NEWSLETTER #141
Jazz, Dance Bands & Vocalists
Charlie Barnet ->
Chick Webb
| NOTE: Unless otherwise noted all
DVDs offered are in NTSC format which means that they will not play on a
European DVD players unless you have a multiple format player. |
| VARIOUS |
Efor 2869026 |
The Complete Jazz Casual Series |
● DVD $149.98 |
"Jazz Casual" was the first television program devoted
entirely to jazz. Hosted by San Francisco music critic Ralph J. Gleason the
program ran from 1959 to 1968 and featured some of the greatest jazz artists
of the day as well as the occasional blues performer. Rhino has released a
handful of the shows in the USA but this Spanish label has released the
entire 28 episode series on 8 DVDS in a box set with over 14 hours of music
and brief interviews. Among the artists featured are Mel Torme Quartet,
carmen McRae Quartet, Count Basie Quartet, Jimmy Rushing, The Modern Jazz
Quartet, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, Muggsy
Spanier Sextet, Charles Lloyd Quartet featuring keith Jarrett, Bola Sete &
the Vince Guaraldi Trio, Woody Herman & His Swingin' herd, John Coltrane
Quartet, B.B. King Blues Band, gerry Mulligan Quartet and many more.
Includes a 32 page booklet.
|
| CHARLIE
BARNET & HIS ORCHESTRA |
Membran 222406 |
Swing Street Strut |
● CD $11.98 |
Four CD set at an incredibly low price featuring 80 tracks
by this fine integrated big band led by tenor and alto saxist Barnet
recorded between 1933 and 1954 and featuring a wide array of musicians and
vocalists including Toots Camarata, Helen Heath, Eddie Sauter, Red Norvo,
Benny Carter, Laura Deane, Don McCook, Charlie Shavers, Billy May, Mary Ann
McCall, Johnny Owens, Herbert "Peanuts" Holland, Buddy DeFranco, Dodo
Marmarosa, Kay Starr, Porky Cohen, Barney Kessel, Si Zentner, Georgie Auld
and many others. Decent sound and booklet has discographical details.
|
| CHARLIE CHRISTIAN |
Proper Box 98 |
The Original Guitar Genius |
● CD $24.98 |
4 CDs, 84 tracks, essential
It's OK if you have Columbia's
"Genius of the Electric Guitar." (Columbia 65564 - $49.98) That 4 disc set
exhaustively covers his Columbia recordings, done mostly under Benny
Goodman's name, with every known alternate take. This set has those master
takes & a lot more. The first two discs cover the studio sessions & besides
the BG sessions, there's Haven't Named It Yet done with Lionel
Hampton's Orch, & a beautiful '41 session by The Edmund Hall Celeste Quartet
with Hall on clarinet & Meade Lux Lewis on celeste! The final 2 discs are
the kickers - all live recordings, many from Benny's radio shots including a
lot of Camel Caravan sextet tunes, along with 1-shots & Fitch Bandwagon, as
well as his recordings from the "Spirituals To Swing" 1939 concert. Probably
most important are the legendary Joe Guy tapes, recordings that guitarist
Guy made of the early '41 Monroe's & Minton's jams that were the beginning
experiments with bebop! With 44 pg booklet. (GM)
|
| BOB CROSBY & HIS
BOB CATS |
ASV CDAJA 5571 |
March Of The Bob Cats |
● CD $13.98 |
26 tracks, 75 min, excellent
Bob went from being Bing's kid
brother to one of the originators of the jazz revival (AKA Dixieland or trad
jazz). Calling on a small contingent from his big band, the personnel is
like a who's who of trad - Matty Matlock, Billy Butterfield, Eddie Miller,
Joe Sullivan, Jess Stacy, Irv Fazzola, Nappy Lamare, Yank Lawson & the
wonderful rhythm duo of Bob Haggart (bass) & Ray Baduc (drums), who are the
only two heard on Bob's signature tune Big Noise From Winnetka, with
Bob whistling the melody!. Recorded for Decca '37-42, mostly tunes written
in the 20s, including The Love Nest (better known as the Burns &
Allen Theme), That DaDa Strain/ Hindustan, Who's Sorry Now?, as well as
originals such as I Hear You Talking/ The Big Crash From China & the title
tune. (GM)
|
| JIMMY DURANTE |
ASV CDAJA 5271 |
The Great Schnozzle |
● CD $13.98 |
23 tracks, 72 min, good
There's never been anyone quite
like Jimmy Durante. His Runyonesque ramblings and kibitzing might not be for
everyone, but it you like your shmaltz heavy on the one-liners, or are a fan
of classic radio comedy broadcasts, you will probably get a kick out of
this. This starts and ends with Inka Dinka Do, with a gaggle of
Ragtime, show tunes and butchering of the English language in between. Al
Jolson guests on The Song's Gotta Come From The Heart and A Real
Piano Player. Mrs. Calabash would still be proud, wherever she is. (JM)
|
| THE
INTERNATIONAL SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM |
Sounds Of Yesterday 692 |
Hot Licks |
● CD $13.98 |
This 16 piece multi-racial orchestra was the hottest
all-female band ever. Unfortuneately, they never recorded commercially - the
16 tune set here is taken from 1944-46 radio transcriptions. The band was
led by Anna Mae Winburn, and featured Tiny Davis, "the hottest female
trumpeter in the universe." Includes Galvanizing/ She's Crazy With The
Heat/ Don't Get It Twisted/ Diggin Dykes/ Slightly Frantic/ Homneysuckle
Rose, etc.
