Greg Antonelli – The Savory Collection

Even if jazz isn’t your thing I’m sure along the way everyone has had the experience of dusting off an old jazz record and throwing it on the turn table. No? Well then you ripped the mp3 off of limewire. Either way, even if you aren’t a jazz enthusiast I’m sure at one point you’ve listened to tracks from the swing and bop eras. While these recordings are great, they don’t change. Every time you listen to these recordings the tempos are the same, the musicians are always the same, and the solos don’t change. This takes away from a jazz experience because jazz is a music centered around improvisation and change. This is why jazz fans all over are excited about the discovery and remastering of “The Savory Collection”.

The New York Times article about the finding can be seen here.

“The Savory Collection” is a compilation of about 980 discs filled with live recordings of prominent jazz artists from the height of the Swing Era. These recordings were recorded by William Savory, an audio engineer mostly from radio broadcasts. The methods Savory used allowed him to record for much longer than most recording studios allowed at the time. This allowed him to capture extended solos and entire jam sessions of some of the most well known jazz artists in history including Lester Young, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Billie Holliday, and many, many more. As a jazz fan I’m excited to hear as much of this as I can. I’ve heard some of the saxophone recordings of Lester Young and I was very impressed. Over time these recordings may become just as common as the other jazz albums around but for now it’s a new look at some old school jazz. Since we can’t build a time machine (I’ve tried and failed several times) “The Savory Collection” is probably the closest we will come to a live performance by these jazz all-stars.

Another article with some sound clips can be found here