Last week I had a short playlist of some of Lonnie Johnson's recordings as the featured artist. This week we have him with other performers. First up we have him performing with Louis Armstrong. Here is Mahogany Hall Stomp.
Next up is a duet with Eddie Lang, Midnight Call Blues.
Lonnie also recorded some popular duets with some of the early women blues singers like Clara Smith. Here they are on You're Getting Old On Your Job. Alex Hill is the pianist.
Another early woman singer Johnson recorded duets with was Victoria Spivey. Here they are heard on. Here is "Lonnie Johnson & Victoria Spivey - You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now Pt. 1.
We close this playlist with Lonnie Johnson accompanying Texas Alexander on Deep Sea Blues.
"Body & Soul" is one of the most iconic standards in jazz that has been recorded countless times since Louis Armstrong among others recorded it. Per Wikipedia" "Body and Soul" was written in New York City for the British actress and singer Gertrude Lawrence, who introduced it to London audiences. Published in England, it was first performed in the United States by Libby Holman in the 1930 Broadway revue Three's a Crowd. In Britain the orchestras of Jack Hylton and Ambrose recorded the ballad first in the same week in February 1930. by the end of 1930 at least 11 American bands had recorded it with Louis Armstrong having recorded the first jazz version. After Coleman Hawkins made his famous recordings, it has become a requirement, to paraphrase Dexter Gordon, for all tenor saxophonists to play and/or record it. This will be the first of my Take 5 blog posts devoted to this standard. I will focus on performances that predate Hawkins.
First up is Louis Armstrong's 1930 recording.
The highly underrated trumpeter Henry 'Red' Allen recorded it in 1934 with a band that included Dickie wells and Chu Berry.
The Benny Goodman Trio with Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa did a version in 1935.
Chu Berry with Roy Eldridge in his band recorded it in 1938.
Finally, we have the great Art Tatum from 1938.
This sets us up for next week when we will start with the classic Coleman Hawkins recording.
One of the best-known jazz & blues songs associated with the City of New Orleans, St. James Infirmary has been subject to many recordings and interpretations for decades. Artists such as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Chris Thomas King, and many others have recorded it. Also, it has been subject to scholarly study by Robert W. Harwood (and I recommend this volume) going through its origins and its history. Here is a link with more information about this book. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4758997-i-went-down-to-st-james-infirmary
Today's Take 5 is a short playlist of renditions of this classic tune. And I could easily have included another dozen renditions.
We start today's playlist with the great Louis Armstrong. This was not the first recording. That was by Fess Williams under the title of "Gambler's Blues." This recording is from 1928 and includes the great Earl Hines on piano.
Next, we turn to the great Cab Calloway who recorded it originally in 1930 but also did a 'soundie' of the tune.
Bobby Bland made one of my favorite recordings of this song. It was the flip side of his No. 2 R&B hit "Don't Cry No More." I have included the original recording and not a live performance as he performed an abbreviated version on the videos available. I note that soul-blues singer Geater Davis also did a recording that was modeled on Bland's version.
Chris Thomas King, son of Baton Rouge blues legend Tabby Thomas, is a highly underrated blues performer and so much more. His moving rendition was included as part of 'Rise," his post-Katrina recording. Here he performs it at The Beeches Jazz Festival in Toronto.
We conclude this with a performance by Shamarr Allen who recorded this for his 'Meet Me on Frenchman Street" album.
Yesterday we had a brief playlist of Blues Holiday Music. Today with have a brief selection of Jazz Holiday Music. We open with a Christmas 1948 radio broadcast of Charlie Parker from the Royal Roost playing "White Christmas."
Next up is Louis Armstrong with 'Christmas in New Orleans."
I wonder if the same folks who claim "Die Hard" isn't a Christmas movie, would argue "Good Morning Blues" by Count Basie isn't a Christmas song, even though Jimmy Rushing wants to see Santa Claus.
Here is Duke Ellington with "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen."
Finally, we have Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing "Jingle Bells."
Today's edition of Take 5 is a short playlist of Fletcher Henderson's Big Band. There are so many excellent tunes one might select, but I just want to give a brief sense of how great this band was. To delve more deeply you might want to check out "A Study in Frustration," an import CD set of the original 4 LP reissue. While Louis Armstrong's time with Fletcher Henderson was a brief one, it had a definite impact on not only the musicians in Henderson's Band and others. Here is the Fletcher Henderson Band when Armstrong was a member performing "Sugarfoot Stomp." This is an orchestral arrangement of King Oliver's "Dippermouth Blues" that King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band recorded with Armstrong on second cornet." The arranger was Don Redman who also played alto sax in the band at the time. Redman would be a very influential bandleader and arranger.
