Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Listening to Prestige Records Part 12: Missing Al Haig/Blossom Dearie

The first time I've struck out, and it's a shame. The session was July 28, 1949, and the group was billed as the Al Haig Sextet. Personnel Kai Winding (trombone), Stan Getz (tenor saxophone), Al Haig (piano), Jimmy Raney (guitar -1,2, guitar, vocals -3,4),Tommy Potter (bass) Roy Haynes (drums). All of which would be enough to make it interesting, but here's the kicker: Blossom Dearie (vocals -3,4).

Is this Blossom Dearie's first recording? It could be. She sang in vocal groups with Woody Herman and Alvino Rey in the 40s, but her career didn't really start until she went to Paris and formed the Blue Stars, and that was 1952. Her classic "Lullabye of Birdland" wasn't recorded till 1954.

And I can't find these cuts anywhere except British iTunes, which I can't access. The two Blossom Dearie cuts are on album called "Little Jazz Bird," which is only available in England. The titles are distinctive - the two instrumentals are "Pinch Bottle" and "Earless Engineering." The two with Blossom are "Be Still, TV" and "Short P not LP." You can find a brief clip of "Be Still, TV" on Allmusic.com (with the added info that it was written by Jimmy Raney), but it cuts out before the vocal.

If anyone has this on mp3 and would like to send it to me, I'd be delighted.

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