|
| THELONIOUS MONK |
Proper Box 101 |
Monk's Moods |
● CD $24.98 |
4 CDs, 69 tracks, essential
Beautiful set - the complete
Monk (as a leader) master takes in chronological order, starting with his
complete Blue Note masters, then on to Prestige (but doesn't include the
sides co-led with Sonny Rollins & released under Sonny's name), & the
beginning of the Riverside recordings with a detour to Paris & a one-off
solo session for Vogue. Covering '47-54, with sidemen including Art Blakey,
Milt Jackson, Oscar Pettiford and Rollins the material is of course, the
best. Monk would re-record most of his pieces throughout his career, but
many like the originals best, & they're all here - Ruby My Dear/ In
Walked Bud/ Epistrophy/I Mean You/ Criss Cross/Trinkle Tinkle/ Bemsha Swing/
Blue Monk/Nutty/ Wee See, etc. When he signed with Riverside, they were
scared of his material & wanted to prove to the public that even if he was
an eccentric composer he was still a great pianist, so for his first session
with them, which ends this box, they have him doing nothing but Ellington
covers in a trio setting! With 48 pg booklet. (GM)
|
| MOONDOG |
Astralwerks 30653 |
Viking Of Sixth Avenue |
● CD $17.98 |
36 tracks, 73 min., highly recommended
Moondog, born Louis
Thomas Hardin, wondered blindly (literally) the streets of New York and
elsewhere from 1949 on. He wore a viking helmet, carried a big staff, played
strange-looking drums he'd made himself. His music recalls elements of
swing, improvisational jazz, folk, and classical, as well as anticipating
elements of minimalism and electronic music. Charlie Parker admired him. So
did Ivor Stravinsky. So did Janis Joplin--that's why she recorded his All
Is Loneliness madrigal. This collection offers sides from his 1953 EP On
The Streets Of New York, 78s on his own SMC Pro-Arte label, and labels such
as Brunswick, Epic, Columbia, Prestige, and Angel. It's not "difficult
music" in the common sense of "hard to listen to"; in fact, the three dozen
pieces here tend to be beautiful adventures across a bold musical landscape
that only Moondog could see, where what may at first sound improvised
reveals itself as painstakingly constructed with a musical wisdom so far
ahead of its time that alien visitation becomes a plausible explanation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Moondog had a great deal of formal musical training,
but don't hold that against him. Like nothing else. (JC)
|
| GERRY MULLIGAN |
Proper Box 96 |
Jeru |
● CD $24.98 |
4 CDs, 82 tracks, highly recommended
As music forms from Eminem back to Elvis & further back to the Original Dixieland Jass Band has
shown, it takes a pretty white face to break open a radical black music. -
but the artist needs to be talented. Jerry & his cohort Chet Baker fit the
mode for modern jazz, the strange west coast variety that expanded on what
Miles Davis' experimental Nonette AKA Birth Of The Cool did (Gerry of course
was the baritone saxist in that aggregation). The set starts with Mulligan's
leader sessions, the 9-piece New Stars for Prestige 9/51 that incl Allen
Eager & George Wallington. Next up is his landmark "pianoless quartet" with
Baker, done for Pacific Jazz in '52-53, which takes up most of the rest of
the set, & includes live & studio sessions with the basic quartet, with
fifth member Lee Konitz, , & a rare Tennette session with Baker. The final
CD + ends with a new version of the quartet with valve-trombonist Bob
Brookmeyer replacing Baker - this group is heard in a series of concerts
from 6/54 recorded at the Salle Pleyel, Paris & released as The Paris
Concerts. With 48 pg fact & pic-filled booklet. (GM)
|
| ROSE MURPHY |
ASV CDAJA 5486 |
The Chee-Chee Girl |
● CD $13.98 |
29 tracks, 77 min, essential
This is my fave CD of the year
so far, someone you either love or hate. How to describe her voice? Imagine
if Betty Boop was voiced not by a Yiddish vaudevillian but by a Black female
Fats Waller! Her little-girl voice & piano, recorded for Majestic ('47),
Victor ('48), Decca ('50) & London ('53) are heard in mostly duo & guitar
trio setting with Major Holley on bass, who she worked with as late as '80!
