[St. Vincent | These Days is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Ok, I’ll be real honest here…. This tune somehow got wedged deeply in my melon yesterday and i have no idea how. This is me paying it forward. Good thing this song is an absolute classic.

[Hooked on Hornsby is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

History remembers 1969 as a pivotal year for art and music. The Newport Jazz Festival was no exception to this phenomenon. The extraordinary performances that took place at the 1969 Newport Jazz Festival represented a departure from anything the festival had embodied before, or since. This was the the year that rock bands played the same bill as notable jazz musicians. George Wein, tired of the avant-garde jazz movement, envisioned rock music as a translation of the blues, and thus an extension (although distant) of the roots of jazz. For the festival he labeled this music as “Jazz-Rock.” What transpired was a line up placing Led Zeppelin alongside the likes of Herbie Hancock and B.B. King, or Jeff Beck and Jethro Tull with Rashaan Roland Kirk. Anita O’ Day played the same evening as Sun Ra. And James Brown took over an entire Sunday Afternoon.

“The avant-garde movement is going nowhere,” Wein writes in the producers’ forward of the 1969 program. “It’s been around about ten years and all it has done, in addition to destroying the precious quality known in jazz as style, is to confuse an entire decade of young musicians who feel it is necessary to be associated with the so-called forward line.” He goes on to condemn the state of jazz by praising what many genre hard-liners would consider its primary antagonists: “the better rock kids have enthusiasm and drive that many young jazz musicians seem to lack. They know there is a public out there and they go get it. They improvise, jam, play with a beat, play the blues and have many of the characteristics of jazz. But is it JAZZ?”

Well, to answer George Wein’s question: no, it wasn’t jazz. It was in fact something else, something altogether different, that spoke to a new generation. The ‘69 festival brought an unprecedented number of fans. At over 85,000 ticketed guests, the audience broke the record from all previous Jazz Festivals throughout its sixteen year span. George Wein was to book acts like Led Zeppelin, Sly and the Family Stone, and Zappa’s Mothers of Invention that would push the festival into rock music’s mainstream. Although an innovative idea, the festival performances caused confusion and anger among the long-time jazz fans as well as critics. It brought an unruly youth that chose to crawl over the seats towards the stage rather then sit. George Wein took drastic measures to disperse the crowds by stating that one of its key performers, Led Zeppelin, would not play. That announcement was a lie that severed relations with the band from the festival producer. Led Zeppelin did indeed play. As did all the bands on the bill.

The festival became a struggle for control. From the start, Wein wanted to control the seeming divergence of jazz into avant-gard disfunction. He created an avenue into a scene that vibrated with enthusiasm, innovation, and musical structure. What he viewed as the steady erosion of the genre’s artistic direction and commercial viability led him to music revolution over capitulation. However, this was not the kind of revolution of sound Wein was looking for. In chasing off the avant-garde with the jackhammer of rock, many feared he had cracked the very foundation of the music he so loved. In later years, Wein himself would admit regret at allowing rock into the festival. In his book Myself Among Others he states: “I still consider it the nadir of my career. I agreed wholeheartedly with Dan Morgenstern when he wrote, in Down Beat, that ‘the rock experiment was a resounding failure.’”

Although Wein remembers the festival with less enthusiasm than he had envisioned, the festival proved to be an important marker for jazz music, as well as the festival’s future. The musicians who played the festival shook the fields at Newport with their amazing sets. In listening to James Brown perform from the ‘69 festival, we can hear the unstoppable energy of an uncategorized sound. James Brown may be the Father of Soul, but he surely transcends genres. Maybe thats why critics at the festival could only applaude at such a performance of polished, yet undefinable sound and vision. Later years would see the return to more tradtional styles of jazz. The 1970 festival would salute Louis Armstrong and the veterans of jazz music. Although R&B and soul would work their way into the festival line up, the doors were closed for rock.

Regardless of the outcome at the festival, Wein can be certain that he made no mistake at picking the best of the best in his jazz-rock line up. The bands went on to sell millions of records, gold, platnum, you name it. In the effort to speak to Wein’s written regret of the festival, we can only say: George, you always knew how to pick the best.

—Victoria Keddie and Peter Lockhart

[Newport 1969: The Year Rock Invaded Jazz is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

This has got be my favorite cut from the entire 1959 Newport Jazz festival…. Ok, definitely top 3. Lee Morgan’s stellar arrangement of this classic standard is just so damn cool; The tension of the opening, the artistry of Mobley’s solo, the surprise explosiveness of Blakey’s drumming all help to create nine and a half captivating minutes of Jazz. Enjoy.

