Product Review

When American Federation of Musicians boss James C. Petrillo announced a cessation of recording activity effective at one second past midnight on January 1, 1948, to try to force record companies to pay musicians a royalty rather than a session fee, the labels went to great lengths to ensure that they did not get caught out as they had been in 1942, when the first Petrillo ban (which lasted two years) came into effect.

Recording studios rocked around the clock as labels stockpiled material that could be released during the 1948 ban. In Los Angeles, Modern Records was cutting acetates as fast as they could book studio time, even by artists on whom they already had a stockpile of material.

Beating The Ban offers a fascinating window on Modern's recording activity in the time immediately leading up to the ban. It features some of the biggest names of Modern's early years, all vying to ensure that they would have enough masters on tap to cover any period of recording inactivity.

The 1948 ban lasted only a matter of months and so many sides were not required as artists came back with songs they wrote while the ban was in effect they wanted to record immediately.

This 2CD set features one take of every master Modern's Jules Bihari produced during the last week of December 1947. Many of these songs have gained release since Ace acquired the Modern catalogue in the 1990s but the vast majority of the takes (and some masters) have not been heard since they were committed to acetate. The only previously-issued sides here are those where a previously unissued alternate take does not exist.

In addition to 50 great late 40s recordings, the two CDs preserve all existing fragments of session chatter from the sessions, which really puts the listener in the studio with the artists.

A project that is as important as it is excellent, Beating The Ban will surely garner the same sort of highly positive accolades that greeted 2012's Modern: The First Year.