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On October 29, 1955, Armstrong's All Stars group performed at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. The taping was done by Philips, which at that time represented Columba in most European countries. There was a contractual problem with Columbia issuing tunes that duplicated Armstrong's Decca, repertoire, so George Avakian sent a list of the Amsterdam recordings for Oscar Cohen of Glaser's office to check.
Unless there are bootlegs out there (very likely), it would appear that most of the 1955 Concertgebouw recordings remain unissued. If I am wrong about that, please set me straight. Here are the editing notes for that concert:
Click on image to enlarge
You know how much I love this stuff, Chris. Indeed, I do have a bootleg of this complete concert taken directly from the concert's sound system (the quality isn't very pretty at times). Columbia did end up issuing five tracks. Four are on "Ambassador Satch": "Tin Roof Blues," "Dardanella," "Undecided" and "Muskrat Ramble." The fifth, "Sleepy Time," can be heard on "Satchmo the Great."
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, the rest of the concert--a great one, by my favorite edition of the All Stars--is rotting away in the Sony vaults. They've reissued every time Miles Davis coughed in their studio, but they're sitting on a pretty good chunk of unissued Pops (the Concertgebouw, a Milan session for "Ambassador Satch" in December, Newport 1956, Lewisohn Stadium rehearsals and concert, Newport 1958, maybe more).
The good news is Scott Wenzel of Mosaic contacted me a few months ago about their interest in maybe a Mosaic Select on 1950s Pops. I told them about the Columbia treasure trove and he appeared interested. Cross your fingers...and keep the gold coming!
Ricky
Thanks, Ricky.
ReplyDeleteI knew the answer would come from either you or Dan!
As someone who attended the Amsterdam concert ( I have pictures I took there) I would really love to hear the recordings.
ReplyDeleteOne of the photos is in Terry Teachout's book "Pops"
j
oeljazz1@google.com