My brother recorded at Rudy's in late 80s. He said it was a nice place to play. Musicians had individual mixers for their headphones, visibility was great, great vibe. It was designed for a jazz combo, not multi purpose/rock. It was a live recording of course, but acoustics not as open as in the old days, and recordings are much clearer now. Rudy had a secret piano that he hid until he could size up the pianist come to record. Larry Goldings was on that date, about 19yo, nobody knew him, and Rudy was quite suspect of a bunch of kids coming in to destroy his equipment and waste his time playing shit fake jazz for money, at peak of young lion era. So after the first break when Rudy had an earful of Larry's playing, there was a beautiful 8ft Steinway magically appeared and the baby grand beater disappeared. Rudy is very eccentric, perfectionist, he's gonna do it HIS way, which is what the label is paying for after all. But musicians may have a preference for a different sound, forget it.
I have recorded (a McDonald's commercial) in Capital Studio A in LA and the weirdest thing about being in spaces like that is the ghosts. The music that inspired you to get good enough to be there was actually recorded there. Stan Kenton, Clifford Brown, Sinatra, etc. It messes with your head. Recently, Sony closed the big Columbia studio in NY where the Miles sessions and so many other big Columbia records were made.
Lots of things changed at Blue Note after Moanin. Prior to that, it was low budget, the music was the main attraction, and stood on its own. Plenty of recordings were mediocre, but I still cherish the music. After Moanin, Blakey and Morgan and Timmons to some degree were now major jazz stars. Alfred Lion realized there was money in this and things were improved to try to make more Moanin's. When Sidewinder hit, that was serious money. Blakey held onto Morgan's royaltees so he wouldn't shoot them all and kill himself. They put a boogaloo track on almost every record they released for a couple years after that. So many stories. I wish there was a bebop folklore forum. haha
LWolfy, I never knew you were such a hard bop lush, me too! I make a yearly pilgrimmage to the Vanguard, maybe meet up there next time? Maybe on a Rave weekend. I usually come in Spring, my fav NYC weather.
Rich
