Bulletin - March/ April
2009
Jazz, Vocalists & Spoken Word
Bryan/ Taft ->
Fats Waller
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WILLIAMS JENNINGS BRYAN/ WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT |
Archeophone 1008 |
Debate '08 - Taft And Bryan Campaign On The
Edison Phonograph |
● CD $15.98 |
Another amazing production from this imaginative label. The
CD, issued in 2008, marked the 100th anniversary of a historic premiere -
the first debate among presidential candidates as presented on cylinder
recordings. In 1908 the Edison Phonograph Company issued 22 cylinders
featuring the two candidates for president - Democrat William Jennings Bryan
and Republican William Howard Taft presenting their opinions about the then
state of society and their plans for the future, The two-minute duration of
these records forced an eager Bryan and a reluctant Taft to excerpt their
nuanced speeches and get to the point thus pointing the way to what would
eventually become the "sound bite" and would redefine the nature of
political discourse for all time. The sound quality on these 100 year old
recordings is astounding and every word comes through with perfect clarity.
The set comes with an 80 page booklet with detailed background on the
recordings, the politics of the day and how each canditate presents himself.
It includes transcripts of all the recordings and is copiously illustrated -
mostly with topical cartoons of the day. There is also a wonderful photo of
a New York automatic vaudeville house using mannequins of the two candidates
with cylinder players inside playing the speeches.
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| BING CROSBY |
Retrieval 79054 |
Jazz Singer, 1931-1941 |
● CD $10.98 |
Der Bingle in a jazzy mood with 24 cuts recorded between
1931 and 1941 including several alternate takes. Accompanying bands include
Isham Jones & His Orch., The Dorsey Brothers Orch., John Scott TRotter & His
Orch. and others including several with small groups. He duets with The
Mills Brothers and with Connee Boswell with two and indulges in some
scatting, crooner style, on a number of cuts. Includes Dinah/ Some Of
These Days/ I've Got The World On A String/ Stay On The Right Side Of The
Road/ Moonburn/ Basin Street Blues/ Rhythm On The River/ My Melancholy Baby
and others.
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| SLIM GAILLARD |
Hep 6 |
The Legendary McVoutie, 1946 |
● CD $15.98 |
15 tracks, 70 mins, highly recommended
Available again after a long absence. A collection of 15 tracks from the
uncrowned king of vout - the one and only Slim Gaillard - previously issued
on Hep albums and mostly taken from 40s radio shows. The basic duo of Slim
on guitar and vocals with Bam Brown on bass and vocals is assisted at
various times by Leo Watson on drums and vocals and Dodo Marmarosa/ piano.
Other musicians appear including some madness from Harry The Hipster Gibson
on Hey Stop That Dancing Up There. There is also a rare appearance
from 1941 of the original Slim & Slam doing the 8 minute African Jive.
Watson sings on Operatic Aria, Slim introduces all 13 soloists at the
Jubilee All Stars (inc. Emmett Berry, Ray Coniff, Willie Smith & Bobby
Hacket), and sings in his best Spanglish & McVouty such touching tunes as
Voutoreene/ Avocado Seed Soup Symphony Pts 1 & 2/ Yep Roc Heresi/ Matzoh
Balls, and others. There is also a great Chicken Rhythm from a
1946 V Disc (wait til you hear Bob Hope's McVouty introduction!). 70 minutes
of the voutest with excellent sound, good notes by Alastair Robertson and
full discographical details. (FS)
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| BENNY GOODMAN |
Jazz Oracle 8059 |
1930-1933 |
● CD $17.98 |
The complete recordings issued under Benny Goodman's name on
the Melotone label in 1930 and '31 along with selected sides by Grace
Johnsoton and Sid Garry accompanied by the same band. Also included are four
titles from 1933 featuring Goodman,
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| MARVIN "SMOKEY"
MONTGOMERY |
Greenhaw Records 2045 |
Jazz Banjo Man #1 |
● CD $14.98 |
19 instrumental tracks and one vocal featuring banjo player
best known for his work with the western swing band The Light Crust
Doughboys. Here he performs a selection of mostly pop standard with various
accompaniments including several with the Doughboys and a couple with the
Dallas Banjo Band which features 50 banjo players! Includes Rhapsody In
Blue/ Smokey's Smoke/ Temptation Rag/ Hear Dem Bells/ The World Is Waiting
For The Sunrise/ Swan Lake/ Danny Maudlin, etc. The one vocal is a
muadlin tribute to Smokey Music Man, Play On.
