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.
This is again a Vogue session - recorded during the same Lionel Hampton Big Band European Tour of 1953. Licensed by Blue Note for release in the US. In fact from jazzdisco, it would seem licensed by many!
* Gigi Gryce/Clifford Brown/Art Farmer - The Many Faces Of Jazz, Vol. 8 (Mode (F) CMDINT 9560)
* Clifford Brown - The Complete Paris Collection, Vol. 3: Jazz Legacy 52 (Jazz Legacy (F) 500102)
* The Clifford Brown Big Band In Paris (Prestige PR 7840; Fantasy OJC 359, OJCCD 359-2)
* Clifford Brown In Paris (Prestige PR 24020)
* Gigi Gryce And His Orchestra Featuring Clifford Brown - Jazz Time Paris, Vol. 10 (Vogue (F) LD 173)
= Gigi Gryce/Clifford Brown - Gigi Gryce And His Big Band, Vol. 1 (Blue Note BLP 5049)
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent Jazz Discography Project
Again this was originally a Vogue session licensed by Blue Note for US release.
Quoted from Don Waterhouse,
"On the strength of what he was putting down, Blue Note gave him the first session under his own name on 28 August 1953. By this time Brownie had signed up with Lionel Hampton, who was about to set off for europe with a heavy-weight big band comprising such talents as Art Farmer, Quincy Jones, Jimmy Cleveland and Gigi Gryce. Hamp had forbidden his men to undertake any recording work during the tour, although he himself did not hesitate."
"But such trivial constraints failed to dull the enthusiasm of Hamp's young crew, and, following a memorable jam session in Paris' Tabou Club, pianist Renaud was immediately entrusted with assembling the rhythm section for a series of recording sessions featuring this exciting new trumpet phenomenon."
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent
Jazz Discography Project
This session was originally a Vogue release - which was later licensed for the US by Blue Note.
I found this quote on answers.com,
"Hampton's popularity allowed him to continue leading big bands... and the 1953 edition that visited Paris (with Clifford Brown, Art Farmer, Quincy Jones, Jimmy Cleveland, Gigi Gryce, George Wallington, and Annie Ross) would be difficult to top, although fights over money and the right of the sideman to record led to its breakup."
I'll add the additional information that these were recorded at the école Normale de Musique, Salle Pleyel and that the next one BN LP 5047 with
Clifford Brown, is an other Vogue session - and part of the reason for the above quote about disagreements.
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent
Jazz Discography Project
Dave Burnes (tp) Jimmy Cleveland (tb) Frank Foster (ts) Danny Bank (bars, fl) George Wallington (p) Oscar Pettiford (b) Kenny Clarke (d) Quincy Jones (arr)
Audio-Video Studios, NYC, May 12, 1954
allmusic have some interesting background on him
"George Wallington was one of the first and best bop pianists, ranking up there with Al Haig, just below Bud Powell. He was also the composer of two bop standards that caught on for a time: "Lemon Drop" and "Godchild."
... He arrived in New York in the early '40s and was a member of the first bop group to play on 52nd Street, Dizzy Gillespie's combo of 1943-1944.
After spending a year with Joe Marsala's band, Wallington played with the who's who of bop during 1946-1952, including Charlie Parker, Serge Chaloff, Allan Eager, Kai Winding, Terry Gibbs, Brew Moore, Al Cohn, Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and Red Rodney.
He toured Europe with Lionel Hampton's ill-fated big band of 1953, and during 1954-1960 he led groups in New York that included among its up-and-coming sidemen Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean"
The Lionel Hampton connection will bring us neatly to the next release, which is Hampton's
Jazztime in Paris.
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent
Jazz Discography Project
Freeman Lee (tp) Frank Foster (ts) Elmo Hope (p) Percy Heath (b) Art Blakey (d)
Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, May 9, 1954
Frank Foster is back again, so is Percy Heath - but you have Art Blakey sitting in on the skins. Elmo Hope is in good form. I couldn't find anything in Cook's Blue Note bio about this session.
For specific tracklistings, have a look at the excellent Jazz Discography Project
