BENNY GOODMAN THREW A PARTY (1.16.68): JESS STACY, GENE KRUPA, LIONEL HAMPTON, RUBY BRAFF (CBS)

Benny threw a party at his apartment to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Carnegie Hall concert: invited musical guests include Jess Stacy, piano; Gene Krupa, drums; Lionel Hampton, vibraphone; Ruby Braff, cornet. This raw footage, with gaps, comes from CBS News coverage, narrated by David Culhane; the [excerpted] selections include ROSETTA, interview with Benny; interview with Lionel; AVALON; BODY AND SOUL; IF I HAD YOU (?); AVALON; audience shots; the cake; THE SONG IS ENDED (?).
Presented by Michael Steinman for JAZZ LIVES (www.jazzlives.w...)

[@Clara_Datorino]

Questo video è semplicemente formidabile perché oltre a regalarci l' ascolto dell' esecuzione musicale di alcuni fra i maggiori musicisti jazz del mondo ci emoziona permettendoci di entrare nel loro mondo e vivere con loro quel momento magico che questi vecchi amici nel ritrovarsi sanno creare. Video da conservare gelosamente e rivedere e risentire più volte. Le interruzioni ci stanno a fagiolo perché lo arricchiscono di un' atmosfera più giusta per i vecchi tempi. Fra i Grandi, comunque Benny Goodman e' lui il più GRANDE. Sono le ventitré e quaranta.

[@nikolaymeleshko2389]

That's just wonderful. Simply great.

[@PiotrBarcz]

Jess Stacy was massively underrated and hardly any quality video of him exists (in fact, none, all of it blurry old tapes like this... such a shame this is all that can be recovered.) And it's weird because he was Benny's band pianist for years and played some of the most famous Goodman concerts!

[@swingyoucats]

True enough, although I wouldn't call the current footage blurry. But if you read about Stacy, you realize that he shunned the limelight unless pushed into it, so some of the neglect is (as you say) awful and some of it is because he was really a retiring man. The new Mosaic Bob Crosby set (out next year sometime) has amazing Stacy on records . . .

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@swingyoucats Yeah I guess I was over exaggerating, in this case the video is quite sharp but it still has a lack lustre camera angle, I'm sure you agree about that detail. Stacy being more of a recluse even in concert I feel like makes sense. Seeing the photos of him and the way he carried himself in the 1950s recorded concerts, I get the impression he was a very modest guy who just wanted to give the band his best supporting. That Bob Crosby album you mentioned sounds like a great source for Stacy recordings! I've only heard one recording of Jess with Crosby's band and that's on that live 1941 recording where he featured on piano playing Ain't Goin' Nowhere (a tune that I am the only pianist currently alive to have in his repertoire actually).

[@swingyoucats]

How can I hear you, Piotr? My email is [e-mail].

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@swingyoucats I somehow missed your reply with your email! I just recently posted a video from the Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival of me playing Ain't Goin' Nowhere if that's what you were looking for ;)

[@PiotrBarcz]

Strange watermark on the video, is that from your video editor?

[@swingyoucats]

No, it's on the source material.

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@swingyoucats Wow, that's really odd that they'd do that.

[@Afro3461]

After seeing this snapshot of musical history it struck me how sad it is that we have such incredible recording technology available today to video and record hours of mundane rubbish, but it wasn’t around to capture the essence of truly great musicianship that this fragment of film captured! Yes, we have the records, but just imagine if the actual 38 concert could have been recorded with today’s equipment! That really would have been something special!

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@Afro3461 Imagine if whoever made recordings of the 1938 concert had not been stupid enough to just keep it all back (and inevitably losing it) leaving us with only a couple camera angles from Sing Sing Sing!