Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-07
High Fidelity
Gives Juzz
WderScope
Continued From Page E-1o

N~0SO
CONTINUED From Page ED
pear on Clef after O long aSSo-
citation with Mercury. are ortho-
dox studio jobs. featuring such
artists as Count Basic. Teddy
Wilson, Charlie Parker, Roy Ed
rige and Oscar Peterson. These
are less hamboyant and consid-
erably better.
Granz's commercial success
with Jazz at the Philharmonic"
records has encouraged many
imitators. A Hollywood disk
jockey, Gene Norman, has ar
ranged release by various COM
panies of extracts from his
annual Hollywood Bowl jazz
concerts and Brunswick has pro-
duced two potpourri jam sessions
staged at Pythian Temple In
New York before an invited
audience.
But most such performances
leave much to be desired. Arti-
fetal battles" Of jazz produce
fireworks, sell tickets and records
and create employment for de-
serving musicians, but they do
not build lasting music.
Still. there is much to be said
for going outside the studios with
modern equipment, for this frees
musicians from the traditional
time-space conflnementS of stu
dio recording and lets them per-
form without the usual preSsures
Of recording. The results will be
better music If the musicians
are capable Of superior musical
performance.
Dixieland Difflcult.
Far example, Harry James
best dance LIP is Zone Night
Stand" (Columbia), made dur
ing an evening at the Aragon
Ballroom in Chicago. Oddly
enough. it Is the only time a
record company has decided to
record a dance band while it
was playing for dancers.
Music in night clubs has not
Jared so well. probably because
the musicians working in q club
are more open to temptation
than dance-band musicians. But
in at least one case-Dave
Brubeck,s modern group play
ing in one Of the "Jazz at Story
vile" setS-the musicians seem
to have been more at ease and
to have performed better than
under studio conditions. The
Dixieland night-club recordings
are invariably inferior to their
studio counterparts, partly be-
cause the studio groups have
hand-picked personnel.
Modern recording offers pos
sibilities which are constantly
being discovered. Opportunity,
necessity and experimentation
will combine to bring them to
light. While in San Francisco
early this year, I recorded two
artists In ways that never ex-
pected, because they happened
to be the best ways for the spe-
cial situations which arose.
Turk Murphy's band wanted
to record under the least dis |
tracing conditions possible, so |
one afternoon we moved equip |
ment into the night club where
they worked and recorded with |
a single microphone held in the |
hand Of an engineer who was
also one Of the bands most rabid |
enthusiasts. He shifted the posi-
ton Of the mike as required at
any instant Of each piece, In
stead Of making the musicians
adjust their positions or play to
the requirements Of a stationary
microphone.
In the other case, took lik-
ing to the honky-ton sound Of an
old upright piano with thumb
tacks in the hammers, which was
in a small, plaster-walled room
on the second floor Of some ones
home. The room was as much
q part Of the sound as the piano,
50 we strung cables up the stairs,
and after an evening of expert
mentation, pianist Wally Rose
recorded q fine collection Of au-
thentic ragtime pieces with the
front and top Of the piano
stripped away, a wad Of Kleenex
damping the soft pedal to just |
the right degree. and the BUSH |
ness end Of an Aztec mike held
within an inch Of the center Of |
the piano strings.
My elbows wouldn't Straighten
out for two days, but it was
-A~kEa