Most of her hits were 20s tunes, but her signature tune Busy Line is
here as well as Mm-Mm Good, which the whole world knows as the "Campbells
Soup song". Also I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby/ (which
here is I Can't Give You Anything But Chee-Chee)/Honeysuckle Rose/
Rosetta/ I Wanna Be Loved By You (with it's "Boop-boop-a-do" chorus)/Miss
Annabelle Lee, etc. (GM)
|
| BILLY MURRAY |
ASV CDAJA 5608 |
Yankee Doodle Boy |
● CD $13.98 |
27 tracks, 77 min, recommended
You may not have heard of
Billy, unless you're a habitue'of my fave label Archeophone. Murray was one
of the most popular & best selling artists of the beginning of the 20th
century. Singing solo & as lead singer of such groups as The Haydn Quartet,
The American Quartet & the Heidelberg Quintet, this set covers 1904-1926
from Edison cylinders (with their spoken intros) & Victor records, &
features often the very first recordings of such classics as the title track
AKA Yankee Doodle Dandy plus You're A Grand Old Flag/ I Wonder
Who's Kissing Her Now/ Waiting For the Robert E Lee/ K-K-K-Katy/ Casey
Jones/ By the Light Of The Silvery Moon, lots more.. (GM)
|
| ALBERT NICHOLAS |
ASV CDAJA 5586 |
New Orleans Clarinet |
● CD $13.98 |
24 tracks, 77 mins., highly recommended
Ten minutes into
this fine collection, you'll be shaking your head and agreeing that Albert
Nicholas is truly an unsung giant of New Orleans jazz. Never as flashy as
Benny Goodman or Barney Bigard, Nicholas was content to tuck his fluid
melodic runs into bands run by every great band leader in the heyday of that
potent amalgam of swing and blues born in New Orleans and exported north to
Chicago and the world. These wonderful tracks date from 1925 to 1947 and
feature Nicholas up front and holding his own with Louis Armstrong, Jelly
Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Baby Dodds, King Oliver, and more. Tracks like
1935's Tap-Room Special shows off his strengths as a team player and
a soloist, with Nicholas unreeling dizzying contrapuntal riffs under the
trumpet and then taking center stage for a lovely chorus relying on his
signature low register. Nicholas got around (these tracks being recorded in
Chicago, New York, and Copenhagen), yet he somehow missed becoming a
household name after his death in 1973. This CD is a fitting tribute and a
fine addition to any comprehensive jazz collection. (DC)
|
| CHARLIE PARKER |
Proper Box 99 |
Chasin' The Bird |
● CD $24.98 |
4 CDs, 63 tracks, essential
Wonderful overview of Parker's
live career. Probably every note that Bird played has been chronicled &
released, no matter how poor the quality or short the performance. This box
collects four discs of highly listenable live performance from all areas of
Bird's career. Starting off with a jam session at Monroe's in '42, the first
disc covers live tracks done with Jay McShann's Orch. & with Dizzy Gillespie
in '43 while a member of Billy Eckstine's Orch, then a few more sets with
Diz & a Carnegie Hall appearance with Miles Davis. The second disc covers
live airshots from The Royal Roost in NY - a brief 9/48 appearance with the
rest from Dec. '48-Jan '49 including the famed Christmas show where he does
White Christmas. The third disc is an entire all-star show from
Birdland 5/50 with a group including Fats Navarro, Bud Powell & Art Blakey.
