I still recall with pride the landmark broadcast events that The Big Apple took notice of and that, in a pre-digital age, the mainstream press helped the world to find out about. These would include WKCRs Charlie Parker Festival (August - September 1973); Coleman Hawkins Festival (October 1975); Lost Masters Festivals (a lost standing tradition that started in August 1978 and lingered into this century). One standout was are our marathon, The Roy Eldridge Festival, that held forth on KCR airways for a good chunk of mid-January 1978. On the second day of our Little Jazz Fest, I played a heretofore unknown alternate take of Wabash Stomp from Eldridges breakthrough record debut of January 23, 1937. All {joyful} hell broke loose and the positive pandemonium did not die down for hours. Definitive Roy Eldridge fan, Tony Perry of Chicago, called in minutes - remember this was pre-Internet - and requested all sorts of details about the find. Press inquiries and published reports lasted into the spring and Roy, himself, spoke publicly on the find. I want you to contemplate that I played take 2 - the unknown unlisted unheard alternate - of Wabash Stomp while the Super Bowl was on TV and still a vast audience was listening to ROY! It was an event, a landmark event. Well ... today ... nearing 36 years after all that hoopla, I added two more UNLISTED UNKNOWN UNHEARD alternate takes from that classic session and date - a 2nd take to both Florida Stomp and Hecklers Hop. The world didnt stop this time, nor did the presses (and theres even more of a story to this find), but the music is just as supreme and Ive reprised some of the joy of both January 1937 and January 1978.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 03:08:00 +0000
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