[Dixielandjazz] Carnegie Hall Liner Notes

[Stan Brager]

Steve;

1) You can't have it both ways. You reject what Bill and I have written
because of a lack of a specific quote although backed by someone who knew
Benny and worked with Benny on the mastering of the Carnegie Hall acetates.
On the other hand, you seem to hold to certain positions regarding Benny
Goodman simply because BG was, in your opinion, a control freak. As the song
goes "Gotta Be This Or That".

2) The quantity and placement of microphones at dance venues have nothing in
common with the mics at Carnegie Hall. They were there for the regular
symphonic broadcasts and I'm guessing that they were all overhead mics in
order to get a good balance of sound.

3) Why bring up the Paramount when the discussion is about Carnegie Hall?

4) No one, except you and Benny Goodman has ever stated that their was only
a single mic at Carnegie. The fact that there was a mixing console backstage
is evidence that there were several mics there.

5) I mentioned Irving Kodolin only because you mentioned his name while
quoting from the liner notes.

6) Believe what you want to believe, Steve. I was in New York at the time
but my parents didn't take me there. I don't know if Bill Savory is correct
in what he stated in the interview regarding Carnegie Hall. However, he was
the best source of information. It would be interesting to read the
transcript of his interview.

In conclusion, I thought that I'd pass on some additional information. The
chief engineer on the mastering of the Carnegie Hall acetates was Howard
Scott. Bill Savory and another engineer also worked on the project. Howard
Scott was given those acetates by Benny Goodman a few years before prior to
Benny's passing. Bill Savory was Helen Ward's husband.

Stan


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "Stan Brager" <sbrager at socal.rr.com>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Carnegie Hall Liner Notes


> on 6/15/07 9:12 PM, Stan Brager at sbrager at socal.rr.com wrote:
>
> > Steve;
> >
> > The reference to Benny's single mike at Carnegie Hall comes from an
> > interview with Bill Savory and was written in an email to the DJML list
on
> > June 12 which was addressed to you as well as DJML. Bill knew Benny
fairly
> > well according to his statements.
>
> Yes, I read your post, but then you did not publish an actual quote. Also,
> Bill Haesler's quote from another source following your note, said Benny
was
> unaware of the recording information at the time of the concert. I tend to
> think that Benny was aware, given his penchant for control.
> >
> > Zarchy's statements regarding the mikes was in reference to floor
microphone
> > standards for big band venues during the 30s and early 40s as well. For
> > Carnegie Hall, my guess is that Benny noticed the overhead mike and was
> > satisfied enough not to concern himself about other microphones. I can't
> > remember ever seeing a photo taken in Carnegie Hall before 1940 which
showed
> > a floor microphone.
>
> Below is the actual quote from Zarchy about BG's band and mikes.
>
> "That story re Benny saying " Take away the mikes" could very well be
true.
> there was indeed only one mike on all the bandstands and that was indeed
> used for announcements and vocalists. That went for every band I was ever
> with."
>
> The photo of B.G.'s band at the Paramount Theater in NYC in 1938, (Ken
Burns
> Companion Book  on Jazz) clearly shows at least 3 FLOOR MIKES. Other
photos
> in the book show FLOOR MIKES for bands of Basie, Woody Herman and Billy
> Eckstein taken in 1938 and 1943. My post made that very clear. Those
photos
> directly contradict what Zarchy said. Perhaps Zarchy was not in the band
for
> that gig.
>
> I would agree that Carnegie may never have had microphones, other than
that
> overhead, before BG's concert. The acoustics were wonderful. Toscanini
> supposedly made his radio broadcasts with that mike only. But then, he
> didn't have a jazz band. :-) VBG.
>
> > Regarding Irving Kodolin, while was most probably at the concert, he
erred
> > when he stated that one copy of the recording was for the Library Of
> > Congress. Judging from his liner notes and the fact that he was a
budding
> > journalist at the time, I would hazard the thought that he was more
> > interested in the people and financial success aspects of the concert
and
> > didn't give a fig about the technical concerns such as microphones, etc.
>
> I neither knew Kodolin nor what he cared about. However your thoughts are
> reasonable.
>
> > While we'll never know for certain, I'll put my money on Bill Savory as
> > having the most accurate assessment of the recording process.
>
> I agree. That and John McDonough's liner notes on the re-mastered set seem
> pretty much in agreement. Except that there seems to be some disagreement
as
> to whether BG knew about the recording of the concert at the time, which
is
> why, not having the book you quoted from, I'm interested in exactly what
BG
> said and when he said it via a direct quote rather than a paraphrase.
>
> Basically because it seems to me that BG, who was a control freak, could
not
> have helped but see the various floor mikes around the bandstand, or in
the
> wings, and know exactly why they were there. Prior stories about BG
saying,
> on other gigs, that he did not want any mikes around would seem to
indicate
> that he would have had them removed at Carnegie . . . unless he knew they
> were for recording and gave his permission.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>