The final disc starts off with a Carnegie hall appearance fomr12/49, then a
'51 reunion with Diz & a few shorter shows including a couple appearances
"with Strings" & a '52 show backed by the Gillespie Big Band's rhythm
section of Milt Jackson (vibes), John Lewis (piano), Percy Heath (bass) 7
Kenny Clarke (drums) who would soon be known as the Modern Jazz Quartet. 48
pg booklet gives all the info. (GM)
|
| JIMMY RANEY |
Membran 222470 |
Woody Herman's Cool Guitar Player |
● CD $11.98 |
Another of those absurdly priced four CD sets from the
German Membran label. This one features 50 tracks from jazz guitar great
Jimmy Raney recorded between 1949 and 1955. As well as sessions with his own
quintet it features sessions with groups led by Kai Winding (with Al Haig,
Stan Getz, Blossom Dearie, etc), Stan Getz, Red Norvo (trio sides with Red
Mitchell/ bass) and Phil Woods. Booklet has discographical details but no
notes.
|
| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Documents 222616 |
Battle Of Guitars |
● CD $24.98 |
Four CD set in book format with 76 tracks covering te
history of jazz guitar from 1927 ( by Joe Venuti & Eddie
Lang) to 1977 (Better Get It In Your Soul by Larry Coryell). Along
the way we hear Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Les Paul, Billy Bauer,
Jimmy Raney, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessell, Tal farlow, Charlie Byrd, Laurindo
Almeida, Baden Powell, kevin Eubanks and others. Has 20 page illustrated
with biographies of the performers.
LAURIDNO ALMEIDA: Atabaque/ LAURINDO ALMEIDA: Speak Low/
Toccata/ BILLY BAUER: Interlude/ Out On A Limb/ Retrospection/ CHARLIE BYRD:
Um Abraco No Bonfa/ CHARLIE CHRISTIAN: Flying Home/ Gone With "what" Wind/
Seven Come Elven/ The Sheik Of Araby/ LARRY CORYELL: Better Get It In Your
Soul/ Misty/ St Louis Blues/ Vera Cruz/ HERB ELLIS: I Want To Be Happy/
Lover/ Tea For Two/ KEVIN EUBANKS: Model A/ TAL FARLOW: Chuckles/ Have You
Met Miss Jones/ How Deep Is The Ocean/ My Old Flame/ Strike Up The Band/ JIM
HALL: Skylark/ BARNEY KESSEL: 64 Bars On Wilshire/ A Foggy Day/ I Didn't
Know What Time It Was/ Jeepers Creepers/ On A Slow Boat To China/ Salute To
Charlie Christian/ Strike Up The Band/ Vicky's Dream/ What Is There To Say/
EDDIE LANG: Dinah/ Doin' Things/ Goin' Places/ Sweet Sue, Just You/ OSCAR
MOORE: Black Spider Stomp/ Doug-Rey-Me/ Liza/ Riffin' In F Minor/ PAULINHO
NOGUERIA: Aria Na 4 A Corda/ LES PAUL: At Sundown/ Coquette/ Honeysuckle
Rose/ I Can't Believe You're In Love With M/ Melodic Meal/ Stardust/
Subterfuge/ BADEN POWEL: The Girl From Ipanema/ Samba Triste/ JIMMY RANEY:
'round Midnight/ Body & Soul/ Lee/ Minor/ Motion/ On The Square/ Signal/
Stella By Starlight/ Yesterdays/ DJANGO REINHARDT: H.c.q. Strut/ Honeysuckle
Rose/ Lady Be Good/ My Melancholy Baby/ Rhythme Futur/ Ultrafox/ JOHNNY
SMITH: Moonlight In Vermont/ Nice Work If You Can Get It/ Sometimes I'm
Happy/ Where Or When/ JACK WILKINS: Dailey Double/ O Grande Amore/ Streets
Of Rio/ You Must Believe In Spring
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Iris 3001 872 |
Swing Accordion - Le Swing A Bretalles |
● CD $32.98 |
2 CD set, 34 tracks, 95 mins., recommended
Roughly
translated, the title is "Swing with Shoulder Straps", boasting French
accordion-led swing band tracks from the heyday of European swing in the
1930s. And yes, there's some great stuff here. But shame on the compilers of
this collection for (a) not including dates for any of the tracks
(supposedly covering the 30s, 40s and 50s) and (b) relying for at least 1/3
of the tracks on tunes included on several other fine recent compilations.
