y CI Aris TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010 Great Jazz, Long Unheard, Is Rediscovered After 70 Years in Crates, the 'Savory Collection' Is Being Burnished for Its Place in Posterity By LARRY ROHTER Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Bil­ For decades jazz cognoscenti have lie Holiday, Count Basie, Coleman Haw- · talked reverently of "the Savory Col­ kins, Lester Young, Bunny Berigan, Har­ lection." Recorded from radio broadcasts ry James and others that had been in the late 1930s by an audio engineer thought to be lost forever. Some of these named William Savory, it was known to remarkable long-form performances include extended live performances by simply could not fit on the standard discs some of the most honored names in jazz of the time, forcing Mr. Savory to find al­ - but only a handful of people had ever ternatives. The Savory Collection also heard even the smallest fraction of that contains examples of underappreciated music, adding to its mystique. musicians playing at peak creative levels After 70 years that wait has now end­ not heard anywhere else, putting them in ed. This year the National Jazz Museum a new light for music fans and scholars. in Harlem acquired the entire set of "Some of us were aware Savory had nearly 1,000 discs, made at the height of recorded all this stuff, and we were real­ the swing era, and has begun digitizing ly waiting with bated breath to see what recordings of inspired performances by would be there," said Dan Morgenstern, the Grammy-winning jazz historian and critic who is also director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. "Even .though I've heard only a small sampling, it's turning out to be the treas­ ure trove we had hoped it would be, with some truly wonderful, remarkable ses­ sions. None of what I've heard has been heard before. It's all hew." After making the recordings, Mr. Sa­ vory, who had an eccentric, secretive streak, zealously guarded access to his Continued on Page 7 Doug Pomeroy, above, a recording engineer, is transferring the Savory Collection from disc to digital form. Originally recorded by William Sa­ vory, right, an audio engineer, in the late 1930s, the collection features live performances by jazz musicians like, top from left, Coleman Hawkins, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller and Lester Young. -~-- C2 y THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010 A Tribute to Alban Berg and His Viennese Influences Arts, ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - "My job tonight is to allay Compiled by any residual fears you might have," the conductor Leon Bot­ stein said from the stage of the Sosnoff Theater at the MUSIC Fisher Center for the Old Battle Rejoined Over M Performing Arts at A longstanding tug of war has REVIEW Bard College here on begun again between the city of Friday night. Florence and the Italian state STEVE Was there a hint of SMITH over Michelangelo's "David,'' af­ concern in his state- ter a report by state-appointed ment? Perhaps. For the 21st sea­ lawyers was made public. The son of the Bard Music Festival, document argues that although which started on Friday, Mr. Bot­ the statue was commissioned by stein and his collaborators are fo­ the Florentine Republic in 1501, It­ cusing on the life and times of the aly became the rightful titleholder 20th-century Viennese composer after its unification in the 19th Alban Berg. century. At stake are both pride of You might think special plead­ ownership and millions of dollars ing would no longer be needed. in annual ticket sales. Florence's Berg, who was born in 1885 and mayor, Matteo Renzi, sought to re­ died, painfully prematurely, in but the claim, saying, according to 1935, left a relatively small oeuvre news reports, that a decree issued of mature pieces, including the shortly after unification granted two greatest operas of the 20th the city ownership of the building century, "Wozzeck" and "Lulu." where "David" was displayed. But one aspect of Berg's career The national government's lawyers continues to draw attention PHIL MANSFIELD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES mention of the statue itself. With its above others: He was a promi­ "David" was a symbol of the freedo nent disciple of the composer Ar­ Bard Music Festival The violinist Akiko Suwanai and the American Symphony Orchestra at Bard College. Republic and an important source c nold Schoenberg, whose develop­ on Monday, Mayor Renzi declared f ment and promulgation of atonal Berg as much an inheritor of a Wagner and Strauss resounded Berg that pointed to the strong longs to Florence - there are no le and 12-tone composition decisive­ Romantic line running through in the vocal lines of the "Seven influence of Schubert and firm it." Italy's culture minister, Sa ly shaped the course of modern Schubert, Wagner and Mahler. Early Songs," mingled with Im­ Brahms. The clotted late-Roman­ statement on Monday describing t music during the middle of the Accordingly, and somewhat pressionist daubs in the piano tic sound of a similarly youthful and inopportune." 