Jazz Focus
Jazz Focus explores the highways and byways of classic recorded jazz, covering from the ragtime era to the day before yesterday. The podcast delves into various styles and eras of jazz music, offering listeners a journey through its rich history.
Episodes
Yank Lawson - 1943, 44, 45
Former trumpet soloist with Ben Pollack, Bob Crosby and Tommy Dorsey, Lawson was a powerful player devoted to the New Orleans/Chicago style of Dixieland. Here, his groups recording for Signature (Ward Silloway, Brad Gowans, Lou McGarity, Miff Mole, Pee Wee Russell, Rod Cless, Bill Stegmeyer, Joe Marsala, Dave Bowman, James P. Johnson, Eddie Condon, Bob Haggart, Johnny Blowers and George Wettling)
Show- Sonny Stitt at the Hi Hat 1954
One day (February 11th) in 1954, Stitt played a gig at the HI Hat in Boston with a local rhythm section (Dean Earl, Bernie Griggs, Marquis Foster) and Roulette recorded the whole thing . . Two cds include the entirety of the date with Stitt featured equally on alto and tenor with several baritone sax tracks (about his last on that instrument) thrown in for good measure.
Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong and guests (Billie Holiday, Louis Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald)
Louis made records with everyone - here are some Decca sides with Ella, Billie and Louis Jordan and a bonus - one track from a Bing Crosby radio show featuring Louis, Bing and Ella doing "Memphis Blues"
Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong Orchestra 1956/7
Recreation of Louis 1928-34 big band sides with an orchestra directed by Sy Oliver along with the All-Stars - Trummy Young, Billy Kyle, Edmond Hall, Squire Girshback, Barrett Deems . .done for the Louis Armstrong Autobiography project on Deccca.
Show - Savoy Sultans! 1938-41
Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans were the house band at the legendary Savoy Ballroom in New York City from 1937-1946 and so must have pleased the pickiest dancers in the world! While their music (between a combo and a big band) was not subtle or sophisticated, it swung hard and was the bane of many better known groups who came up against it. Here are most of their Decca sides from the period, featuring
Woody Herman and His Orchestra on V-Disc
Extended recordings made for the V Disc program during WWII (1944 and 45) by Herman's First Herd - features for Sonny Berman, Ray Wetzl, Neal Hefti and Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bill Harris (trombone), Flip Phillips (tenor), Ralph Burns and Tony Aless (piano), Billy Bauer (guitar), Chubby Jackson (bass), Dave Tough (drums), Frances Wayne (vocals) and the leader Woody Herman playing some outstanding
Show- Abstract British Jazz . . Joe Harriott Quintet
Jamaican alto saxophonist Joe Harriott had a fascinating career in London during the 1950's and 60's - he recorded with big bands, trad bands, vocalists and others, but perhaps his greatest contribution was with his "Abstract Jazz" - much like the Free Jazz experiments Ornette Coleman was making at the same time. Here is his quintet on a series of albums in the early 1960's with Shake Keane on tr
Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong Hot Seven
1927 sides featuring the Hot Seven (Louis Armstrong, John Thomas, Johnny Dodds, Lil Armstrong, Johnny St. Cyr, Pete Briggs and Baby Dodds) and Johnny Dodd's Black Bottom Stompers (Armstrong, both Dodds, Earl Hines, Barney Bigard, Bud Scott and Roy Palmer)
Morning With Pops - Louis and the Pianists - Ellington, Hines, Peterson
Louis Armstrong featured with three legendary pianists in the 1920's (Earl Hines), 50's (Oscar Peterson), and 60's (Duke Ellington)
Show - Lucky Thompson with Milt Jackson 1956
The mostly forgotten tenor sax of Lucky Thompson was very prominent in the 1940's with Count Basie, Charlie Parker and on his own. By 1956 he was becoming disillusioned with the music business and was shortly to move to Paris for several years. Just before that he worked with the Milt Jackson Quintet (on Savoy) and Sextet (on Atlantic) to produce several exceptional recording sessions featuring
Nuances by Norvo - Red Norvo 1936-42