[Messengers of Cool is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

This is one we’ve been excited about for a while now. To commemorate what would have been The Godfather of Soul’s 77th birthday, we’ll be releasing a set recorded at the 1969 Newport Jazz Festival on Monday, May 3rd.  The show, which features 15 songs, smokes from start to finish…even the ballads make you want to boogie. Painstakingly restored and transferred from the original 1″ analog tape, the sound quality is spectacular and, we think, does this historical recording the justice it deserves.  Mark your calendar — James Brown Live in ‘69 will be available in it’s entirety on Wolfgang’s Vault on May 3rd, 2010.

[Say It Loud – James Brown Coming Soon is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

[Obama’s Space Oddity? is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Though this tune has been covered and referenced by all manner of blues, folk and rock royalty, this man was its unfiltered source.  Hear Booker himself playing to an intimate crowd of 55 loyal Ash Grove patrons on a balmy thursday in August 1967. Cheers.

[Fixin’ To Die is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Groovy. That may be the perfect word to describe Richie Haven’s take on the Commodores seminal hit “Easy.”  He sets the tone of the tune to follow with some self-deprecating banter and a warning to the packed audience at NYC’s Bottom Line, explaining, “We all just decided we heard this song enough on the radio to play it… we really don’t know this song…”

That may or may not have been the case, but they damn sure seem to understand it. Herman Ernest’s slightly down tempo groove mixes with Sam Henry’s tasteful comping to create a perfectly relaxed platform for Haven’s always infusive vocals. I especially love how he dips back from the mic and sings the first phrase of each verse with the band. It’s just rad. So relax, and give this cut a listen.

[Havens Does Richie is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

If you still don’t believe me just watch them in action. Warning: May Melt Faces.

[Beasts Born of Bowie, Byrne and Buckley is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Tim Buckley Performs at Newport '68. © Elliott Landy

Grammy-winning British expat and all-around swell chap Warren Russell-Smith has worked on a seemingly countless number of recordings for Wolfgang’s Vault in the last 4 years. Warren is the chief engineer of the Blue Room, one of New York’s premiere destinations for audio restoration located in SoHo’s storied Magic Shop Recording Studios. Since last July he has been the principle engineer involved in our efforts to preserve and present the music of the Newport folk and jazz archives. Having worked extensively on last year’s historic Thompkin Square release, Tim Buckley Live At The Folklore Center, NYC March 6, 1967, Warren was uniquely prepared to attend to the mixing and mastering needs of this arresting set.

To give you some background, between July and mid October we archived and digitized some 1,700+ tapes spanning nearly every major audio format available between 1955 and 2000. No small feat I can tell you. All of the digital transfers were made at the industry leading 24 bit / 192k audio  resolution (think Blu-Ray audio) with Mytek analog-to-digital converters. The majority of those tapes were ¼” stereo or mono recordings. However, there are considerable pockets of other higher track count formats. Some of  my personal favorites are the ½” 3-track and 4-track tapes that contain the 1959-60 jazz and 1968-69 folk festivals.

Shortly before we began work on mixing and mastering the ‘59 jazz material in October, Steve Rosenthal (owner and proprietor of the Magic Shop) procured a brand new Neve 5088 16-channel discrete analog mixing desk for the Blue Room. For those of you who aren’t quite sure what that is, no worries, there is a shiny product shot below. For those of you who are aware of the royal lineage and epic potential of such a piece of engineering perfection I will pause while you clean your soiled trousers…

All of our Newport concerts have been mixed on a Neve 5088

The 5088 presented the perfect solution for mixing and mastering our newly digitized, moderate track count jazz recordings. I will try not to gush too enthusiastically about the results and recommend instead that you draw your own conclusions. But seriously, these mixes sound downright stunning.

When we decided to move into the world of the Newport Folk Festival it only made sense that we continue working with the same solid gold signal paths (actually I believe they use copper). While we were working out the details, we did slip one 1969 Folk Festival set into the mix — we just couldn’t resist releasing Muddy Waters Live from the ‘69 Folk Festival on January 26th. It’s a brief acoustic set that is pure catnip for any true blues fan; a rare gem. It originated from a ¼” 2-track tape, one channel for his guitar mic and the other for his soulful vocals.

In the last month we’ve begun mixing the 1968 Folk Festival archive. The ‘68 archive includes performances from nearly 50 artists and comes from a group of very well preserved ampex 414 ½” 4-track analog tapes.

Tape of Buckley's '68 set

These recordings are superb and we cannot wait to share them with the world. The first release we’ve chosen is a triumphant performance by folk singer Tim Buckley. Warren and I went back and forth a bit as to how to appoach the details of the final mix. Sonically everything was there but it still lacked that certain presence we were looking for. It wasn’t untill we came across Eliott Landy’s photograph of the performance that it became clear that all we needed to do was re-create the original soundstage. We hope you enjoy this recording as much as we have. Cheers.

[Unearthing Newport: Tim Buckley Live, 1968 is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]