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Re: [ARSCLIST] Yet another great box set from Mosaic
Having worked most of my years as a motion picture
editor, I can think of two ways Bostic could have
overdubbed in 1952. Film sound dubbing/mixing stages
were already taking separate tracks, editing them to
fit on the bench, synching them up and finishing with
a final mono mix all the time, and maybe there was
someone who thought of that as being a way to let
Bostic overdub. The more obvious way would have been
to play back the master track, and let him record his
overdub to a mix of his live sound and the prerecorded
track to a final track.
Rod Stephens
--- Dave Lewis <dlewis@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I too would vouch for Bostic. In his "Why'd You Do
> It?" (1952) he
> overdubs a minimalist call and response thing,
> and would have had to have done so in half-track
> mono. When I played it
> for Mike Biel he said that he'd never
> heard anything like it; neither of us could figure
> out how it could've
> been done in 1952.
>
> And his playing is full of stuff that points forward
> to Free Jazz; it's
> just the settings, selection of material
> and short, singles length selection tends to draw
> away from the
> innovative nature of his musicianship. Bostic was
> a monster, nonetheless.
>
> To those already mentioned, I'd like to add the
> tracks "Moonglow" and
> "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," the LPs "The Best of
> Bostic" and "Earl Bostic
> Plays the Hits of the Roaring Twenties" - there are
> doubtless others, as
> he was quite prolific.
>
> David N. Lewis
> Assistant Classical Editor, All Music Guide
>
> Maybe music was not intended to satisfy the curious
> definiteness of man.
> Maybe it is better to hope that music may always be
> transcendental
> language in the most extravagant sense. ~ Charles
> Ives
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger and
> Allison Kulp
> Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 1:04 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Yet another great box set
> from Mosaic
>
>
> Earl Bostic (April 25, 1913 - October 28, 1965)
> was an American jazz
> and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist, a pioneer of
> the post-war
> American Rhythm and Blues style. He had a number of
> popular hits such as
> "Flamingo", "Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep"
> and "Where or
> When", which showed off his characteristic growl on
> the horn. He was a
> major influence on John Coltrane(1,2)
>
>
> Career
> Bostic was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He turned
> professional at age 18
> when he joined Terrence Holder's 'Twelve Clouds of
> Joy'. He made his
> first recording with Lionel Hampton in 1942 where he
> played along with
> Red Allen, J. C. Higginbotham, Sid Catlett, Teddy
> Wilson and Hampton.
> Before that he performed with Fate Marable on New
> Orleans riverboats.
> Bostic graduated from Xavier University in New
> Orleans. He worked with
> territory bands as well as Arnett Cobb, Hot Lips
> Page, Rex Stewart, Don
> Byas, Charlie Christian, Thelonious Monk, Edgar
> Hayes, Cab Calloway, and
> other jazz luminaries. In 1938, and in 1944, Bostic
> led the house band
> at Small's Paradise.(3) While playing at Small's
> Paradise, he doubled on
> guitar and trumpet. During the early 1940s, he was a
> well respected
> regular at the famous jam sessions held at Minton's
> Playhouse. He formed
> his own band in 1945, and turned to rhythm and blues
> in the late 1940s.
> His biggest hits were "Temptation," "Sleep,"
> "Flamingo," "You Go to My
> Head" and "Cherokee." At various times his band
> included Jaki Byard,
> John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Blue Mitchell, Stanley
> Turrentine, Tommy
> Turrentine, Keter Betts, Sir Charles Thompson, Teddy
> Edwards, Tony
> Scott, Benny Carter and other musicians who rose to
> prominence in jazz.
> Bostic's King album titled Jazz As I Feel It
> featured Shelly Manne on
> drums, Joe Pass on guitar and Groove Holmes on
> organ. Bostic recorded A
> New Sound about one month later again featuring
> Holmes and Pass. These
> recordings allowed Bostic to stretch out beyond the
> 3 minute limit
> imposed by the 45 RPM format. Bostic was pleased
> with the sessions which
> highlight his total mastery of the blues but they
> also foreshadowed
> musical advances that were later evident in the work
> of John Coltrane
> and Eric Dolphy.
> He wrote arrangements for Paul Whiteman, Louis
> Prima, Lionel Hampton,
> Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, Hot Lips Page, Jack
> Teagarden, Ina Ray Hutton
> and Alvino Rey.
> His songwriting hits include "Let Me Off Uptown"
> performed by Anita
> O'Day and Roy Eldridge and "Brooklyn Boogie" which
> featured Louis Prima
> and members of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
> Bostic's signature hit, "Flamingo" was recorded in
> 1951 and remains a
> favorite among followers of Carolina Beach Music in
> South Carolina,
> North Carolina and Virginia.
