Customer Reviews

Opus De Bop

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OPUS DE BOP was a collection of 78rpm records from 1946, that have been released over the years under numerous titles. The Kenny Dorham Quintet material here has been on several compilations ("The Modern Jazz Piano Album," "Opus De Bop," and "The Bebop Boys"), under Kenny Dorham's name ("Blues In Bebop"), as well as Sonny Stitt's name ("New Sound In Modern Music, Vol. 1," "New Trends In Jazz, Vol. 8," and "New Trends In Jazz, Vol. 9") as well as the original 78 issue under the name The Bebop Boys ("Ray's Idea" c/w "Good Kick"). The other sessions by the Stan Getz Quartet and the Fats Navarro Quintet have similarly convoluted histories of release. One may note that the title of the release often reflects which musician from such an early BeBop session happened to be getting acclaim at the time (Dorham, Stitt, etc.); and that the original name "The BeBop Boys" would have sufficed to define them quite well in 1946, but became less descriptive over time. The CD lists "Bonus Tracks" by Stan Getz (a different Octet grouping from 1949 playing "Stan Getz Along," "Stan's Mood," "Sweet Miss") that are not included. This would explain why this disc is most often listed under Getz' name. As such, this is a collection of Bebop from 1946 sessions by three different groupings (1-4: Stan Getz Quartet, 5-8: Kenny Dorham Quintet, 9-12: Fats Navarro Quintet), recorded and originally released by the Savoy label. In all likelyhood much of this material has been recorded with as little as a single microphone and there are pops, cracks and groove noise evident upon close inspection; revealing that these were culled from the original shellac, rather than existing master tapes. These tunes sound every bit of 1946, but if you're a fan of Dameron & Navarro for instance, you won't find this material on the Complete Blue Note Sessions for obvious reasons. Some of the performances by Stan Getz, Hank Jones, Curly Russell, Max Roach, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Bud Powell, Fats Navarro, Leo Parker and Tadd Dameron are quite good. "Opus De Bop", "Fool's Fancy", and "Goin' To Minton's", as well as several ballads, are certainly worth owning. For this time period this disc rates 4 out of 5 stars. Enjoy.