20th century. For those who view unusually for a Bard presenta­ writing; the soprano Christine Piano Quintet by Anton Webern, Schoenberg as the start of every­ tion, you sensed an agenda at Goerke sang magnificently, with who along with Berg became a thing wrong in modern music, work during the first weekend, ti­ elegant accompaniment from the Schoenberg adherent, offered no Berg is guilty by association. tled "Berg and Vienna." In six pianist Pei-Yao Wang. hint of the gemlike miniatures of In subscribing to Schoenberg's long concerts and related lec­ Berg's "Four Pieces" (Op. 5), Webern's later years. Eastwoods 'Hereafter' methods, Berg extended a puta­ tures, weight was shifted from for clarinet and piano, had dra­ More distinguished were two tive lineage devoted to musical Berg's debt to Schoenberg to­ maturgical concision and a lapi­ works by Zemlinsky, based on To Close Film Festival logic, from Beethoven and ward his strong connections to dary gleam in a riveting perform­ poetry by Richard Dehmel. The Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter,'' a Brahms into Schoenberg's work. other Viennese late Romantics, ance by the clarinetist Alexander pianist Alessio Bax showed a movie about the intertwining ex­ What made Berg's music stand like Mahler, Zemlinsky and Fiterstein and the pianist Danny dreamy ease in "Fantasien Uber periences of people who have apart from that of Schoenberg Schreker (whos~ opera "Die Driver. And even if you didn't Gedichte von Richard Dehmel" dealt with death, near-death and and most of his disciples was a Ferne Klang" was presented know that Berg planted numer­ ("Fantasies on Poems by Richard the afterlife, will be the closing­ reconciliation of modernist tech­ here in previous weeks as a pre­ ous references to an extramarital Dehmel''); the tenor Nicholas night selection niques with emotional efficacy cursor to the Berg events). affair in his "Lyric Suite," a su­ Phan, with Ms. Wang, was poised of the New and unambiguous communica­ The initial concert on Friday perb account by the Daedalus and insightful in five elusive York Film Fes­ tiveness: qualities that made was a concise overview of Berg's Quartet made plain the urgent songs Zemlinsky composed near­ tival, on a pro­ career arc, including some of his passions and melancholy regrets ly a decade later. Agreeable gram that will The Bard Music Festival contin­ most approachable works. Jere­ encoded into the work. works by Joseph Marx and Karl also feature ues Friday through Sunday at my Denk's account of the Piano The Saturday afternoon pro­ Weigl indicated a more conserva­ new works by Bard College, Annandale-on-Hud­ Sonata, a wistful, elusive study in gram, "The Vienna of Berg's tive agenda. Jean-Luc son, N.Y.; (845) 758-7900, post-Wagnerian chromaticism, Youth,'' included rudimentary pi­ Saturday night's concert by the Godard, Mike fishercenter.bard.edu/bmf/2010. seemed conjured on the spot. ano works and fledgling songs by American Symphony Orchestra, Leigh and Kelly meant to show the powerful influ­ Reichardt, among other direc­ ence of Mahler, opened with a tors, the Film Society of Lincoln businesslike account of the Ada­ Center said on Monday. "Hereaf­ giofrom his unfinished Sympho­ ter," directed by Mr. Eastwood, Ken Ken ny No. 10: music searing in its Answers to above, and written by Peter Mor· Previous Puzzles emotional impact and rich with gan ("The Queen," "Frost/Nix­ 36X 240X 3+ 2- 2+ 3- the promise of future develop- on"), chronicles the gradual con 1 2 4 3 men ts Mahler would not live to nections of an American psychic 96X B+ 3+ real·1ze. Berg's "Three Pieces" (played by Matt Damon), a 4 3 1 2 (Op. 6), despite a shaky perform­ French journalist (Cecile de 27 anc e, suggested how Berg's or­ France) who has a brush with 72X I 2 4 !'I .__ _ I - - '----~-;- 3 1 che stral writin_g_mi,ght have death1n.tb.e_20.0A.L.::.11nam.Llind .L!filnOAVS30 3N3~n3 .:10 AS3.LllnO::J !HdlOON~ (31SdOd) WVIlll!t\ !HdlOON~ (3JSdOd) WVIlll!t\ !)ll!OA M3N .:10 A.LI::> 3H.L .:10 wmsnw 3H.L !•O.Ll VN.L3ll/8311.L.LO~ .d WVIlllM !S3Wl.L )ll!OA M3N 3H.L/"llf SN!~~IH ll3.LS'.'IH::J '3A08V WOll.:l 3SJM)l::J01::J THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010 y + C7 Great Moments in Jazz, Rediscovered After 70 Years 'Some of us were aware Savory had recorded all this stuff, and we were really waiting with bated breath to see what would be there.' DAN MORGENSTERN, director, Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University citement he felt then about the quality From First Arts Page of the music on the discs.