[78-L] Length of jazz recordings

[Michael Biel]

From: Don Cox <doncox at enterprise.net>
 
> Before the LP, transcription discs had long playing times. 

Side time length has nothing to do with this. Continuous recordings can
be made far beyond the 15 minute length of a 16-inch 33 e.t.  You first
have to consider live broadcasts -- were there long jazz performances at
all?


> But to get long performances, as opposed to several songs on one disc,
> you would have to look for early recordings of live concerts.

"Concerts" are not the real place to look.  The basic question is what
length did musicians play when they had no limits -- and possibly no
audience.  Did they go ten, fifteen, twenty minutes or longer on their
own? If a band is playing for dancers, sometimes long continuous sets
are preferred, but other times dancers need breaks.  Remember that three
of Paul Whiteman's first five records were 12-inch medleys for dancing,
and these were not unusual at that time.

> The jazz equivalent of the mid-thirties recordings of Toscanini with the
> BBC SO.       Regards  Don Cox  doncox at enterprise.net

No it ISN'T.  You can't compare classical works -- which are written --
with jazz or even popular dance music which can be modified in
performance either by written arrangement or extemporaneous. Classical
works were ALWAYS longer for hundreds of years -- but some were as short
as a record side but written hundreds of years before the phonograph. 
The real question was what was jazz practice: was it dictated by side
length?  what were the time lengths of Benny's Carnegie Hall oncert? 
What were thye time lengths in his live remotes?  What were the time
lengths of Glenn Miller's broadcasts?  Most were side length. 

This was discussed in the jazz magazines in the 40s when 12-inch jazz
releases became more common.  Remember Victor's 12-inch album "Symposium
of Swing" and Decca's "Five feet of Swing".  Blue Note and Commodore
issued many 12-inch discs beyond the 2-part 10-inch discs already
mentioned.  The post-war vinyl 12-inch discs on American Music got a lot
of publicity at the time.  And there WAS discussion in the jazz press
when the LP came along and some of the longer sets were issued. (I can't
look them up right now.) 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com