Legendary Rarely Heard Jazz Bootleg Collection Donated to Museum

[MilesColtrane]

Almost a thousand disks recorded from radio broadcasts by a guy who later on worked for the CIA...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/arts/music/17jazz.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

For decades jazz cognoscenti have talked reverently of “the Savory Collection.” Recorded from radio broadcasts in the late 1930s by an audio engineer named William Savory, it was known to include extended live performances by some of the most honored names in jazz — but only a handful of people had ever heard even the smallest fraction of that music, adding to its mystique.

After 70 years that wait has now ended. This year the National Jazz Museum in Harlem acquired the entire set of nearly 1,000 discs, made at the height of the swing era, and has begun digitizing recordings of inspired performances by Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Bunny Berigan, Harry James and others that had been thought to be lost forever. Some of these remarkable long-form performances simply could not fit on the standard discs of the time, forcing Mr. Savory to find alternatives. The Savory Collection also contains examples of underappreciated musicians playing at peak creative levels not heard anywhere else, putting them in a new light for music fans and scholars.

“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,” 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 treasure trove we had hoped it would be, with some truly wonderful, remarkable sessions. None of what I’ve heard has been heard before. It’s all new.”

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Wow! Wish I could rec this! nt

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. Nice!

[denbot]

3. Wow, very cool

I wonder if the rights questions will prevent the sessions from being released.

[MilesColtrane]

6. I don't know a whole lot about the law, but...

I believe that if the museum paid the composer's licensing fees (performance rights) they should be able to release this material.

Performer's rights (granted to the musicians who played on the recordings) expire after 50 years, so everything before 1940 is fair game.

I think that the only ones involved that could block this would be any of the radio stations that were still around. It's likely that they would negotiate a royalty in exchange for permission to distribute.

There is also the possibility that the museum's lawyers could do a work around, if there's an intransigent party, by releasing it online for free.

[Radical Activist]

4. I can't wait to hear them.

[Soylent Brice]

5. that's awesome.

can't wait for the digital releases.