Today, episode 5 of a series dedicated to the trombonist and arranger Billy Byers (1927—1996).
A lively gem from the treasure trove of the Josefowitz brothers.
In this episode, we focus on the album “Byers’ Guide,” a playful and undoubtedly self-invented name for a sound document that still sounds remarkably fresh after 67 years. The first version of this album, recorded in January or February 1956 in New York, was released on the Concert Hall label (CHJ-1217). Jazztone label soon released a second version with exactly the same programming but a different title: “New Sounds in Swing” (J-1217). The album covers were also different: Jazztone used the standard Jazztone cover with vaguely illuminated typical New York skyscrapers in the background and a few vague, unidentifiable jazz musicians in the foreground.
The Jazztone label was launched in 1955 as a pure jazz label under the auspices of the Concert Hall Society founded by David and Samuel Josefowitz in 1946, which had been involved exclusively in classical music (chamber music, symphonic music, and opera) until 1955. Like the parent company, Jazztone was a mail-order company set up as a society of enthusiasts who received virtually indestructible LPs and EPs by post at a greatly reduced price (up to half or even a third of the amount for a regular commercial album). Unlike fragile 78 rpm records, LPs and EPs could withstand a lot of wear and tear, and thanks in part to this, the Concert Hall Society became an enormously profitable mail-order company.
The Jazztone label could only benefit from the solid and large-scale marketing efforts of the parent company for three years because the Josefowitz brothers sold the American branch of the company to the publishing company Crowell-Collier in 1958, which saw no bread in continuing the Jazztone label. In the late 1950s, the Josefowitz brothers moved to Switzerland to lead the European branches of their company that had remained outside the agreement with Crowell-Collier. In addition to the Netherlands, their company also has branches in Belgium, Germany, England, France, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland.
It goes without saying that the production of titles in those eight countries is centralized, but there are always small national accents: in France, for example, the Jazztone label is called Guilde du Jazz, and in 1957, the Barney Wilen Quintet was released on it, featuring our own Nico Bunink (= Nico Buninck (1936—2001) on piano. In Germany, Jazztone released a 10-inch LP entitled “Jazz Wien-Berlin” with Helmut Brandt’s baritone saxophone quintet on one side and Hans Koller’s New Jazz Stars (including Albert Mangelsdorff and Attila Zoller) on the other.
Jazztone records obtained their sounding material in two ways: firstly, by using the rights to the very prestigious Dial and Commodore catalogs (in addition, there were also agreements with less highly regarded labels such as Period, Fantasy, and Urania), and secondly, by producing pure Jazztone productions; produced by luminaries such as George T. Simon and Leonard Feather.
The takeover by a company with a shameless cowboy mentality like Crowell-Collier, which was primarily focused on the well-being of shareholders, turned out to be disastrous, especially for the in-house produced Jazztone productions. For years, the Jazztone titles were left collecting dust. In fact, it wasn’t until the rise of the compact disc in the second half of the 1980s that the pure Jazztone LPs could experience their revival. Especially the Spanish CD label Fresh Sound Records took on the fate of the orphaned Jazztone titles, as well as hundreds of titles from other labels that had fallen into obscurity. So, we owe it to the boss of Fresh Sound, Jordi Pujol, that Byers’ Guide could start a second life in 1992.
According to Marc Myers – in his internet diary Jazz Wax – this “tasty swinger” falls into the must-own category.
In his Down Beat review, Nat Hentoff awards Byers’ Guide four stars. He found it to be “a relaxed, warm session,” and he believed that Gene Quill was likely to become a full-fledged member of the much too small society of modern jazz clarinetists. I also quote Marc Myers: “So how good was Byers? He was exceptional. All three of his leadership albums — Billy Byers: Jazz Workshop (1955), Byers’ Guide (1956), Impressions of Duke Ellington (1961) — remain tasty swingers.” I wholeheartedly agree with Marc Myers: after 67 years, this music still sounds as fresh and energetic as the moment I first put on this record.
When I took my first steps on the slippery collector’s path as a 14-year-old, Byers’ Guide was the first record my father gave me as a gift. I have always cherished that album until I made the weighty decision to sell my record collection and only listen to CDs for the rest of my life. But by that time, the CD version of Byers’ Guide had fortunately been released.
The lineup: Joe Newman (trumpet), Billy Byers (trombone), Gene Quill (alto sax and clarinet), Lou Stein (piano and celesta), Milt Hinton (bass), Osie Johnson (drums).
The pieces: eight originals, two by Judy Spencer, and six by Billy Byers:
Who’s cool? (Bill Byers)
Dialogue in F (Judy Spencer) Note: Gene Quill on clarinet!
April’s Delight (Spencer)
Byers’ Guide (Byers)
Fingernails on the windowpane (Byers)
Gin and Catatonic (Byers)
Tribute to the West (Byers)
Which one is Sali? (Byers)
At the end of the broadcast, we hear Billy Byers once again in a less prominent role: as a muted sideman in the quintet of alto saxophonist Hal McKusick, who lays down some impressive clarinet solos here. On piano, we hear Eddie Costa with his rough-rolling chords plus Paul Chambers (bass) and Charlie Persip (drums):
Blues half-smiling
A touch of spring
Both pieces are from Hal McKusick’s album Triple Exposure (Prestige). This record will come up again after Billy Byers’ Parisian adventures.
Shortly after the completion of Byers’ Guide, Billy Byers leaves for France in February 1956 to work in Paris with pianist Martial Solal, drummer Kenny Clarke, Christian Chevallier’s big band, and cosmopolitan Dutch drummer Wessel Ilcken.
