Stompin' at the Savoy [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Goodman
One O'Clock Jump [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Durham
Memories of You [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Blake
China Boy [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Boutelje
Moonglow [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, DeLange
Avalon [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, DeSylva
An the Angels Sing [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Elman
Jersey Bounce [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Bradshaw
Sometimes I'm Happy [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Youmans
Shine [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Dabney
Sing, Sing, Sing [From the Benny Goodman Story] - Benny Goodman, Prima, Louis
(4-CD box set) Avid is proud to present a new re-mastering of the truly legendary 1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert in stunning sound quality. The acoustics of the theatre are wonderful, and sections of the show tha... more »t remained unissued for over 50 years are included here. In addition, this set includes new re-masterings of classic mid-50s albums in great sound including, for the first time on CD, the complete set of recordings for the soundtrack of the film The Benny Goodman Story and a scarce 10 inch LP Date With the King. Sidemen featured on this box-set include: Stan Getz, Buck Clayton, Urbie Green, Charlie Shavers, Ruby Braff, Dick Hyman, Harry James, Mel Powell, Teddy Wilson, Claude Thornhill, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa and Jo Jones.« less
(4-CD box set) Avid is proud to present a new re-mastering of the truly legendary 1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert in stunning sound quality. The acoustics of the theatre are wonderful, and sections of the show that remained unissued for over 50 years are included here. In addition, this set includes new re-masterings of classic mid-50s albums in great sound including, for the first time on CD, the complete set of recordings for the soundtrack of the film The Benny Goodman Story and a scarce 10 inch LP Date With the King. Sidemen featured on this box-set include: Stan Getz, Buck Clayton, Urbie Green, Charlie Shavers, Ruby Braff, Dick Hyman, Harry James, Mel Powell, Teddy Wilson, Claude Thornhill, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa and Jo Jones.
CD Reviews
Schapp was right: filtering distorts the sound
John Grabowski | USA | 04/11/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"After reading so many scathing reviews of the Phil Schapp reissue of the Carnegie Hall concert, I thought I'd try this Brtish import, that allegedly wipes the noise off the discs without wiping off the sound. From the reviews below and in the music rags, I assumed I'd hear a good clean restoration. What I heard instead was proof that most people (and today's critics weened on digital sound) have chewing gum between their ears.
This is a horrible remastering that distorts the sound waves and inserts a compressed hissing sound, even on the 50s material, which was recorded on tape and should not have this strange artifact. My old vinyl recording of the BG Story music was, aside from crackle of cheap MCA vinyl, clean. On this recording there's an odd compressed hiss. (Just listen to the solo vibe opening of Avalon for an example.) But worse than that, the Carnegie numbers are dulled at the tops, have too much deep bottom (all you hear is Krupa's thumping on the bass drum) and contain lurches of tempo. At the beginning of Sing Sing Sing the drums lurch, so that they are going too fast. When the orcehstra starts playing *it* seems to be going slower, but that is really the correct tempo. Similarly there is a drum beat cut out of the solo just before the main theme recap of part one. Listening to the Schapp sides, I note that in all these parts there are loud pops that have been electronically removed here. The problem is, when you do this you also remove a sliver of the actual music; it's like repairing a damaged frame of a film by cutting the frame out--the picture jumps, you can't avoid it. I'm amazed all the people here praising the "great sound" and lack of crackle aren't noticing that the *tempo* lurches! I think we've gotten to the point where the main thing we listen to in a recording is not the *music* but the *hiss* (or whether it's there or not). We become excited when we hear the absence of crackle and hiss here, but we don't notice that music is also gone.
