• Programs A-Z
• Schedule
• Special Programs
• Youth Voices

• Transcripts

• Break Music

February 2000

February 26, 2000

The Original Memphis Five opened the program with "T'Ain't Cold" from the collection, "Red Nichols and Miff Mole" from Retrieval/Challenge RTR 79010, which brings together a number of selections by various Red/Miff ensembles, including The Six Hottentots, the Arkansas Travelers as well as the Original Memphis Five. Larry Clinton's arrangement of "The Snake Charmer" is included on Hep CD1037, one of three Clinton collections on the Hep label. "Lazy River" from Flip Phillips was included in Verve's reissue of the 78 RPM album, "The Jazz Scene," issued originally in a limited edition by Norman Granz in the late 1940s. The two-CD set is Verve 314 521 661. I think this was kind of an eccentric set when it first appeared and the reissue does nothing to soften the impression; some of the music has that very post-war self-conscious texture about it.

"You Got the Best Of Me" was another track by Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines, the Pied Pipers, with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, taken from a very listenable collection of airchecks issued by Masters of Jazz in its Sinatra series; this is MJCD 166. and we heard other selections from it a few weeks earlier.

The 1951 version of "Broken Hill" by Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band was played from a Swaggie LP [S1291]; the "modern" version by Steve Waddell's Creole Bells is on Stomp Off 1348.

We heard titles ("One Meatball, "Jim Crow Train," "Jelly, Jelly") by Josh White from the Flapper/Past label release 'Southern Exposure," Flapper/Past CD 7810, available from Worlds Records and other mail order/Internet dealers.

In connection with the publication by Scarecrow Press [www.scarecrowpress.com] of a bio/discography of Artie Shaw, we sampled some titles featuring early solo work by clarinetist Artie Shaw. [For my review of the book itself, go to the end of this source note.] "Midnight Blue," Buddy Clark with Dick McDonough and his Orchestra is on Jerry Disc EVA-1700. The Roger Wolfe Kahn version of "It Don't Mean A Thing" comes from a new collection devoted to Roger Wolfe Kahn (including, yes, yes, "It's A Great, Great Girl") on Jazz Oracle BDW 8013. Other titles in the set came from LPs: "Roll On, Mississippi" [Fred Rich and his Orchestra, Aircheck 12]; "Is I In Love, I Is" [Ben Selvin, TOM-16], "The Music Goes 'Round And 'Round" [Boswell Sisters, MCA MCL 1689].

"The Big Feet Rag" by the Georgia Jumpers, with Benny Nawahi and Robert Cloud is included in the first comprehensive survey of the recordings and life of the mysterious Robert H. Cloud, best known for his association with the Ross De Luxe Syncopators, whose complete Victor recordings recorded in Savannah in 1927 are included on this release from Jazz Oracle; the release is "Florida Rhythm," Jazz Oracle BDW 8011. Some of this CD will be tough sledding for casual listeners, but this release is worth the consideration of collectors who want the Ross De Luxe Syncopators titles.

Harry James' performance of Neal Hefti's "Except February Which Has 28," was released on Hep 24, a collection of 1949/50 transcribed performances by one of Harry's excellent postwar outfits.

Edmond Hall's 1944 transcription of "Caravan" has not made it to CD quite as yet, but will eventually, I am sure. George Buck released these World Broadcasting titles on Circle CLP-52 [LP]. Buster Bailey's "Chained To A Dream" was played from a 78; for a CD release, chase down Classics 904. Jimmie Noone's "Let's Sow A Wild Oat" by Noone's Apex Club Orchestra in 1928, is heard in the best fidelity on Collectors Classics COCD-12. Benny Goodman's 1939 rendering of "Paradise" is on Phontastic Phon NCD 8819. We also heard the Pee Wee Russell Quartet do "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain," from Impulse A-96 [LP].

The "Parenti Blues" with Art Hodes and Tony Parenti makes its first appearance on Jazzology JCD-20; the "Blues for Brad" by Wild Bill Davison and his Jazzologists is on Jazzology JCD-2, both available from George H. Buck.

We then enjoyed titles from three releases on the Sensation label from Canada. From a volume compiling the earliest recordings of Guy Lombardo [Sensation 769 748 026] we heard "Cotton Pickers' Ball," "Cy (Choose Your Pal)," "Somebody And Me, " Waitin' for Katie," "Nobody's Sweetheart," [Louisiana Rhythm Kings], "Cannon Ball," "Forevermore," and "Under the Moon."