Red Norvo and His Orchestra was one of the most innovative and tasteful groups of the Swing Era - which accounts for its lack of commercial appeal and memory! These are most of the instrumental recordings done by the group between 1936 and 1942 and feature great arrangements by Eddie Sauter and possibly the leader with Norvo taking the bulk of the solos on xylophone. Also featured are Hank D'Ami
Show-Shorty Rogers and Jimmy Giuffre
Great sides for Atlantic in the middle 1950's featuring the trumpet player/arranger/composer Shorty Rogers leading two groups - one, a quintet featuring Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet, baritone and tenor saxes, Lou Levy or Pete Jolly on piano, Curtis Counce or Ralph Pena on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. The other is a larger group with the same quintet with added alto (Bud Shank), trombone (Bob Enev
Charlie Parker Quintet at the Hi Hat
Charlie Parker was a frequent visitor to Boston in the early 1950's, often playing long engagements at the Hi-Hat club. Here is a sampling of well-recorded radio broadcasts of his groups featuring Herb Pomeroy, Joe Gordon and Herbie Williams on trumpet, Dean Earls, Rollins Griffith and Dick Twardzick on piano, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Woode and Bernie Griggs on bass, Baggy Grant, Marquis Foster, Geo
Show - Shorty Rogers and His Giants 1951, 53, 55
The trumpeter/composer/arranger Shorty Rogers did much work for Woody Herman and Stan Kenton in the 1940's - the 1950's found him working in the studios around Los Angeles, playing with the Lighthouse All-Stars on Hermosa Beach and leading record date. These feature an eight or nine piece band in the style if not the sound of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool sessions. With Rogers, Milt Bernhardt
Mildred Bailey with the John Kirby Sextet and Red Norvo 1939
The ultra-musical jazz singer Bailey and her husband, xylophonist and bandleader Red Norvo recorded several sessions with the just-organized John Kirby Sextet in 1939 and the musical results were superb . . featuring Bailey and Norvo with Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Russell Procope, Billy Kyle, O'Neil Spencer and Cozy Cole
Charlie Ventura Quartet for Verve - mid 1950's
The versatile reedman (here playing alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxes) featured with A+ rhythm sections including Hank Jones, Dave McKenna, Marty Napoleon (piano), Chubby Jackson (sb) and Jo Jones and Buddy Rich on drums. Well-arranged and played standards and a few originals!
Ken Peplowski - 1980's Recordings
The late, great Ken Peplowski is here remembered on some of his early recording sessions with an astonishing range of styles and personnel. Trad with Marty Grosz, Peter Ecklund and Terry Waldo; swing with Howard Alden and Dan Barrett, a funny baseball themed session with Dick Miller's National Pass Time Orchestra and two bonuses - one with Leon Redbone and one with Benny Goodman's last big band.
Show - Buddy Rich and Shorty Rogers play Basie!
Two tributes to Basie and his repertoire led by Rich in 1956 (with Harry Edison, Frank Rosolino, Bob Enevoldsen, Jimmy Rowles and Buddy Collette) and Rogers in 1954 (with Enevoldsen, Cooper, Zoot Sims, Jimmy Giuffre, Herb Geller, Bud Shank, Marty Paich, Curtis Counce and Shelly Manne).
Sidney Bechet - Paris, 1949
Recordings made by the great New Orleans soprano saxophonist right before and after his permanent relocation to Paris. Two sessions for Vogue and one for Blue Star feature Bill Coleman (trumpet), Frank "Big Boy" Goudie (tenor sax), Claude Luter (clarinet), Eddie Bernard and Christian Azzi (piano), Pierre Michelot (bass) and Kenny Clarke and Moustache Galipedes (drums). Originals and standards an
Show- Flip Phillips and Charlie Ventura 1952, 54
Three great sessions (two with Flip Phillips and one with Charlie Ventura) of tenor sax backed by well-arranged band performances! Featuring arrangements by George Williams and Chico O'Farrell with contributions by Charlie Shavers, Al Porcino, Kai Winding, Lennie Hambro, Dave McKenna, Richard Wyands, Max Roach, Freddie Green, Cecil Payne and others . . .
Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra, 1939-40
Great live dates from the Savoy Ballroom in 1939 and 1940, featuring the band of the recently deceased Chick Webb, now fronted by Ella Fitzgerald. These are terrific recordings - both musically and in sound quality - and feature great solos by Taft Jordan and Bobby Stark on trumpet, Sandy Williams and George Matthews on trombone, Garvin Bushell and Eddie Barefield on clarinet, Hilton Jefferson on
Show - Bill Coleman and Don Byas in Europe 1949
Two great record sessions and one live concert featuring the great expat American trumpet and tenor sax player . . with George Daly (vib), Michel de Villers (alto sax), Bernard Peiffer (piano), Jean Bouchety (bass) and Roger Paraboschi (drums)
Buck Clayton in Paris 1949
The great Basie trumpeter Buck Clayton took a band to Europe in the fall of 1949 for about nine months - those recordings are elsewhere on this station! These are appearances by Clayton with two other groups led by pianists - Willie "The Lion" Smith and his Quartet (with Claude Luter and Wallace Bishop) and Earl Hines (with Barney Bigard, Arvell Shaw and Bishop). Four tracks by Hines with just
Show - Billie Holiday 1954 and 55 on Clef
Two sessions featuring the singer heading into her twilight years but still possessing great artistry and backed by great bands. The first has her own group with Harry Edison on trumpet, Willie Smith on alto sax and Bobby Tucker on piano. The second is the Tony Scott Orchestra with Scott on clarinet, Budd Johnson on tenor sax, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Carl Drinkard on piano and Billy Bauer on
Ben Webster 1940's
Companion to the other program featuring groups with Webster as the only horn, this one has larger groups, but with the spotlight still on the tenor! Webster's group nominally led by Bill De Arrango recording for Haven with Leonard Hawkins (Idrees Sulieman) on trumpet, Tony Scott on clarinet, Argonne Thornton (Sadik Hakim) on piano, De Arrango on guitar, John Simmons on bass and Sid Catlett on dr
Show - Barney Kessel Septet on Contemporary
Great West Coast/Swing/Mainstream sessions led by guitarist Kessel (who also arranged and composed some of the tunes) for Contemporary Records. The To Swing or Not To Swing album from 1956 featured Harry Edison on trumpet and either Bill Perkins or Georgie Auld on tenor sax with Shelly Manne on drums and Jimmy Rowles on piano. The 1959 Some Like It Hot album has Joe Gordon on trumpet, Art Pepper
Flip Phillips and Bill Harris - 1950-52
Sides demonstrating the connection between trombonist Harris and tenor saxophonist Phillips recording for Clef/Mercury. The first session also features Harry Edison, Hank Jones and Buddy Rich, the second Lou Levy, Gene Ramey and Jo Jones and the third is by the Nick Esposito Sextet with Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown JC Heard and Bennie Green replacing Harris on four tunes.
Show - Tony Kinsey Trio with Joe Harriott and Quintet
British drummer Tony Kinsey had a long career as a player, composer and arranger. His mid-1950's groups played pretty uncompromising jazz but were commercially successful - a rarity! This version of his group's records on Esquire and Decca features Jamaican alto sax player Joe Harriott, pianist/vibist Bill Le Sage (who composed half the tunes) and a variety of bass players. Tenor player Don Ren
Show - Bass Clarinet 2!
More great bass clarinet performances by Don Byron, Eric Dolphy, Harry Carney, Joe Temperley, Hal McKusick, Gene Allen and Buddy De Franco!
Show - Cab Calloway 1932 Band
Great period in the Calloway discography . . from June through December 1932 the band had a very stable personnel featuring Doc Cheatham, Ed Swayzee and Lammar Wright (tpt), DePriest Wheeler and Harry "Fatha" White (tbn), Eddie Barefield, Arville Harris, Andrew Brown and Walter Thomas (reeds), Benny Payne (p), Morris White (g), Al Morgan (sb) and Leroy Maxey (d) backing the leader's athletic vocal
Willie "The Lion" Smith and Earl Hines - Paris, 1949
Great recordings for the French Vogue label featuring both Hines and Smith playing solo and a date (largely of his own originals) with Smith joined by Wallace Bishop . . stride and post-stride at its best!