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| DJANGO REINHARDT |
JSP JSPCD 955 |
Postwar Recordings, 1944-1953 |
● CD $31.98 |
JSP's fifth box set devoted to the music of the great
Belgian gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt is a five CD set with 106 tracks
remastered by Ted Kendall covering the period 1944 through 1953. This set
includes his post-war reunion with former long time playing partner Stephane
Grapelly and a reforemd Quintette Du Hot Club Du France as well as sessions
with other great musicians like The Jazz Club Mystery Hot Band (Mel Powell,
Ray McKinley, Peanuts Hucko, etc.), The Rex Stewart Quintet, Martial Solal
and others. Django embraced both bebop and the electric guitar and there are
a number of recordings featuring his unique approach to both.
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Delmark 914 |
55 Years Of Jazz |
● CD $15.98 |
CD+DVD, 19 Tracks, 143 Mins, recommended
This great two-disc set should make a nice companion piece with Delmark's
50th anniversary release from, well, five years ago. Featuring a wee taste
of the vast and extraordinary variety of jazz that this slightly under the
radar label has issued over the years, this set focuses a bit more on the
"modern" aspect of Delmark (most especially on the DVD), offering Sun Ra,
Curtis Fuller, Malachi Thompson and Eric Alexander tracks alongside those by
Coleman Hawkins, Art Hodes and George Lewis. Just the DVD live footage of
The Ritual Trio (featuring Kahil El 'Zabar, Ari Brown, Yosef Ben Israel and
the always stimulating Billy Bang) is easily worth the price of admission
here! Delmark has remained a steady and welcome supplier of the many flavors
that jazz has to offer and hopefully we'll have a similar set to look
forward to every five years for the foreseeable future! (RB)
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Saga Jazz 531 093-1 |
Cherokee! Amerindian Motifs In Jazz And
Swing |
● CD $13.98 |
20 tracks, 62 mins, recommended
This is a collection of tunes from the Jazz era that all have Native
American themes. Like most pop culture homage's to minority or oppressed
peoples, done in the first half of the 20th century, this is a bucolic
forgery, with lots of banging on the tom-tom, to invoke images of the
natives doing a rain dance around the tee-pee. A somewhat jive cultural
"appreciation," even though there are a lot of heavy hitting Jazz cats
laying down some cool Big Band, and Swing music. Hiawatha's Lullaby
by Joe Venuti and his Blue Five, From The Land Of Sky Blue Water by
Mildred Bailey (somebody get me a Hamm's,) Indian Summer by Sidney
Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmers, Cherokee by Count Basie and
his Orchestra, etc. All tracks recorded from 1929 - 1952, except for
Sioux War Dance by John Pidoux, done way back in 1915. Louis Armstrong,
Duke Ellington, Chick Webb, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman and many more Jazz
greats appear throughout. (JM)
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| FATS WALLER |
JSP JSPCD 952 |
Volume 6 Of The Complete Recorded Works |
● CD $31.98 |
The sixth and final volume devoted to the complete
recordings of the great Fats Waller is a five CD set with 112 tracks. It
includes all his remaining commercial recordings from 1940 through 1943
along with all his V-disc recordings. The fifth disc includes seven tracks
where Fats is thought to be present including side by Ethel Waters, Gene
Austin with Orchestra, Shilkret's Rhythm Melodists and The Seven Gallon Jug
Band along with 16 alternate takes from sessions on the first four CDs.
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