Then we took special pleasure in hearing selections from two volumes on Sensation devoted to a comprehensive reissue of Annette Hanshaw. These titles are from Volumes 5 and 6 (with earlier volumes yet to be released). "I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling" and "My Sin" appear on Volume 6, Sensation 769 748 023; "High Up On A Hilltop," "Sonny Boy," and "Don't Be Like That" are on Volume 5, Sensation 769 748 022. Bear in mind that two-fifths of Volume 5 feature Annette in company with Frank Ferera's Hawaiian Trio, so if you can only buy one, start with Volume 6 (1/6th of which is Ferera!). The Sensation label is available from Worlds Records; the releases also direct purchasers to Universal/MCA's Canadian website, but I did not readily find anything about the Sensation label yet posted there. You can write Sensation directly at: 162 John Street, Toronto, ON M5V 2E5, CANADA. If you do write the label, or order from Worlds, please mention that you heard the label featured on HJSN.

Concord's two-CD collection devoted to Rosemary Clooney, "Songs From the Girl Singer," is CCD2-4870. We heard "Bargain Day" (1949), "The Coffee Song" (1995, with Betty Clooney's daughter, Cathi Campo), and "As Time Goes By" (1977).

Closing the program, that was George Lewis and his Ragtime Band with "Just A Little White to Stay Here," from a live late September 1951 performance recorded in New Orleans, and available with titles from a 1952 concert on American Music AMCD 107.

And now, some further comment on:

Artie Shaw: A Musical Biography and Discography (Series: Studies in Jazz #29), Vladimir Simosko Foreword by Artie Shaw, Scarecrow Press, $70.00, Cloth, January 2000, 416pp.

I've been eagerly awaiting this title, and the wait is well rewarded. It's written by Vladimir Simosko, whose interests are hardly so much rooted in the Swing Era as they are with reed players. Scarecrow recently published a similar volume by Simosko devoted to Serge Chaloff, and the Smithsonian published some years ago a comparable work he prepared on Eric Dolphy. Mr. Simosko had Artie Shaw's cooperation, and Shaw contributed a foreword in which he raises his eyebrows only about the depth of detail. "The text contains a great deal of information I had completely forgotten," writes Shaw, and he can't help but wonder if the volume at hand is not unlike the schoolboy who begins his book report on penguins with the observation, "'This book tells me more about penguins than I care to know.'"

Not me. Shaw is one penguin who is hard to understand, and Simosko's book brings us leagues closer to following Shaw's career and peccadilloes than we have ever been. Though this comment will first seem like a sidebar, let me note that I have carped in the past about the sizing of discographies published by Scarecrow. The discographies of Pee Wee Russell and James P. Johnson, for example, seemed to have less cover and page width than conventional hardbound books, making them feel strange to hold and almost impossible to situate lying flat. Simosko's book (like Scarecrow's publication of Eddie Lambert's tome on Duke Ellington's music and Timner's discography) is of magazine proportions, so it comfortably lies flat. The biographical details take up about 150 of these generously-sized pages with each page holding two columns of text. So, this is indeed a gloriously detailed book, filled with narrative, press reviews and reports, excerpts as appropriate from published accounts, and fresh material gleaned from Artie and others. In addition to which, Simosko, writes literately and knows how to narrate, and can treat the topics of Shaw's ambitions and music with understanding and insight. An opening chapter which has as its mission placing Artie Shaw in historical context actually provides a fine and succinct summation of jazz history, the merger of jazz and pop during the 1920s, and the emergence of the swing bands.

Simosko clears up a lot of confusion. For example, I had never quite understood the conventional report of Artie walking off the stand one night in November of 1939 and leaving for Mexico the next morning. There were so many accounts of people visiting him in his room and attempting to persuade him otherwise that one could only imagine a frantic all-nighter after which tooting off in one's car on no sleep seemed ill-advised and self-indulgent. Simosko establishes that Artie walked off the bandstand on a Tuesday evening but did not leave for Mexico until the following Sunday, so those discussions to persuade Artie not to abandon the band took place over the better part of a week.