This is further driven home to me by all the great reviews here for the soundtrack to the BG story. This is subsubpar Goodman. He was not playing well when these tracks were made: John Hammond claims he was under great emotional strain at the time. There reportedly had to be many takes of some numbers because of this--unusual for BG--which made the band sound tired, and it seems to me they try to compensate by overblowing. The brass frequently plays out of tune or is just loud and shrill, with no dynamic control at all. George Duvivier's polished and somewhat aloof style does not fit in with the rest of the band, and the piano sound is smothered for some reason. Goodman plays out of key and in a somwhat stiff manner on numbers like Don't Be That Way, Sing Sing Sing and Roll 'Em, and even trumpeter Buck Clayton, normally reliable, sounds tired. Stan Getz is a great sax player, but his modern, detached approach clashes with the raw, straightforward Goodman approach. The best two numbers are with Hampton, who reportedly (according to Ross Firestone in his book on Benny) revitalized a tired Goodman with Moonglow and Avalon. And the other 50s stuff is pathetic, with Goodman trying to recapture glory days with such sad solists as Ruby Braff, Bobby Donaldson and Don Lamond. They serve mostly as a reminder of how great the band of Krupa, James, Elman, Stacy, et al was.
Maybe someday technology will come along that will allow the removal of hiss and crackle while leaving the music truly untouched. That day isn't here yet, and this set isn't the perfect Carnegie everyone else here is saynig it is. Also, the reviewer who says this may be all the BG you need aside from Christian sides needs to hear more BG: his Sauter 40s material is often fascinating, as is his pre-leader "Jazz Holiday" stuff, as are the thrilling mid-to-late 30s Bill Saveroy airchecks (on Sony) and broadcasts from the Camel Caravan and Madhattan room. There's even a lot of 60s stuff that finds Benny in surprisingly good form. Incidentally, to dispell once again a popular myth that keeps popping up, the Carnegie discs were not recorded with a single overhead mike. At least four were used, it turns out.
I'd stick with the Schapp transfers--or not listen to the Carnegie set at all. You can't gaze upon the Last Supper without enduring missing paint and cracks in the plaster. You can't listen to the Carnegie Hall concert without enduring ticks and pops.
"
This (Avid Records) is THE definitive recording of this conc
Geoff | Maine, United States | 02/08/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In college, I worked in the "Audio" department and, in listening to every Benny Goodman CD they had, I stumbled across a recording of this 1938 Concert at Carnegie Hall. I don't know which company produced that set, but the quality was fair ("B+" at best). When I graduated I looked high and low, and eventually purchased the Columbia "re-mastered" version of the concert. BIG mistake. The pops and crackles are so loud, you can hardly even hear the musicians ("D" quality). The Avid Records UK version, however, is AMAZING. Not only is the sound even and well-mastered, the low-volume solos are captured extremely well and there are no loud pops or distortions. For a master-to-CD transfer, I give this recording an "A" (which is the highest you'll find for this performance). This concert radiates energy and innovation; BUY IT."
Finally, a listenable version. Too bad it isn't perfect.
DipKnight | Durham, NC | 12/01/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am forced to give this a five-star rating, but it is not without reservation. The music itself should be on everyone's must-have list, and ultimately it is the music and the fact that this is the best available version of it that garners the five stars. On the other hand, I'm still searching for the perfect version of this legendary performance.
I was desperately searching for something midway between the Schaap (Sony) version, which ruthlessly preserves every snap and crackle from the acetate, and the Jasmine release, which is so completely attenuated that it sounds like it was recorded under water. This is that midway version I was looking for. Although it is by necessity not completely full range, it strikes a good balance between keeping a respectable sound quality and removing enough of the scratchiness that you can stand to listen to it for the full 1:54:56 that the concert lasts. Absolute purists may prefer Schaap, but if you are in it for the music, this is the version, except...
...for the rhythm errors. I don't understand how professional engineers can fail to compensate for skips in the original sound material. While I disagree with much of what the reviewer below has to say about the quality of the sound, which is quite well done, he is absolutely correct that the drum solo between 3:13 and 3:20 of the first part of Sing, Sing, Sing contains several clear skips. These discontinuities ruin the 'groove' of the most famous tune in the entire session.
So while this is the one I like best of the many versions of the famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert that have been produced on CD, and while the music itself clearly rates five stars, and while this is the version I recommend you buy, I am still waiting for the perfect restoration."
Buy, buy, buy.
