Date:         Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:41:56 +0100
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Anthony Baldwin <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Unknown 1960 Quincy Jones Paris concert
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Recently I acquired a stack of French quarter-inch studio masters  
from the late 1950s and early 1960s on Pyral and Sonocolor tape  
stock. Most are pretty stable, with minimal damage and oxide  
shedding. However, the recording sheets and tape boxes were in  
something of a muddle, so over the last few months I've been  
auditioning some of the more anonymous reels to try to identify their  
contents.

Among these there are two 15ips mono reels of Sonocolor marked  
simply, "Quincy Jones - bobine 2" and "bobine 4", respectively — i.e.  
tapes #2 and #4 of an original set of at least four. My two consist  
of 42 minutes of what appears to be a hitherto unknown live concert  
by the big band that Quincy Jones brought over to Paris in early 1960  
for the ill-fated Harold Arlen stage-show, "Free and Easy". With Q  
making announcements in French, the performances are spirited and  
fidelity is excellent, even if the balance is sometimes a little  
wayward.

I've compared these performances to all other published European  
concerts I can find by the Q.Jones orchestra at that period, and they  
seem to be entirely distinct. However, the large room-acoustic is  
similar to the "Live in Paris circa 1960" CD, so possibly this  
concert also took place at the Alhambra Theatre, Paris.

I believe that Quincy Jones had a particular affection for that  
band,and I've made various attempts to contact him about it over the  
last year. However, his corporate carapace seems to be entirely  
impenetrable. Anyone have any contact ideas?

Tony B.