Show - Tommy Whittle and the British bop scene
Almost forgotten tenor sax player of the late swing and early bop periods in England, Tommy Whittle played with Ted Heath, Harry Hayes and other mainstream groups from his early teens. By the late 1940's he was clearly influenced by bebop and these recordings demonstrate this. With the Jack Parnell Quartet and Quintet (from Heath's band), Tony Kinsey's group (with Dill Jones on piano) and two se
Barney Kessel - first three Contemporary Albums!
Kessel and his Charlie Christian-derived guitar playing was the focus of all these quintet sessions for Contemporary in the middle 1950's, but he gives good innings to Buddy Collette, Bud Shank and Bob Cooper on saxophones and flute, Claude Williamson, Arnold Ross and Hampton Hawes on piano, Red Mitchell on bass, Shelley Manne on drums and several others . . standards as well as original compositi
Show- Lu Watters and His Yerba Buena Jazz Band 1949-50
Recorded for Down Home at Hambone Kelly's . . Watters on trumpet, either Don Noakes or Warren Smith on trombone, Bob Helm on clarinet, Wally Rose on piano, Clancy Hayes on vocals and banjo, Pat Patton on banjo, Dick Lammi on tuba and Bill Dart on drums. A program of Watters' originals, blues and 1920's Jazz tunes.
Buck Clayton and Bill Coleman - Paris, 1949
Three sessions for Vogue and Swing in Paris, 1949 by two great Swing Era trumpets. Buck Clayton's Sextet with Don Byas and Wallace Bishop, the Buck Clayton and Bill Coleman Orchestra with Alix Combelle, George Kennedy and Andre Persiany, and Bill Coleman with the Jack Dieval Quartet with Paul Vernon
Show - Bass Clarinet !
Survey of the 1920's Hot Dance Band scene with all sides featuring a solo bass clarinet! Paul Whiteman, Gus Arnheim, Jelly Roll Morton, Cab Calloway, Doc Cooke, The Harlem Trio, Eddie South, Ben Selvin, Jesse Stafford and Mal Hallett, among others . . .
Buddy Rich Orchestra 1946-47
Big band formed at exactly the wrong time - Buddy Rich had a superb group he put together in the fall of 1945 . . .players like George Berg, Bitsy Mullins, Earl Swope, Allan Eager, Harvey Leonard and Tommy Allison played great arrangements by Ed Finkel, Tadd Dameron and Neal Hefti with vocals and drum features by the leader. These recordings are from V-Disc sessions and three sessions for Mercury
Show - Mel Powell solo, trio and quartet
The great if unheralded pianist Mel Powell was better known after he left the jazz world as a classical composer and teacher, but in his late teens through his thirties he was a terrific piano player and an even better arranger. These sides (for Vanguard and Capitol in 1947 and 55) show him playing solo in and in small chamber jazz groups featuring Ruby Braff, Bumps Myers, Oscar Pettiford, Skeete
Joe Harriott - Jamaican bebop and swing alto sax
Virtually forgotten Jamaican player who dominated the London jazz scene in the 1950's and 60's with a style that encompassed trad, swing and free - although his primary sound was bebop. Here he is featured with three different quartets in the mid 1950's and as a soloist with the Kurt Edelhagen radio band in Germany in 1959. Dill Jones on piano, Phil Seamen on drums and many others are also feat
Show- Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins 1955
Several classic Vanguard albums from 1955 featuring the duo of trumpeter Ruby Braff and pianist Ellis Larkins doing a series of duets. Songs associated with Bing Crosby and composed by Rodgers and Hart are the feature . . .
Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra 1933-34
From Sept 1933 through the end of January 1934 (when the band left for a European tour), the Calloway Orchestra recorded for RCA Victor, redoing some earlier hits (like "Minnie" and "Scat Song") and premiering some great jazz numbers by trombonist and arranger Harry "Father" White ("Fatha's Got His Glasses On," "Harlem Camp Meetin'," "Evening" etc). Featuring Ed Swayzee, Lammar Wright and Doc Che
Show - Ben Webster 1944-47
Great mid 1940's sides featuring the tenor sax player soon after his tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. All these recordings feature Webster as the only horn with stellar rhythm accompaniment under his own name (with John Simmons, Al Haig, Johnny Guarnieri, Oscar Pettiford, Bill De Arrango and David Booth) and with Sid Catlett (with Marlowe Morris and Simmons).
Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band - live, 1941-2
Live airshots, mostly from the Dawn Club in San Francisco of Lu Watter's first Yerba Buena band, featuring himself and Bob Scobey on trumpet, Turk Murphy on trombone, Ellis Horne on clarinet, Forrest Brown and Wally Rose on piano, Clancy Hayes and Russell Bennett on banjos, Dick Lammi on tuba and Bill Dart on drums . . .a bonus wartime date during the summer of 42 without Watters, but with Benny S
Show - Hilton Jefferson 1958, 60, 61
Three great (and vastly different) mainstream sessions featuring the alto of Hilton Jefferson, who was known more popularly as a lead alto player for Calloway, Henderson and Ellington. Here he is featured with Rex Stewart on a Feltsted album with Garvin Bushell on clarinet and bassoon and Everett Barksdale on guitar; the Swingville All Stars with Al Sears, Taft Jordan and Don Abney and a differen
Bass Clarinet Jazz 2!
A wide ranging survey of 1920's, Trad and Swing recordings featuring bass clarinet - with the Cotton Club Orchestra, PIccadilly Players, Monette Moore, Wilbur Sweatman, Anglo-American Alliance, Hoosier Hotshots and bands led by Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ray Noble, Marty Grosz, Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, Jean Morel, Humphrey Lyttleton and Ted Weems!
Show - Taft Jordan 1960 and 1961
Selections taken from two lps featuring Taft Jordan playing Ellington tunes with a quintet including Kenny Burrell and Richard Wyands and the Swingville All Stars with Al Sears, Hilton Jefferson and Don Abney.
Billie Holiday on Clef 1955
Two great sessions from August, 1955 with Billie Holiday backed by the same band - Harry "Sweets" Edison, Benny Carter, Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Larry Bunker. Holiday was at the tail end of her career, but the top-shelf accompaniment inspired her to some of her best singing - rerecording tunes for Clef in 1955 that she had done twenty years earlier for ARC and Brunswick.
Show- Clarence Williams Washboard Band 1927-29
Out and out jazz sessions led by the New Orleans pianist and entrepreneur Williams featuring mostly his own compositions/publications. Ed Allen and King Oliver play cornet, Buster Bailey, Arville Harris, Russell Procope, Benny Moten and Carmelo Jejo play reeds, Cyrus St. Clair on tuba and Floyd Casey on washboard, giving the group its name!
Ben Webster on Clef - 1951, 53
Some of the first feature recordings made by Norman Granz on his various labels. This represents three sessions led by Ben Webster (the last two of which were issued on LP as "King of the Tenors"). The first is 1951 with Maynard Ferguson on trumpet, Benny Carter on alto, Gerald Wiggins on piano, John Kirby on bass and George Jenkins on drums. The others are from 1953 and feature Oscar Peterson
Show - Jabbo Smith the Sideman
Great records featuring the iconoclastic trumpeter playing with other groups, including Charlie Johnson's Paradise Orchestra (with Charlie Irvis, Benny Waters, Ben Whitted and Monette Moore), Duke Ellington (with Joe Nanton, Rudy Jackson, Otto Hardwick and Harry Carney), Charles Lavere and His Orchestra (Joe Marsala, Preston Jackson, Zutty Singleton, Boyce Brown), Banjo Ikey Robinson (Omer Simeon,
Mel Powell - Orchestra and Septet
These recordings from a septet through a full band feature the arrangements and some compositions by the great Mel Powell. After he left jazz in the late 1950's he became well known as a serious composer and educator, but his arrangements for jazz groups demonstrate his earlier abilities as applied to more commercial ensembles. The 1946 orchestra features Bernie Privin, Johnny Carisi, Lou McGari
Show - Buck Clayton and Buddy Tate on Swingville 1960/61
Two of the stalwarts of Count Basie's band of the early 1940's, Clayton and Tate recorded many times in the 1950's and 60's, but these dates for Swingville really highlight their chemistry and affinity for the blues - with Sir Charles Thompson, Gene Ramey, Mousie Alexander and Gus Johnson.
