[Dixielandjazz] Vale Frank Driggs

[Bill Haesler]

Dear Friends,
The following has just be received from David Jessup (the CU Glenn Miller Archive ) via Carl A. Hällström.
Sad indeed, for Mr Driggs gave so much to jazz in his lifetime.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Driggs
We await further details.
Very kind regards,
Bill.

"After seeing this news posted on another forum, I'd like to suggest a moment of silence and respect for Frank Driggs, whose passing was reported earlier today.

Record company executive / producer, collector, author ("Black Beauty, White Heat").

His relevance to our forum: he was the producer responsible for the domestic reissue of Miller's catalog for RCA Victor/Bluebird on a set of nine double-LPs from 1975 to 1980... the master tapes of which were, so far as I know, reused to produce the 13-CD reissue, and further reused, I presume, for the currently-available mp3 version of those recordings.

As a teen interested in hearing *all* of Miller's material, those LPs were welcomed, to put it mildly. Absent the 78s, these were the only way I had to hear the total output of this band, and to be able (slightly later, but while the reissue series was still in progress) to be able to feature *any* needed Miller tune on my college radio show.

No matter that faults can be picked for the remastering of these LPs given today's technology *and* the time and loving care of dedicated fans - his achievements in this area alone, making this music readily available to people of my generation under the conditions he faced at the company, merit respect and admiration. "

-- David Jessup