confines of recording studios in New York and Los Angeles. Basie's excellent instrumentalists include trumpeter Joe Newman, trombonist Henry Coker, reedmen Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Paul Quinichette, Marshall Royal, Ernie Wilkins, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, and Charlie Fowlkes…

This issue of Buddy DeFranco's recordings as a leader of both a quintet and an orchestra between 1949 and 1952 is a welcome one. The material on these 24 cuts is standard fare from the swing era, which was way over by 1949, but it proves that DeFranco knew how to lead a big band and swing hard as a soloist in a quintet setting - especially with the company he kept. Some of his crew on these sides include Serge Chaloff, Teddy Charles, Teddy Kotick, Lee Konitz, Max Roach, Jimmy Raney, and Al Cohn, just to name a few. Arrangements for these tunes were done by DeFranco, George Russell, and Manny Albam, which gives the listener a taste of the varied sonic interests of the great clarinetist. The sound on these sides is a tiny bit thin, but that's a minor complaint. The material swings no matter the arrangement or the size of the band. This is an intimate look at an often overlooked jazz great.