It is also a feat of Simosko's to sort out Artie's activities as a studio musician in New York in the early-mid thirties. Shaw's name has surfaced on a number of sessions over the years, but there has never been a really documented trail of early Shaw solos on record. Shaw's first records were made for Gennett in Richmond, Indiana in 1928 with vocalist Joe Cantor's Orchestra, but they were unissued. Shaw's association with Irving Aaronson's Commanders has been well-known, but it turns out that Artie is only in the personnel for one Aaronson record, and it is a Brunswick, not a Victor. The earliest certain Shaw solos that can be heard are actually on the Fred Rich "Fred's Friendly Five" transcriptions for the Jarman Shoe Company. Of Shaw's many sessions with Richard Himber's Orchestra, only one, from early April of 1936, features Shaw soloing to any degree. Simosko concludes this portion of the discography with an index of tune on which Artie appeared as a sideman from 1928-36, which will be a very handy "finding" guide.

One of the great values of seeing everything laid out from the 1938-1939 period is to be better able to visually identify what Shaw broadcasts are known to exist and how titles from these have been parceled out on various record labels over the years (the late Wally Heider steadfastly refused to duplicate selections when he issued Shaw broadcasts on his Hindsight label). There have been rumored broadcast recordings of Billie Holiday singing with the band during her relatively brief tenure with the band. Sad to say, Simosko does not list any, suggesting that none have been confirmed to exist or documented (but I am told they did exist). thereby not fanning any false hopes. Other general appendices include one that identifies titles that Artie composed and arranged, while another index identifies all the known performances by various Shaw vocalists.

In nearly every respect, Simosko has taken no shortcuts. My one disappointment is that there are some among Artie's earliest recordings as a sideman that Simosko reports he has been unable to audition for the extent of Shaw's participation. Some of these do not strike me as being so obscure that collectors and certain institutions could not have provided an opportunity to hear them.

Books like this are expensive, but this one strikes me, against the customary price scale, as delivering full value and then some. Check my copy in a few years for worn corners and evidence of heavy use.

To access information about this title on Scarecrow's website, go here. Scarecrow may also be contacted at: 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706 Phone: (301) 459-3366 FAX: (301) 459-1705.

February 19, 2000

Tonight's program opened with "Apologies" from 1934 with Mezz Mezzrow and his Orchestra. This is available on one of the early volumes in the Masters of Jazz label series devoted to Benny Carter, as was "Blue Interlude" by the Chocolate Dandies, which opened the second hour of the program. The release is Masters of Jazz MJCD 39.

"Tom Foolery" from Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra in 1946 is included in a collection of broadcasts by the brothers Dorsey from the Casino Gardens; it's on Hep CD 59. "Who's Sorry Now?" featuring Frog Joseph with the Maryland Jazz band of Cologne in 1991 is on GHB BCD-358. The delightful "I Wouldn't Be Where I am If You Hadn't Gone Away" by Louise Vant with Perry Bradford's Mean Four is on Document DOCD-5353. Helen Forrest's vocal on "Deep Purple" with Artie Shaw is on Phontastic Phon 7613.

We heard titles from a CD reissue of two of singer Chris Connor's early albums for Atlantic. The albums, "Chris Connor" and "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," have been released on the Collectables label, CD-6239. We heard "Where Are You," "About the Blues," and "Almost Like Being in Love." For information on the Collectables catalogue, see their website, or phone 1-800-336-4627.

We honored Goerge Washington and Abe Lincoln, hearing Abe on the "Farewell Blues" from Southland SLP 215 [LP, no CD reissue yet], and George Washington with Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven, "Long Long Ago" [Ambassador CLA 1907, available from Worlds Records], and Henry Red Allen on "Whose Honey Are You" [Collectors Classics COCD-2]. From the "Blues" volume included among the thirteen CDs making up Masters of Jazz label's Ellington "Anniversary" box, we heard "Blues," with Ellington and Jimmy Blanton from 1939, and the Ellington Orchestra from 1933 with "Bundle Of Blues."

"Lulu's Back in Town" with Ivan Harold Browning and Henry Starr is on Jazz Oracle BDW 8003. "Lazy Drag" from Thomas Morris and his Seven Hot Babies is on Frog DGF 1. "Anything You Say" appears on a Cliff Edwards collection on ASV/Living Era AJA 5313. "I Need Lovin'" by the Sylvians came from an LP {SH 361].

Chiaroscuro's recent CD of pianist Mike Jones "Live at Steinway Hall" is CRD 364. We heard "It Happened In Monterey," and the medley of "I'm Glad There Is You/Crazy Rhythm." From the Jazz Crusade label, we heard clarinetist Dr. Michael White playing titles associated with Johnny Dodds, "Gatemouth," "Too Tight," and "Oriental Man." It's Dr. Michael White and the Blue Clarinet Stompers on Jazz Crusade JCCD-3052. We also heard "Oriental Man" weith Dodds himself and the Dixieland Thumpers. The transfer came from an old Herwin LP [Herwin 115], but this title is doubtless on a Johnny Dodds Classics label CD.