Next up is a rendition of "The Stampede," which was recorded shortly after Armstrong had left Henderson. The cornetist on this is Rex Stewart who was with Henderson for several years. Stewart is best remembered for his time with Duke Ellington, starting in 1934. also in the band from the 1920s is Coleman Hawkins (he is on "Sugarfoot Stomp").
One of Henderson's most famous recordings was "New King Porter's Stomp." Rex Stewart opens up with his muted cornet with Coleman Hawkins also featured. Henderson's arrangement would reach even more ears when Benny Goodman used it.
Later, Henry 'Red' Allen' joined Henderson's Band. Among the numbers Henderson recorded while Allen was in the band, was the futuristic sounding "Queer Notions," with solos by Coleman Hawkins and Allen
For the last Henderson recording, we will listen to a selection after Hawkins and Allen had left the band. Among their replacements were Roy Eldridge and Chu Berry. Here the band performs a favorite during the swing era, "Blue Lou."
Tomorrow, August 4, will be the 118th Anniversary of Louis Armstrong. Tomorrow radio station WKCR (wkcr.org) will be broadcasting 24 hours of his music. Today I present a short playlist of Satchmo's music.
First up is the Fats Waller-Andy Razaf song reflecting on race in America, "(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue."
Louis Armstrong first recorded ("I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You" in 1931. It was one of several versions he would record over the years. I have chosen the duet he recorded with Louis Jordan in 1950, when both of them were among Decca Records biggest stars.
In the 1920s Louis recorded with so many of the great early blues singers. I have chosen the late Sippie Wallace with her brother HersalThomas on piano and Louis Armstrong on cornet or trumpet doing "Jack Of Diamond Blues."
Here is the original recording of Louis Armstrong performing "When theSaints Go Marching In."
Now we go back to the Hot Five Days for another classic, "Heebie Jeebies."
For Norman Granz, Louis and Ella Fitzgerald recorded many duets. Here is "Summertime" from their grand "Porgy & Bess" album.
In the 1950s, Louis had the opportunity to revisit his early days an record a musical autobiography. Here he performs "Georgia Grind."
Here is an early recording of him performing "I Ain't Got Nobody" with a band that included Luis Russell on piano. He would later take over Russell's big band in the 1930s.
Hoagy Carmichael and Fats Waller were likely the two songwriters that Louis recorded more than others. Here he is performing "Stardust."
Finally we conclude with a late recording of his that has become one of his most remembered recordings "What a Wonderful World."
That's it. Again do not forget to tune in WKCR on Sunday.
Arguably W.C. Handy's most famous song might be "St. Louis Blues." I recall the founder of the Blues Foundation, Joe Savarin claimed that it was the most recorded song in the US history. Whatever the truth of this statement, it has been recorded and performed numerous times. Here are simply some of the many recordings of it starting with a 1914 recording from W.C. Handy's Band.
One of the most celebrated versions is by Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong on cornet.
Louis Armstrong recorded his first version in 1930. I once heard someone suggest the difference between blues and jazz can be heard in the recordings by Bessie Smith and Armstrong.
Here is a more recent rendition from Catherine Russell from the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Mark Shane is the pianist and Jon-Erik Kellso plays the muted trumpet.
Here is the New Orleans clarinetist George Lewis.
Here Nat King Cole sings this classic
Earl 'Fatha' Hines did his "Boogie Woogie on Saint Louis Blues."
Albert Ammons also did a boogie-woogie interpretation.
Here is the legendary Billie Holiday.
One of my favorite versions by a bluesman is the late Johnny Copeland. It was on his first Rounder album "Copeland Special" that included jazz saxophonists Arthur Blythe, Byard Armstrong, and George Adams.
Then there is the great Furry Lewis
And the duo of Sylvester Weaver and Walter Beasley recorded this instrumental version in 1927.
Finally an early version from Duke Ellington with Bing Crosby singing.
There are so many more, but I hope you found these enjoyable.
One of the most celebrated blues of all time is Richard Jones' "Trouble in Mind." Here is the celebrated original recording that featured Jones piano and the cornet of Louis Armstrong. It was a recording that Armstrong celebrated being part of and redid this for his musical autobiography in 1957 which he introduced.
