3.  INTRODUCTION



3.1.  THE USERS GUIDE


The material has been compiled in a format which to a great extent is borrowed from the very fine work by Yasuhiro Fujioka; "John Coltrane, A Discography and Musical Biography" published in 1995.


Other important influences are Jan Lohmann's work "The Sound of Miles Davis, the Discography" which has a structure which is congenial for a Scandinavian and also "The Recordings of John Coltrane: a Discography" by David Wild has been a big source for the structure of my work.


The main different to these three giant works is probably that I have not had the capacity to detail the issued and reissued recordings with labels, album number, countries of issue, matrix number, equivalent labels, song titles and photos of the LP and CD cover art in the same fine way.

For me, more emphasis has been put to analyse Jimmy Lyons playing, when and where he was playing.


So, the confirmed discographer could be a little disappointed as he can't find all the released albums on various labels in the list.

On the other hand, I'm sure that much missing information will turn up after the release of this work and my intention is to follow up with updating these data.

My intention is also to hunt photographs from the various countries and locations Jimmy Lyons had been playing.


One of the reasons why I have chosen the heading; "Sessionography" is that, most of the listed concerts are not recorded at all and therefore not issued on any vinyl, CD or video.

However, many sessions are privately recorded and are in circulation among keen lovers of this kind of music. Known unreleased recordings including Jimmy Lyons are listed in Section 5, "Unreleased Recordings".


The recordings which I have access to comprise about 130 hours and Jimmy Lyons is in action – playing, singing or talking – during about 60 of these hours which corresponds to 46 % of the total time.


This Sessionography follows a structure which is common and well known by discographers. The format is best explained with giving an example:


Example: (an excerpt from the October 16, 1966 session)


66-1016<1>      "Willa Berg", <2> Stuttgart, <3> Germany, <4>

CECIL TAYLOR QUARTET <5>

Cecil Taylor(p), Jimmy Lyons(as), Alan Silva(b), Andrew Cyrille(dr) <6>


3. <7> Fragments Of The Sister/Brother Dance <8> ( 6:33) <9> INC <10>


Total time (54:45) <11>


Jimmy Lyons plays 13:24 min = 29,4 % <12>


1 - 5. <7> Radio broadcast, Germany <13>


Notes: #2 Cecil Taylor uses prepared piano <14>



The <numeral> found in the example means the following:


<1>   Recording date and session number:

This number identifies the particularly recording session.

The first 2 digits correspond to the year of the recording, the middle 2 digits correspond to the month (01 through 12) and the last 2 digits to the day (01 through 31).


For sessions lacking precise date, double zeros are substituted for the unknown date.


<2>   Location or Studio:

This number identifies the particular recording place.


<3>   City of recording:

This number identifies the city in which the recording took place.


<4>   Country or State in USA:

This number identifies the country or the State in USA in which the recording took place.


<5>   Leader of the Group or Group Name:

This number identifies the leader of the group and are written in capitals under the first line.


All sessions are named as Trio, Quartet, Quintet and so on instead of using the various "fantasy" names of the groups.

The only exception is when there is a group of over 10 pieces. It is then called a "Big Band".


<6>   Personnel:

A listing of the personnel heard on the recording.

For abbreviations of used instruments, see list.


<7>   Title number:

The titles are numbered in the sequence heard on the recording.


<8>   Title:

The title of the tune when known. Not known tune is notified "Unknown Title".


<9>   Playing time:

The playing time is expressed in minutes and seconds.

The timing is to be considered approximate, as it, due to tape speed variations, often varies from source to source.

The LP and CDs have all been played and timed on the same equipment and the playing time may therefore vary from the time given on the records.

All tapes have been timed on the same cassette deck

.

<10>   Attributions:

This number tells if a title for instance is incomplete.


<11>   Total time:

The total time includes applause, pauses and announcements.


<12>   Playing time for Jimmy Lyons:

Jimmy Lyons time of playing includes solos as well as ensemble playing and the percentage of playing is calculated on the actual total time for the tunes only – not including applause and announcements.

This information is only given in the original book.


<13>   Recording source:

This number identifies the recording source including Record Labels, Record Number and title of the Record.


<14>   Notes:

Here are given general comments regarding the recording.

Space is also left for own notes and/or for adding possible missing sessions.