We have two entries on this "Performances" page.
- December 1956: Phoenix Union High School
- The Large 16" 33 1/3 'Professionally Recorded' Disk (below)
December 1956: Phoenix Union High School
On Nov 5th, 2011, I received an email from Michael Warner. He wrote:
"I believe I have a recording of the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet performing a concert at Phoenix Union High School in December 1956. A recording engineer friend of mine was cleaning out his recording studio and ran across a tape of a concert he recorded in 1956. He transferred it to CD and I’ve had it for 12 years. I’ve not been able to identify the group or all the pieces on the program.
"After visiting the HSQ site for the first time on Wednesday I think I’ve put all the pieces together. Looking at the music page and listening to some of the rehearsal tapes you’ve made available, thank you, I think I have a positive match.
Michael sent me a copy of his CD. He wrote that it was recorded by Jack Miller using one Neumann U-47 microphone and an Ampex 350 tape deck. I played it and right of the bat, I knew. It's them! I posted the files up here for all to hear.
But then, a few days later I got another email...
"I''m Jack Miller the engineer who recorded a performance of the Hollywood Sax Quartet in 1956. ... It was an ASC band concert with a guest appearance between two sets of the band. I had no idea what was coming and quickly set my mic about 15 feet in front of the group. I knew at the time I was recording greatness.
"The box was never labeled (my bad) and was lost for 43 years and it was found when we were looking for old Waylon Jennings, Duane Eddy and Wayne Newton masters at Audio Recorders Of Arizona."
We corresponded a bit, and he said the mp3's I'd posted had distortion, so he sent me new mp3's, (now posted). He also wrote...
"By the way, when I was searching for the name of the sax quartet that I recorded, I sent a copy to the "New York Sax Quartet." They replied "It's not us but I wish it were, that's an outstanding performance, can I keep the disk?".
"Also, in 2009 I was about to do a session with Robert Stanton, a local sax player, and I was playing the Unknown Sax Quartet when he walked in the room and he said "that's the Hollywood Sax Quartet". I asked him how he knew that and he said "I was a roommate at college with one the the players and I recognized the work and the sound" So, it was then that I knew who the Unknown Sax Quartet was.
"The rest is Michael Warner's digging to put it all together and contact you."
Jack is a recording engineer, and has a website jackmillerproductions.com . He has generously offered to see if he can help me with one of my Dad's unusual records - it is 16" in diameter!
Below are the recordings that Jack and Michael brought to us:
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The Large 16" 33 1/3 'Professionally Recorded' Disk:
It's not really a performance, but it's not a rehearsal either.
When I found the 78's back in 2009, I also found this one large disk in the same box. I had no idea what it was, and couldn't even play it because it was too big to fit on my turntable.
Eventually I found a professional recording engineer who digitized it for me. Unfortunately, the quality of the disk and resultant mp3's was not very good. I was so disappointed at this first attempt at processing the record that I didn't even post it on this website. There was just no character left in the playing - it seemed all flat and whitewashed. I don't know how else to describe it.
But last week (11/2011) I sent the .wav files to Jack (see above) and he took a stab at bringing life to them. Now they are much better and I feel ok about posting them here! Granted, there is a little hiss in the background, but I'd much rather hear the background and have life in the playing than no hiss and no life. Enjoy!
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