> During the early 1950s Bostic lived with his wife
> in Addisleigh Park
> where many other jazz stars made their home.(5)
> After that he moved to
> Los Angeles where he concentrated on writing
> arrangements after
> suffering a heart attack.
> Bostic died from a heart attack in Rochester, New
> York, while
> performing with his band in 1965.
>
> Style and Influence Bostic was influenced by
> Sidney Bechet and
> (according to James Moody) Coltrane in turn was
> influenced by Bostic.
> Coltrane told Down Beat magazine in 1960 that Bostic
> "showed me a lot of
> things on my horn. He has fabulous technical
> facilities on his
> instrument and knows many a trick." Moody mentioned
> that "Bostic knew
> his instrument inside out, back to front and upside
> down." If one
> listens carefully to Bostic's fabulous stop time
> choruses and his
> extended solo work, the roots of Coltrane's "sheets
> of sound" become
> clear.
> Bostic's virtuosity on the saxophone was legendary,
> and is evident on
> records such as Up There In Orbit, Earl's
> Imagination, Apollo Theater
> Jump, All On, Artistry by Bostic, Telestar Drive,
> Liza, Lady Be Good and
> Tiger Rag. He was famous as a peerless jammer and
> held his own against
> Charlie Parker. The alto saxophonist Sweet Papa Lou
> Donaldson recalled
> seeing Parker get burned by Bostic during one such
> jam session. Art
> Blakey remarked that "Nobody knew more about the
> saxophone than Bostic,
> I mean technically, and that includes Bird. Working
> with Bostic was like
> attending a university of the saxophone.When
> Coltrane played with
> Bostic, I know he learned a lot"(1) Victor
> Schonfield pointed out that
> "...his greatest gift was the way he communicated
> through his horn a
> triumphant joy in playing and being, much like Louis
> Armstrong and only
> a few others have done." He was able to control the
> horn from low B flat
> up into the altissimo range years before other
> saxophonists dared to
> stray. Bostic was able to play melodies in the
> altissimo range with
> perfect execution. He could play wonderfully in any
> key at any tempo
> over any changes. Benny Golson, who called Bostic
> "the best technician I
> ever heard in my life," mentioned that "He could
> start from the bottom
> of the horn and skip over notes, voicing it up the
> horn like a guitar
> would. He had circular breathing before I even knew
> what circular
> breathing was - we're talking about the early 50s.
> He had innumerable
> ways of playing one particular note. He could double
> tongue, triple
> tongue. It was incredible what he could do, and he
> helped me by showing
> me many technical things." Bostic used a Beechler
> mouthpiece with a
> tenor saxophone reed on his Martin Committee model
> alto sax.(2) Bostic
> was a master of the blues and he used this skill in
> a variety of musical
> settings. Although he recorded many commercial
> albums, some notable jazz
> based exceptions on the King label include Bostic
> Rocks Hits of the
> Swing Age, Jazz As I Feel It and A New Sound.
> Compositions like "The
> Major and the Minor" and "Earl's Imagination"
> display a solid knowledge
> of harmony. In 1951, Bostic successfully toured with
> Dinah Washington on
> the R&B circuit.(4) Bostic was always well dressed
> and articulate during
> interviews. His live performances provided an
> opportunity for a
> departure from his commercial efforts and those who
> witnessed these
> shows remember him driving audiences into a frenzy
> with dazzling
> technical displays. Always the consummate showman,
> he appeared on the
> Soupy Sales TV show and performed the Soupy Shuffle
> better than Soupy
> while playing the saxophone.(6) His popular hits
> such as "Flamingo",
> "Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep" and "Where
> or When" showed off
> his characteristic growl on the horn. He adopted a
> danceable beat for
> these commercial successes while employing less
> notes than on his jazz
> based recordings. Gene Redd See also :
> http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/bostic.html
>
> Dance to The Best of Bostic King 500
> (Compiled from rare 10" Lps,one of which I own on
> the UK Parlophone.)
> Earl Bostic "For You" King 503 "Alto-tude" King 515
> "Dance Time" King
> 525 "Let's Dance With Earl Bostic" King 529 "Alto
> Magic In Hi-Fi" King
> 597 "Bostic Workshop" King 613 (The only one here I
> have never owned.)
> "Earl Bostic Plays Hit Tunes of Big Broadway Shows"
> King 705 "Earl
> Bostic Plays the Great Hits of 1964" King 921.
>
> There are also his "decades" Lps with "tunes of the"
> 30s,40s,50s,as well
> as a 1965 Polydor memorial Lp,that was only issued
> in Holland,where mine
> is from, and Germany,as far as I know.
>
> Roger
>
>
> Dance to the Best Of Bostic
> Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Hi
> Aaron:
>
> Can you cite some albums or songs you like? Thanks!
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
>
>
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