Welcome
Fortunately within the EU, the 50 year period of copyright on material issued in and upto the 1st half of the 20th century is expiring, moving this material into the public domain.
In combination with electronic distribution, it is possible to share this culturally valuable material where it would not be commercially viable.
- it is therefore primarily intended to promote the appreciation, the preservation and aid research.
The modest intention of this blog is to allow me to highlight some of this material, to perhaps encourage others to discover and enjoy.
If it creates a valid awareness of our rights to access this material, which has often long out of print or available only in very limited numbers, then all the better.
Background
There is a strong difference in the interpretation and enforcement in different countries, particularly with recent legal cases on each side of the Atlantic highlighting these differences.Given the aggressive push by organisations and corporations within the United States, to enforce copyright laws (globally, often to their advantage and effectively erode our rights), it is particularly interesting given the attitude of the United States to others copyright during the 18th and early 19th Centuries.I recommend the article over at wikipedia, to get an overview of the situation, perhaps quite different than you might have thought from impressions given by the Music Industry and their lobbying organs - History of Copyright Law
"In Great Britain's North American colonies, reprinting British copyright works without permission had long happened episodically, but only became a major feature of colonial life after 1760. It became more commonplace to reprint British works in the colonies (mostly in the 13 American colonies). The impetus for this shift came from Irish and Scottish master printers and booksellers who had moved to the North American colonies in the mid 18th century.
They were already familiar with the practice of reprinting and selling British copyright works, and continued the practice in North America, and it became a major part of the North American printing and publishing trade.
Robert Bell was an example. He was originally Scottish, and had spent almost a decade in Dublin before he moved to British North America in 1768. His operations, and those of many other colonial printers and booksellers, ensured that the practice of reprinting was well-established by the time of the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. Weakened American ties to Britain coincided with the increase of reprinting outside British copyright controls.
The Irish also made a flourishing business of shipping reprints to North America in the 18th century. Ireland's ability to reprint freely ended in 1801 when Ireland's Parliament merged with Great Britain, and the Irish became subject to British copyright laws.
The printing of uncopyrighted English works for the English-language market also occurred in other European countries. The British government responded to this problem in two ways: 1) it amended its own copyright statutes in 1842, explicitly forbidding import of any foreign reprint of British copyrighted work into the UK or its colonies, and 2) it began the process of reciprocal agreements with other countries. The first reciprocal agreement was with Prussia in 1846. The US remained outside this arrangement for some decades. This was objected to by such authors as Dickens and Mark Twain."
I don't want to get into a fiery discussion regarding opinion on copyright, I'd like to discuss the actual legalities of copyright law and how they effect material now entering the public domain in some geographical areas and how this effects us, given our present communications inter-connected-ness.
Terms of Use
This space for intended to create a place for encouraging the enjoyment and awareness of older music, often long out of print or available in very limited numbers - it is therefore primarily intended to promote preservation and aid research.Obviously depending upon your present country of residence, downloading and keeping material, in areas other than the EU may breach your country's laws regarding copyright infringement. As a specific illustration, the United States enforces copyright, some 90 years from the date of publishing, whereas copyright in the EU expires after 50 years of either performance or first publication.I therefore ask you to exercise discretion, I must presume you are adults and part of that is exercising a little self-rule, where applicable
- do not download material if you know it is illegal to do so in your country.
This blog is based within the EU and is therefore entitled to discuss and publish material in order to further that discussion.
Miles Davis (tp) J.J. Johnson (tb -1/5) Jimmy Heath (ts -1/5) Gil Coggins (p) Percy Heath (b) Art Blakey (d)
WOR Studios, NYC, April 20, 1953
1. BN477-2 tk.3 Kelo
2. BN478-2 tk.6 Enigma
3. BN479-2 tk.9 Ray's Idea
4. BN480-0 tk.10 Tempus Fugit
5. BN481-3 tk.15 C.T.A.
6. BN482-0 tk.16 I Waited For You
** also issued on Vogue (E) LDE 064 entitled "Miles Davis And His Orchestra": Vogue (F) LD 172 entitled "Miles Davis And His Orchestra, Vol. 2
This is the second installment of Miles on Blue Note (again re-issued on the 1500 Series) - generally a better session. You can see that Blue Note then locenced the recording to Vogue for release outside the US.
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent Jazz Discography Project
Spliced together from 2 different sessions - this release gives you a chance to experience Donaldson, the 'New Face' in different settings (nice tone and not as commercially smooth as later became);
sax, piano, bass, drums and then with trumpet. Interesting to see the dynamic Blakey adds.
Lou Donaldson (as) Horace Silver (p) Gene Ramey (b) Art Taylor (d)
WOR Studios, NYC, June 20, 1952 -
Blue Mitchell (tp -2/4) Lou Donaldson (as) Horace Silver (p) Percy Heath (b) Art Blakey (d)
WOR Studios, NYC, November 19, 1952
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent Jazz Discography Project
I'm sure you have heard repeatedly that Gil Melle introduced Alfred Lion to Rudy Van Gelder - now I'm not sure, but someone may be able to clarify - this release was actually self produced by Gil Melle, who then hawked it round and it landed at Blue Note. He was the first 'caucasian' leader signed on the BN roster.
Alfred Lion asked WOR how to achieve the RVG sound and they suggested going to RVG. A bit of an 'own goal' for retaining clients, but there you are.
Eddie Bert (tb) Gil Mellé (ts) Joe Manning (vib) George Wallington (p) Red Mitchell (b) Max Roach (d) Monica Dell (vo -2/4)
Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, March 2, 1952
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent Jazz Discography Project
This is a peach of a release - stellar jazzers from the 50's. Britain; Jimmy Deuchar, Johnny Dankworth, Don Rendell - Sweden; Rolf Ericson, Ake Persson, Putte Wickman, Arne Domnerus, Lars Gullin and on and on.
Both sessions were organised by music magazines - then licensed by Blue Note for the US.
Jimmy Deuchar (tp) Eddie Harvey (tb) Johnny Dankworth (as) Don Rendell (ts) Bill LeSage (p) Eric Dawson (b) Tony Kinsey (d)
London, England, July 29, 1950
The British session was assembled by Melody Maker for Leonard Feather. The Swedish session was assembled by Estrad, a Swedish Jazz Magazine (faded away in the 60's) - the group taking the moniker of the poll winners.
Leonard Feather and his Jazz Club USA later organised the Brits again in 1954 for BN 5052 and continued to champion and document the Swedes, with several releases on Prestige.
Rolf Ericson (tp) Ake Persson (tb) Putte Wickman (cl) Arne Domnerus (as) Carl-Henrik Norin (ts) Lars Gullin (bars) Ulf Linde (vib) Bengt Hallberg (p) Sten Harlberg (g) Simon Brehm (b) Jack Noren (d)
Stockholm, Sweden, September 5, 1951
The recording is a little scratchy - this one and 5052 are quite difficult to pick up in decent condition. I have bought 3 different copies over the years from ebay, often described as VG+ (fat chance) - still a slice of Jazz history, hope you enjoy.
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent Jazz Discography Project