Gene Krupa, Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster on Clef 1952, 53, 54
Early sessions produced by Norman Granz for his Clef label featuring great Swing Era Stars - the Gene Krupa Sextet has Charlie Shavers, Bill Harris, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and the leader while the various Hodges groups have Emmett Berry, Lawrence Brown, Hodges, Webster, Leroy Lovett, Cal Cobbs, Osie Johnson and others all playing standards and originals!
Show - Jack Purvis . .trumpet for hire 1929-35
The original wild man of jazz - Purvis was an extraordinarily gifted trumpet player who spent time with most of the great white players of the pre-swing era and led several dates. Here he is with his own groups (with J.C. Higginbotham, Coleman Hawkins, Frank Froeba and Adrian Rollini among others), Hal Kemp and His Orchestra, Ben Selvin and His Orchestra, Rube Bloom's Bayou Boys (with Tommy Dorse
Art Hodes and Sidney Bechet - Blue Note 1944, 45, 49
Three sessions all featuring Art Hodes, with Bechet on two . . the Art Hodes Blue Five with Max Kaminsky (tpt), Mezz Mezzrow (clt), Pops Foster (sb) and Danny Alvin (drums), the Hodes Hot Five with Wild Bill Davison (c), Sidney Bechet (clarinet and soprano sax), Foster and Freddie Moore (d) and the Sidney Bechet Blue Note Jazz Men with Davison, Hodes, Walter Page (sb) and Moore. Terrific New Orle
Show - Pee Wee Russell and Bud Freeman on Swingville, 1960
Uncharacteristic sessions from two musicians unfairly pigeon-holed as dixielanders . . here playing superb mainstream Jazz with much more modern-sounding rhythm sections . .Russell's clarinet is heard with Buck Clayton (trumpet), Tommy Flanagan (piano), Wendell Marshall (bass), J.C. Heard (drums) and Freeman is on tenor with Shorty Baker (trumpet), Claude Hopkins (piano), George Duvivier (bass) an
Rex Stewart 1947
Rex Stewart and His Orchestra - a septet of fine musicians touring France, Sweden and Germany in late 1947 through 1948. Great arrangments fo swing tunes, novelties, some dixieland and even some bebop with Stewart, Sandy Williams (tbn), John Harris (clt and alto), Vernon Story (tenor), Don Gais (p), Fred Emelin and Ladislas Czabanyck (bass), Ted Curry (drums) and Stewart and Honey Johnson on voca
Show - Bunk Johnson in San Francisco, 1943-4
Some of the New Orleans trumpet player's first recordings after being rediscovered . . with Kid Ory's band (Mutt Carey on cornet, Kid Ory on trombone, Wade Whaley on clarinet, Buster Wilson on piano, Frank Pasley on guitar), Ed Garland on bass, Everett Walsh on drums), Lu Watters Yerba Buena band (Watters on trumpet, Turk Murphy on trombone, Ellis Horne on clarinet Burt Bales on piano, Pat Patton
Clarence Williams - Dixie Washboard Band 1927-29
Clarence Williams records not released under his name . . The Dixie Washboard Band, Bluegrass Feet Warmers and Seven Gallon Jug Band. .featuring Ed Allen, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Buster Bailey, Carmelo Jari, Cyrus St. Clair, Floyd Casey, Benny Moten, Jasper Taylor, Arville Harris and others!