George Buck's release of some of Johnny Dodds' appearances on the Paramount label is Black Swan BSCD-32. We heard "Bohunkus Blues" [Blythe's Washboard Band], "Pay Day Daddy Blues" [Elzadie Robinson], "Out Bound Train Blues" [Viola Bartlette], and "Stock Yard Strut" [Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals].

We heard some selections from Duke Ellington's treatment of big band "anthems" and classics" for the Reprise label in late 1962 and early 1963. These, and nearly all of Duke's studio recordings during his association with Reprise, are availalbe in a recently-released boxed set from Mosaic Records, MD5-193. For information, visit mosaicrecords.com. [I saw on an Ellington listserv that Mosaic uncovered a few dozen copies of their Ellington Capitol box, LP format only. This was thought to be altogether out-of-print, so LP fans should hurry to Mosaic ("Last Chance") before these get scooped up.]

The CD by the White Lightnin' Wasboard Band (from which we heard "Just A Closer Walk With Thee") is available from leader Dave Littlefield. E-mail Dave at dwlit@cpcug.org for details, or phone Dave at 202-723-9527. The Federal Jazz Commission treated us to "Oh, Baby." It's on FJC 5; information is available on the band's website.

February 12, 2000

Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra raised the curtain with "Back To Back" from 1939. Not yet on CD so far as I know; we played it from the French RCA LP release in the "Indispensable Tommy Dorsey" series. NL 90028. "Little Girl," and the master takes of cornetist Wild Bill Davison's Commodore label recordings have been released on GRP CMD-405. The reissue of Joya Sherrill's 1965 album for 20th Century Fox, "Joya Sherrill sings Duke," is on Verve 314 547 266. We heard "I Never Knew" by an Eddie Condon ensemble featuring cornetist Johnny Windhurst; it's from one of the several volumes of selections issued by Storyville Records drawn from the "Doctor Jazz" broadcasts over WMGM in the early 1950s. Hear more of Johnny on Storyville STCD 6048.

"Git Goin'" by Viola McCoy is on Document DOCD-5418, and "The Trumpet's Prayer" by King Oliver and his Orchestra (Louis Metcalfe on cornet, actually) is on JSP CD 347, which may be still available. If not, it can be located on Classics; E-mail me if you need help on this one.

We heard "Fine And Dandy," "Walking By the River," and "Lost In A Fog" from a collection of songs written by women songwriters performed anew by singer Barbara Lea and pianist Keith Ingham. It's on the Challenge label, CHR 70029. I can't quite get over Keith's deft interpolation of "In a Mist" into his accompaniment on "Lost In A Fog."

Blind Boy Fuller's "Baby You Gotta' Change Your Mind" is on a collection devoted exclusively to Fuller, Columbia CK 46777. Bessie Smith's "Red Mountain Blues" is included in Volume 3 of Columbia's reissue of her complete oeuvre, CK 47474. Each installment is two CDs. Georgia White's romping "Daddy Let Me Lay It On You" is included in the collection of Les Paul titles, "Les Paul: The Trio's Complete Decca Recordings Plus (1936-37)," MCAD2-11708.

From 32Jazz, we heard "Sugar" from the reissue of "Sonny Stitt's Last Sessions," [32Jazz 32127], originally recorded for Muse in 1982. While many 32Jazz reissues fall outside the scope of HJSN, there are many wonderful surprises in the label's catalogue, so a periodic visit to its website is advised.

The "Chicadore Stomp" by Cline's Collegians appeared on Harrison LP-P.

The Frog label from England has released on three CDs a complete reissue of the recordings of McKinney's Cotton Pickers, including the Chocolate Dandies session for Okeh in 1928, and including alternate takes as well. (The Dandies titles and alternates are on Volume 3.) The catalogue numbers are Frog DGF 25/26/27. You can order Frog from Worlds Records. The transfers are by John R.T. Davies and therefore first-rate. The annotations are adapted from a softcover on the band published in the late 1970s, written by John Chilton. MassMusic is one source for this label (and others) I have found that is significantly less expensive, but delivery on out-of-stock titles can take weeks and weeks.

