"Extraordinarily Phones, the Clariry Is Jaw-Dropping
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RECORD REVIEWS tAzz Through Grado SR-225 head- "extraordinarily phones, the clariry is jaw-dropping. Yes, surface noise is significant, but it POYYerful... varies th,roughout, sometimes within unGolor€d... a single track. Balancing pros and cons of sound quality versus historical .natural" value can make bootleg releases an ift proposition in general, but in this case -./ohn Atkinso4 Stereophih the lamer prioriry wins out. The historical importance of the 1940 recording of '8ody and Soul" by Coleman Hawkins that begins this COLEMAN HAWKINS & FRIENDS collection can't be overstated. Two The Savory Collection, Volume No.01: more swinging, beautifully arranged Body and Soul Hawkins numbers follow, then rwo Coleman Hawkins, Herschel Evans, tenor saxophone; from Ella with Chick Webb. Then a Ella Fitzgerald, vocal; Charlie Shavers, trumpet; come rouglrly 25 blissful minutes, six Emilio Caceres, violin; Carl Kress, Dick McDonough. tracks in all, from Fats Waller and His U guitar; Fats Waller, piano, vocal; Lionel Hampton, vibraphone, piano, vocal; Milt Hinton, bass; Cozy Rhythm (before nearly every number, Cole, drums; others Fats implores his public to "Latch National Jazz Museum in Harlem NJMH-0112 on!"). Next, in a Lionel Hampton-led (MP4).2016. William Savory, orig. prod., eng.; Ken Druker, Loren Schoenberg, reissue prods.; Doug jam session with Herschel Evans, Pomeroy, restoration, mastering. A-D. TT: 70:43 Charlie Shavers, Milt Hinton, Cozy jazzmuseuminharlem.org,/the-museum/ See hltp'.// Cole, and others, Hamp plays vibes collections,/the-savory-collection ? and piano and sings, blowing them all PERFoRMANcE ffi off the bandstand. Herschel's ballad soNrcs EXXdE fearure, "Stardust." compares interest- This music is culled from aluminum ingly with Hawk's "Body and Soul." and lacquer discs that, over the course The last rwo racks are more inti- of decades, rotted in the home of one mate curiosities, wonderful in their Bill Savory. An audio engineer (and way, that hint at the period's aesthetic many other thing$ by trade, Savory range and inventiveness: "Heat'Wave," (L916-2004) worked in a rranscription a genre-defiring guitar duet by Carl studio and took this music straight off Kress and Dick McDonough, and way The Pulsar the airwaves as it was broadcast live ahead of its time (tl:o); and a roaring, fosephAudio in the late 1930s. And then, there it up-tempo "China Boy" from Texan 15" High, 8 l/2"Wide. sat, boxes and boxes ofit, unheard by violinist Emilio Caceres and a drumless Spectacularly Deep. anyone until now. rrio (1937). Get the full story at This is nothing less than a secret Because reissue producer Loren www.josephaudio.com history of the Swing Era. Volume N0.01 Schoenberg and the NJMH handled alone contains the rarest ofperfor- mafters correctly, obaining permission mances by Coleman Hawkins, EIla from musicians' estates and getting Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, Lionel Hamp- publishing credits impeccably in order, "The Pulsars are ton, and more. The NationalJazz it took a while to get this music out. veritable Iight-sabers" Museum in Harlem, which acquired But far better to honor this priceless the Savory Collection in 2010, six legary of swing and creativiry than - Steven Stone, Ihe Absolute Sound years after Savory's death, has ilready to take the easy route. We waited 70 "For those of you who have issued Volume No.02, wholly devoted years to hear it; another little delay dreamed of owning relatively to previously unreleased recordings by couldn't have mattered.-David R-Adler compact stand mount monitors Count Basie with Lester Young. More that really do convey the sense of volumes are in the works. HAWKINS 1O1 reproducing (near) full-range bass, How does it sound? Considering the damage to the original discs, one has Although he never had his own to marvel at the result. Doug Pomeroy lexicon like his chief rival and sometime friend, Lester Young, Chris Monens,The Abso/ute Sound came out of retirement to clean these the great swing tenor saxophone materials by hand, digitize them one player Coleman Hawkins got off by one. and painstakingly oprimize ev- more than his share of classic ery track. They are being released ex- one liners: .,YOU clusively via Apple Music as MPEG4 CAN SEPARATE THE MEN audio files. Higher-resolution transfers FROM THE BOYS AND BALLADS.'' Erronrless Musrcalrw ..THERE'S for audiophiles would have been wel- NO SUCH THING AS Exclusrve Tecxrolocv come, but that might be a lot to expect BOP MUSIC, BUTTHERE'S SUCH (8OO) 474- HrFr (4434) from a cash-strapped museum that had ATHING AS PROGRESS]' already gone to enormous lengths. 130 )une 2017 . stereophile,com.