Show - Buddy Tate on Swingville, 1960
Three great mainstream sessions featuring the great Texas/Basie tenor sound of Buddy Tate (and clarinet on one number) with Claude Hopkins and Tommy Flanagan on piano, Emmett Berry, Joe Thomas and Clark Terry on trumpets, Wendell Marshall and Larry Gales on bass, J.C. Heard, Osie Johnson and Art Taylor on drums
Clarence Williams - 1925-27
Great small group sides made by the New Orleans pianist and entrepreneur Williams featuring many great black Jazz players of the day including Bubber Miley, Ed Allen, Tommy Ladnier and Louis Metcalf (trumpet), Joe Nanton and Charlie Irvis (trombone), Arville Harris, Ben Whitted, Don Redman, Buster Bailey and Coleman Hawkins (reeds), Leroy Harris and Buddy Christian (banjo), Cyrus St. Clair (tuba)
Show - Original Salty Dogs 1964, 66, 69
Drawn from three albums for Delmark and GHB, these records capture this classic trad band at its peak . . originating as a campus band at Purdue in the late 1940's, the Salty Dogs became the Original Salty Dogs by the mid 1950's and were one of the top two or three groups in the genre for decades. Here, Lew Green (cornet), Jim Snyder (trombone), Kim Cusack (clarinet and alto), John Cooper (piano)
Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams 1924-25
Recordings by the Clarence Williams Blue Five and Red Onion Jazz Babies featuring Louis Armstrong during the year he spent in New York with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. Also involved are Charlie Irvis and Aaron Thompson (tbn), Sidney Bechet, Buster Bailey, Don Redman and Coleman Hawkins (reeds), Lil Armstrong (piano), Buddy Christian (banjo) and Eva Taylor, Alberta Hunter and Clarence Todd o
Show - Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band 1945, 46
Some of the early New Orleans Revival recordings by Kid Ory's band - for Exner and Decca in 1945 and Columbia in 1946. Featuring Mutt Carey (c), Ory (tbn), Joe Darensbourg and Barney Bigard (clarinet), Buster Wilson (p), Bud Scott (bjo and guitar), Ed Garland (sb), Minor Hall or Alton Redd (d), vocals by Ory, Cecile Ory, Darensbourg and Helen Andrews.
Louis Armstrong in Chicago, 1933
Louis' regular band in Chicago recorded several dates in January and April of 1933 for Victor with tunes he had popularized as well as come new pop material. In addition to his singing and playing (definitely at a peak, despite reputed chops trouble), we hear Keg Johnson on trombone, Scoville Brown on alto, Budd Johnson on tenor, Teddy Wilson and Charlie Beal on piano, Mike McKendrick on guitar a
Show - early Modern Jazz Quartet 1951-53
Some sides for Hi-Lo and Dee Gee by the Milt Jackson Quartet at the beginning of the career of the Modern Jazz Quartet followed by the actual group in one of its first recording sessions for Prestige - with Milt Jackson on vibes, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath and Ray Brown on bass, and Kenny Clarke and Al Jones on drums, standards an originals!
Jabbo Smith's Rhythm Aces 1929
Great series of recordings featuring the legendary trumpet player (also on trombone and vocals) with a seasoned bunch of Southside Chicago jazz players - Omer Simeon, George James, Cassino Simpson, Earl Frazier, Banjo Ikey Robinson, Hayes Alvis and Lawson Buford. All tunes by Jabbo Smith!
Show - Lou Donaldson 1952-54
Great and largely forgotten alto player in his first recordings under his own name (for Blue Note) with Horace Silver, Blue Mitchell, Gene Ramey and Art Taylor and live at the Birdland with the Art Blakey Quintet, with Clifford Brown, Silver, Curley Russell and Blakey creating some of the best late period bebop.
Hal Kemp and His Orchestra 1927-29
Hal Kemp led an excellent student band at the University of North Carolina in the early 1920's that stayed together after graduation, travelling to England in 1925 and making their first recordings. By late 1927 the band was a professional unit in New York, highly regarded for its precision ensemble work and hot dance stylings - while there were no significant soloists (although trumpeter Bob May
Show - Wild Bill Davison and Tony Parenti 1949 and 1955
Two early sessions for the Jazzology/Circle label - the 1949 session was in fact the first for that label, featuring Tony Parenti's New Orleanians, with the New Orleans clarinetist leading Davison on cornet, Jimmy Archey on trombone, Art Hodes on piano, Pops Foster on bass and Art Trappier on drums. The 1955 session has Davison in charge with Parenti and Foster and joined by Lou McGarity on tromb
Bunk Johnson Deccas and Victors 1945-46
Bunk Johnson's New Orleans Jazz Band as they were performing at the Stuyvesant Casino in November 1945-January 1946 . . Johnson on trumpet, Jim Robinson on trombone, George Lewis on clarinet, Alton Purnell on piano, Lawrence Marrero on banjo, Slow Drag Pavageau on bass and Baby Dodd on drums recording for Decca, Victor and AFRS.
