[Dixielandjazz] Early recordings, time, tempos, etc

[dingle at baldwin-net.com]

Vaxtrpts at aol.com wrote:

> 
>In reply  to my question regarding tempos and length of recordings for 78s, 
>Zeke  wrote the following:
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Rubin  Zarchy"
>To: "Robert S. Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com>
>Sent:  Tuesday, September 27, 2005 8:17 AM
>Subject: Re: Tempos
>
>  
>
>>Hi  Bob
>>              It is  possible that there might have
>>been cuts made in tunes due to time  limitations but in
>>my experience this has never happened.    Between the
>>arranger and the leader the time was worked out  well
>>before the session .  I have never heard of the  tempo
>>being changed to accomodate  the time of a  recording.
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>Zeke
>>    
>>
>(snip)
>
>
>
>
>  
>
>Ah, Bob, but I think we are talking "apples and oranges" here.  As I  
>remember, the posts from before were talking about early jazz groups, not big  bands. 
> The jazz groups, in many cases just like today, had head  arrangements that 
>they had played before the recording, that had improvisation  in them.  
>Therefore, they could have had different lengths, depending on  solos, 
>etc.......................
>Zeke is talking about big band arrangements that would have to be "scripted  
>out" before the recording session, so that the length of the tune and the 
>tempo  were predetermined before they went in to record them.  No need to speed up 
> or change anything.
>Mike Vax
>_______________________________________________
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>Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>
>  
>
Ted Weems used Heartaches as a "stretcher." The band could play it for 
long or for short needs. All Orm Downes needed to do was canbge some of 
the traps he used on drums to make it a whole new sounds, and the 
reddeds would swtich from clar to sax, or the brass would play a 
staccoto muted and then play full note sound open. Idicently, because 
the tune, actually recored twice befroe WW2 is often thought of as Ted's 
theme song,
there theme song was a rather haunting "Out of the Night," and  usually 
had a little Elmo Tanner  whistling in it. Becasue soem  DJ played it 
innthe 50's, people thought it was a great "new" tune, and record sales  
put Ted Back into the full time bandleader business. Unfortunately he 
never  got any oryalties for that '30's re-issue because there were no 
royalty agreements like those that had been since it was first recorded.
I was on the Weems band in '54 and '55, and Jack Hanna was on drums for 
part of that span. Fine drummer, real character, nice  guy.

Don Ingle