The Steel Guitar Forum

This one's been "just around the corner" for years. Now it's out....Origin Jazz Library's Western Swing Chronicles, Vol. 5-- "Bob Dunn: Master of the Electric Steel Guitar 1935-1950". A 2-CD set of selected recordings with Milton Brown's band and at least a dozen more lineups Dunn recorded with in the years following.

Waiting on mine-- should be big fun...Bob Dunn was as unpredictable in his playing as any steel guitarist I've heard! And I expect the sound quality to be as good as it gets for this kind of vintage material. www.originjazz.com

Thanks for posting the linky!

I first heard about this project in 2008 and have checked back with Origin a few times since then...glad to see it's now available...I'll be waiting for delivery as well.

Explain something to me:

Bob Dunn made 24 recordings with his own band--Bob Dunn's Vagabonds.

This is the first and in all likelihood the last Bob Dunn CD we will ever see.

Given that, why would you put out a 2 CD set that OMITS HALF of Bob Dunn's own recordings?

All the more so when you then include 10 tracks by Milton Brown that I'd imagine 90% of the prospective customers for this package already have on CD?

I'm sure someone thinks there is a reason, but I can't for the life of me imagine how it could be valid.

Mitch,

I s'pose these questions could be directed to the folks at Origin Jazz, but I'll take a chance here and offer my opinion.
This appears to be an overview of Bob Dunn the steel guitarist, not the bandleader.
According to the website info, the tracks are mastered from original 78's...perhaps those other Vagabond sides were not available to the engineer or were left off for sound reasons?
53 tracks on 2 discs is plenty. I'll admit to being in the 10% of those prospective customers who do not own the Milton Brown records. So from my perspective there is no re~Dunn~dancy in these recordings. I look forward to enjoying this release for what it offers: an audio window into the past that otherwise would not be open and fresh insightful liner notes.

Owen:

Dunn’s original 78s aren’t available at Walmart, but they are not overly difficult to locate. I have 11 of the 12 myself.

Cary Ginell knows or knows of all the high powered collectors and I’m positive he could have included all of Dunn’s own recordings had he so desired—particularly since this thing has been in the planning stages for at least 6 or 8 years. I’d guess there is a 50/50 chance he has all 12 of the 78s in his own collection.

But your guess is as good as anyone’s. It can’t be accessibility and it’s HIGHLY unlikely it has anything to do with sound quality. My only wild guess is that there is something about the musical content of the 12 missing Dunn recordings that Ginell felt warranted exclusion---couldn’t get publishing clearances, didn’t want to pay the necessary price for clearances, or possibly Dunn’s steel playing is not as prominent in the excluded titles. It’s been quite a while since I listened to them, so I don’t recall details.

I can tell you that some of the included non-Dunn recordings are mediocre from a musical point of view (outside of Dunn's playing). On the other hand, the Bill Mounce sides are excellent and should have fine sound quality.

I doubt if I will buy it.

DELETED

I just received an "advance" copy of the Bob Dunn release last night from Mike
Kieffer; according to Mike it can be ordered now at the OJL website:
http://www.originjazz.com/
..Evidently Amazon hasn't updated yet. Anyway, I would HIGHLY
recommend this release for any western swing/steel guitar fan, even if
you've already heard most of the material (the great sound quality is
only one reason to pick it up)!
From talking with Mike about this thing as it was being put
together, they had a heck of a time narrowing down the track list to
provide a good representation of Dunn's work..
I'm quite sure any omission of Vagabonds sides was done in favor
of more rare and interesting selections. I'd bet that an all-inclusive
Bob Dunn set would end up at 4 or 5 discs worth of material (that's
without ANY of the Brownies records)! So the quality of Dunn's
performances was clearly the deciding factor, and of course opinion is
always going to come into play there.
Aside from the music itself, the package includes some interesting biography and history (I'm not just saying this because they allowed
me to contribute!), lots of great photos I can guarantee you've never
seen before, and a detailed session discography.
The other reason to BUY this thing (and not get a "burned" copy from
a friend) is that maybe if OJL can sell enough copies, they'll be able
to continue to produce these fine releases.
As far as I'm concerned, it was well worth the wait!

I ordered mine last night. Given the state of the recording industry, it's kind of amazing that someone is putting out a deluxe Bob Dunn retrospective.

Hi,

I just received the album yesterday. What a wonderful piece of work! Great photos, informative text, and a nice variety of recorded selections.

Kudos to all involved with this project, and a big thanks to the folks at OJL for undertaking it.

No lap-steeler should be without this one.

Best,

Bob

Time to bump this one up. This set is really a revelation. I've read a number of different accounts of Bob Dunn getting nervous and/or tipsy in the recording studio and consequently not getting captured in his element. This collection gathers his best moments with different bands over a 15 year period and showcases his steel playing at it's best. The 44 pages of liner notes and photos are extensive and well done and the sound quality is excellent. Every steel player interested in Western Swing, Jazz, and Blues should own this one.

A friend of mine told me years ago that Bob sometimes wouldn't make it past the first set, if you know what I mean. I can't substantiate this in any way, though.