Show - Budd Johnson 1960's and 70's
Great if largely unheralded sax player and arranger whose career stretched from Louis Armstrong through Quincy Jones is here featured on tenor, baritone and soprano on several sessions, including under his own name (with his brother Keg Johnson on trombone), pianist Claude Hopkins (with Bobby Johnson on trumpet and Vic Dickenson on trombone), Jimmy Rushing (with pianist Dave Frishberg and tenor sa
Cab Calloway Live - 1940, 44, 45
Live broadcasts of the roaring Calloway band from the Meadowbrook in 1940 (featuring Chu Berry, Dizzy Gillespie, Tyree Glenn, Cozy Cole and Jerry Blake) and the Club Zanzibar in 1944 and 45 (with Jonah Jones, Shad Collins, Tyree Glenn, Hilton Jefferson, Ike Quebeck and J.C. Heard). Several vocals by the leader, but the focus is definitely on the instrumentals, some of which have extended solos!
Bunny Berigan live 1937-42
Airshots from radio broadcasts and remotes featuring Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra in several different incarnations - with Bob Jenney (tbn), Joe Dixon and Andy Fitzgerald (clt), Georgie Auld, Larry Walsh and Johnny Castaldi (ts), Joe Lippman and Buddy Koss (p), Gail Reese and Danny Richards (v), but the focus is rightly on the leader's majestic trumpet
Solo Piano at the Hangover . . Don Ewell, Meade Lux Lewis, Joe Sullivan, Lil Armstrong, Fats Pichon
The Hangover was a popular jazz club in San Francisco in the middle 1950's, specializing in Dixieland and New Orleans Jazz . . the weekly broadcast from the club featured resident bands as well as a solo (intermission) pianist . . here is a selection of the best! Fats Pichon, Meade Lux Lewis, Lil Armstrong, Don Ewell and Joe Sullivan accompanied by Smokey Stover (drums) and Truck Parham on bass
Show - Saturday Night Swing Club 1936-39
The Saturday Night Swing Club was a regular radio show from the middle of 1936 through 1939 and featured a shifting cast of great musicians - the house band which included players like Mannie Klein, Bunny Berigan, Will Bradley, Pete Pumiglio, Dave Harris, Claude Thornhill, Lou Shoobe and Johnny Williams. Also featured here are Red Allen, Roy Eldridge, Chick Webb, Adrian Rollini, Billy Kyle, Dick
Sidney Bechet and Wild Bill Davison 1949-50
Great sides for Blue Note and Commodore made in NYC when Bechet was visiting from France - with Jimmy Archey, Ray Diehl and Wilbur DeParis (tbn), Joe Sullivan, Art Hodes and Ralph Sutton (p), Pops Foster, Walter Page and Jack Lesberg (sb), Slick Jones and George Wettling (d)
Show - Dave Brubeck Trio 1949/50
Some of the first recordings by the well-known pianist, here in trio form with Ron Crotty on bass and Carl Tjader on drums/vibes/percussion. Mostly standards, these tunes feature highly sophisticated arrangements using humor and extensive classical techniques!
Ivy Anderson with Duke Ellington - 1933-38
Ivy Anderson was one of the most overlooked singers of the era - great with jazz, novelty, blues and ballads and was one of Ellington's prime tone colors during her decade-long tenure with his band. Here she sings a mix of Ellington tunes as well as older standards and songs composed for various Cotton Club reviews during the middle 1930's - with the expected excellence from Cootie Williams, Rex
Show - Zoot Sims 1950/53 Europe and the US
Great band sides led by the great tenor player early in his career - some while on tour in Europe, some in New York. With Conte Candoli, Frank Rossolino, Lars Gullin, Lee Konitz, Al Cohn, Art Blakey, Dick Hyman, Jimmy Gourly, Henri Renaud and many others.
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The Bill Simmons Podcast