The Louis Armstrong recording of "Will You, Won't You Be My Baby" from 1934 is available on Classics 509.

I made reference a number of times to Gunther Schuller, whose two volumes, EARLY JAZZ (1967) and THE SWING ERA (1989) are available in hardbound or paper from Oxford University Press.

February 5, 2000

We began with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra and "I'm So In Love With You," a 1930 Victor recording included in the Ellington centennial box [BMG 63386]. I read that the last of the 10,000 sets in the run have just about disappeared. However, BMG will be issuing the contents of the box in smaller sets, broken into the various periods of Duke's association with RCA over the years.

Don Ewell's 1975 concert with Australia' Yarra Yarra Band has been issued on a two-CD set on the GHB label from the George H. Buck jazz Foundation; it's GHB 378/379. Other selections played this evening from George's catalogue of labels included Montana Taylor's Circle label recording of "Lowdown Bugle" from 1946 on Southland SCD-30, and Sharkey Bonano's version of "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie" (with Armand Hug, Bob Havens, Emile Christian, and Harry Shields) on GHB BCD-122

"Blue Sea" from the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra is on Classics 701. Elsie Carlisle sang "That's Love" from a CD on the ASV/Living Era label, "Else Carlisle: Radio Sweetheart No. 1," JA 5282. Jabbo Smith's recordings with his Rhythm Aces are available on Retrieval/Challenge RTR 79013.

We heard some selections from a recent CD presenting live recordings of the Nat King Cole broadcasting from the Circle Room of Milwaukee's LaSalle Hotel. "Nat King Cole Trio Live at the Cirlce Room" is Capitol Jazz 7243 5 21859.

Diamond Cut's most recent release is a collection of Edison Diamond Cut fox trot selections from 1920-1923. It's Diamond Cut DCP-307D, and we heard three titles from it: "Make That Trombone Laugh" (Harry Raderman's Jazz Orchestra), "When You Walked Out, Someone Else Walked Right In" (Ernest Stevens' Dance Orchestra), and "Sweet Butter" (Kaplan's Melodists).

Jimmy Dorsey's recording of "Don't Be That Way" is on GRP GRD-626. The version of "Ory's Creole Trombone" by Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band comes from a valuable collection of broadcast performances by the YBJB from the Dawn Club in 1941-42. It's on the Merry Makers Record Company label, MMRC CD-16. The wonderful version of "All I Do Is Dream Of You" by Norrie Cox and his New Orleans Stompers is on Delmark DE-236. The version of "Royal Garden Blues" by the Dixiecats came from a Roulette LP [R25015]; I'm not aware of a CD release at the present time.

We heard a number of selections from "An Anthology of Scat Singing, Vol. 3" on Masters of Jazz MJCD 803 [Volumes 1 and 2 are MJCD 801 and MJCD 802.] We heard "The Scat Song" (Cab Calloway), "I Ain't Got Nobody" and "The Darktown Strutters Ball" (Tiny Bradshaw), "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" (Bon Bon and His Buddies), "The Sheik of Araby" (Washboard Serenaders), and "Ring Dem Bells" (Svend Asmussen).

The titles from Ina Ray Hutton's World War II big band appearing on the Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands is on Soundcraft 5008. Worlds Records carries this label, and you can write producer Ed Burke directly at: P.O. Box 840705, Hollywood, FL 33084.

We heard titles from two fine releases from Arbors. From Peter Ecklund's CD, "Gigs: Reminiscing in Music" [Arbors ARCD 19230] we heard the "Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me," and from Jane Jarvis' "Atlantic - Pacific" [Arbors ARCD 19189], we listened to "I Wish I Knew."

Ray Noble's "Cherokee" was played from 78 as was the Dorsey Brothers 1935 version of "My Very Good Friend the Milkman." The "Jimtown Blues" by Ben Pollack's Orchestra from 1937 originally appeared on the Jazz Archives LP label [JA-44]. Artie Shaw's early string orchestra and it's recording of "The Same Old Line" is on Hep 1024.

We closed with selections from Mildred Bailey in the mid-forties, with several titles featuring accompaniment from pianist Ellis Larkins. These titles have been issued by one of Mildred's No. 1 fans, Ted Ono, on his Baldwin Street Music. We sampled "You Started Something," "Don't Worry About Strangers, "I Don't Want To Miss Mississippi,"That Ain't Right," and "Can't We Be Friends." It's all on Baldwin Street Music BJH-306.