Hits by Jo Privat and Gus Viseur are easy to find elsewhere. What's best
here are the pieces the compilers had to dig a little deeper to find.
Viseur's Diffrente is an uncommon treat, as is Hubert Simplice's
Simplicit, about as tight a small combo side as was ever recorded. The
best tracks are the unapologetic musette-style numbers. Some covers of
American hits like mile Carrara's In the Mood and Tony Muren's
Chinatown seem a little lackluster by comparison. (DC)
|
| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Jasmine 16-4 |
Swinging On A V Disc |
● CD $31.98 |
As part of the war effort during World War II the government
sponsored a whole series of recordings between 1941 and 1947 that were
issued on 78 rpm under the V-disc imprint for distribution to members of the
armed forces overseas to help raise morale. Many jazz sessions were
conducted often featuring unique combinations of musicians and vocalist.
This four CD set features 72 recordings that were issued on V discs or were
part of government sponsored broadcasts. Among the many artists featured are
The New York Stars (Count Basie with Roy Eldridge, Illinois Jacquet and
Buddy Rich), Bob Eberly, Randy Brooks, Buddy Rich, Les Paul Trio, Duke
Ellington, Benny carter, Johnny Mercer, Stan kenton, Fats Waller, Hot Lips
Page, Perry Como, Lt. Bob Crosby, Woody herman, Cpl. Buddy Clark, Hoagy
Carmichael, Mildred Bailey with Red Norvo, Harry james, Peggy Lee, Benny
Goodman, Sam Donahue, Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Rushing with Count Basie, Jimmy
Dorsey and many more.
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
JSP JSPCD 925 |
All Star Jazz Quartets |
● CD $28.98 |
Four CD set with 97 tracks covering the period 1927 to 1941
including sides by Louis Armstrong & His Orch., Hot Lips Page Trio, Jabbo
Smith's Rhythm Aces, Dicky Wells & His Orch., Bechet-Spanier Big Four, The
Delta Four, Noble Sissle's Swingsters, Coleman hawkins & His Rhythm, Four Of
The Bob Cats, Jelly Roll Morton Quartet, Eddie South & His Alabamians,
Stephane Grappely, Edmond Hall Celeste Quartet, Jimmy Bertrand's Washboard
Wizards, The Dixieland Thumpers, The Dixie Four, Clarence Williams'
Washboard band, Willie "The Lion" Smith & His Cubs and more.
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Mardi Gras 1094 |
Ultimate Street Parade - New Orleans Brass
Bands |
● CD $15.98 |
14 royal tracks parading in at 1 hour and 11 minutes, very
good This is a quality release in the grand tradition of the New Orleans
brass bands, providing a solid roster of some of the best brass bands still
going: Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels, New Birth Brass Bandyoung Olympians
And Olympia Brass Band. Real no-frills job on this, just a digipack, some
artwork and a track listing, but the music speaks for itself. (JM)
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Membran 222617 |
Funeral Songs - Dead Man Blues |
● CD $15.98 |
2 CD set, 44 tracks, 149 mins., recommended
You'd expect
from the package that these would all be New Orleans funeral numbers, either
the slow dirges of the march to the cemetery or the jubilant romps of the
return journey. And there's plenty of that in this collection, but there's
lots more, encompassing pretty much any New Orleans recordings from the
early 1920s to the early 1950s with the slightest connection to religion.
Nearly half the tracks feature Louis Armstrong with one band or another and
we get his full range of talent, from a solid St. James Infirmary
from 1928 to his almost Spike Jones riff on a revival meeting in The
Lonesome Road. A good balance is struck between the slow and mournful
and the outright peppy. There's also a nice balance between the honestly
soulful and the openly irreverent, including a couple of tracks by Clarence
Williams. One heads-up: the opening tracks is supposed to be Armstrong's
Saints but is really Armstrong and the Mills Brothers singing In the
Shade of the Old Apple Tree. Other than that all is as it should be, and
the liner notes are copious and well-written. (DC)
|
| CHICK WEBB |
Proper Box 97 |
Stomping At The Savoy |
● CD $24.98 |
Four CD set featuring 99 tracks by bands led by this great
drummer and bandleader who died at the early age of 32 in 1939. The band
provided the launching pad for the great jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald who
joined the band in 1938 and whoe performance of A-Tisket, A-Tasket
was one of the biggest hits of the swing era.
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