Jonathan M. Mason | Punta Gorda, FL USA | 11/20/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a preliminary review that I shall edit on receipt of the set.
It should be noted that the title is misspelled by Amazon. Should be "Carnegie" not "Carnigie" and the disc and track information also appears to be incorrect as there should be 4 discs, not two.
The correct information can be found on the Amazon UK site, where you will see that the album tracks are not the same as listed.
Although I have not yet received the album, I HAVE listened to some tracks from it on BBC Radio 2's Malcolm Laycock Show, and it sounds like this album has some superb material, beautifully remastered, incorporating the Carnegie Concert followed by some excellent small group material from the 1950's and the complete recordings for the movie "The Benny Goodman Story", so I think this set may be well worth having.
Here I paste a summary, again from the Amazon UK site, that may be of interest.
AVID Entertainment are proud to present a new re-mastering of the truly legendary 1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert in stunning sound quality for a recording of this vintage, helped no little by the wonderful acoustics of the theatre: sections that remained unissued for over 50 years are included. In addition, new re-masterings of classic mid-50's albums in great sound including, for the first time on CD, the complete set of recordings for the soundtrack of the film `The Benny Goodman Story' and a scarce 10" LP `Date With the King'. Sidemen featured on this boxset include: Stan Getz, Buck Clayton, Urbie Green, Charlie Shavers, Ruby Braff, Dick Hyman, Harry James, Mel Powell, Teddy Wilson, Claude Thornhill, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa & Jo Jones
*******UPDATE********
Well eventually it came, and I wrote a fairly detailed review and then managed to lose that review before posting it, so I am going to make this snappy.
This is a great package. The sound is well engineered and restored and very nicely packaged with a very informative booklet. A real labor of love, and may contain all the BG you will ever need, though you might like to add the BG with Charlie Christian CD.
Here quoted from elsewhere on Amazon is a review of the same material as disc 3 of this set:
"Superb CD! If you just purchase one Goodman CD--let it be this one. None of his big bands ever sounded more mature, well rehearsed, and sharper than this group. This is about as good as big band music gets! (The sound quality is very nice, too)."
And disc 4:
"This is an amazing recording from 1955 that features Benny with an all-star studio orchestra featuring Harry James, Lionel Hampton, and Ruby Braff. These re-recordings of some of Benny's most famous songs are stunning replicas of vintage 1930s style swing a la Fletcher Henderson as they were meant to be heard, in clear, brilliant Hi-Fi sound. Some of these arrangements even come close to surpassing the original recordings, such as "Down South Camp Meetin'" (with the driving bass line provided by George Duvivier propelling the whole thing). Also, Benny himself sounds fresh and inspired in this session, playing with more fire and energy than in any other of his fifties recordings. Just one drawback, Bobby Donaldson and Don Lamond fail to capture the Krupa magic with their drumming as evident by "Sing, Sing, Sing" (Donaldson) and "Don't Be That Way" (Lamond). Wouldn't it have been great if Gene Krupa would have been present at this session with Goodman and James as he was in the film version? Nonetheless, this is a must-have BG CD, one that documents his real contribution to jazz."
And here is part of a review of the Carnegie Hall concert as remastered by Avid, i.e, the same thing as you are getting here, also from Amazon:
"This CD set by AVID is the best remastering of this amazing concert ever! I have all other versions available on CD including the best-selling one remastered by Phil Schapp (which is so shrill and crackly that it is unlistenable). This is the set to buy."
HOWEVER, it is only fair to point out that while the Carnegie Hall concert was a tremendous performance--one of the greatest in the history of jazz--it was very poorly recorded with a single microphone onto acetate discs, and while every effort has been made to clean up the sound, there are parts where, like a country road in low lying terrain, the music submerges completely in some spots. The single microphone seems to have been located somewhere near Lionel Hampton's vibraphone, but a long, long way from the piano, which can hardly be heard. The good news is that versions of many of the included songs appear elsewhere in the box set in sonically superior versions."
Track Listings (28) - Disc #1