One of my favorite recordings of this is Dinah Washington's 1952 Mercury recording with Ben Webster taking the tenor sax solo.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe is one of many who put their own stamp on this classic.
Here is Lightnin' Hopkins putting his distinctive touch to this.
It is a song that has become a staple of American music. Here is Merle Haggard doing a Western Swing based rendition. Bob Wills, a major influence on Merle, recorded this years before.
Here is Big Bill Broonzy.
Here is B.B. King performing it. Sounds like one of his many recordings for the Bihari Brothers in the 1950s or early 1960s with probably a Maxwell Davis arrangement.
Here is the legendary Sam Cooke's take on this classic.
Finally the greatly neglected Georgia White
Hope you enjoyed this look at a blues classic and some of its interpretations.
One of W.C. Handy's most celebrated compositions is "St. Blues Blues," which has been recorded countless times and become a blues and jazz standard. At the East Coast Blues Conference in 1988 in Washington DC, Joe Savarin, then Head of the Blues Foundation, stated it was the most recorded song ever, a statement that may or may not be true, but no question it has been done countless times. Here is a number of performances of this classic number.
First, here is W.C. Handy's Band performing this classic number
While there is a film short of Bessie Smith performing this,
here is her recording with Louis Armstrong on cornet
Here is Louis Armstrong's 1929 Recording of the song
Bill Williams was a marvelous fingerstyle guitarist who was influenced by Blind Blake
and did a wonderful rendition
Here is an early country blues recording by Sylvester Weaver & Walter Beasley
Here is the great Sidney Bechet
Earl 'Fatha' Hines did a wonderful "Boogie on the St. Louis Blues
Johnny Copeland heard doing this classic
Then the tough tenor sax and band of Booker Ervin
And I could found easily another dozen renditions.
Tuesday, December 01, 2015
The Complete Jazz Casual Series
EFOR Films
Many of you may be aware of the legendary public TV show, Jazz Casual, that was hosted by the late music critic Ralph Gleason. Shows from this series featured a number of jazz legends including John Coltrane, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, Louis Armstrong, Art Farmer, Jimmy Witherspoon with Ben Webster, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Earl Fatha Hines, Art Pepper, Art Farmer, Charles Lloyd Quartet (with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette), Joe Sullivan, Mel Torme and others. A number of these performances have been available on VHS tapes and DVD. EFOR Films has issued a box with 8 DVD's containing the complete series of performances mixed with Gleason's cogent interviews of these artists. Also included is a booklet with an overview of the series and the artists included.
I purchased this video box set. This is one of a number of short reviews I have written for the 2015 Holiday Guft Guide edition of Jazz & Blues Report. Here is John Coltrane performing "Alabama," from his performance on this show.
Purported to be a tribute to Louis Armstrong, Dr. John’s new Concord Records album even reflects that in its title, She-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit Of Satch. Listening to this I find it more satisfying as listening to this as simply a Dr. John album with songs somehow associated with Louis Armstrong. With arrangements primarily by his trombonist Sarah Morrow and the good Doctor, the music is more in the spirit of Dr. John and for a tribute to a gentleman whose legacy might be summed up by a title he recorded, Swing That Music, there is little swing but plenty of funk. This is despite the presence of such marvelous guests as Nicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard, Wendell Brunious, James Andrews, the Five Blind Boys, Ledisi, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, the Dirty Dozen and Arturo Sandoval along with Reginald Veal, Herlin Riley, Pancho Sanchez and Ed Petersen among those playing on these sessions.
One does notice the omission of anyone with direct ties to Louis Armstrong here such as Jewel Brown who was a member of Armstrong’s touring band for years, and Catherine Russell, daughter of Luis Russell, the leader Louis Armstrong’s big band for years before in disbanded. Russell herself has revived a number of Armstrong songs on her wonderful recent recordings (and most definitely in the spirit of Satchmo) and would have made as wonderful a participant as anybody here.
Looking at the material, there are only a few numbers that have a strong connection with Armstrong and core to his performance while several core songs of Armstrong’s music including When It’s Sleepy Time Down South (Armstrong’s theme song) and When the Saints Go Marching In (Armstrong’s recording with his big band popularized a number that has become overplayed perhaps). That’s My Home is a musical cousin to Sleepy Time, and one can understand Dr. John being uncomfortable with the its lyrics. While Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child was performed by Armstrong, and is a nice vehicle for singer Anthony Hamilton, there is nothing about this song or performance that makes one think of Armstrong. The same can be said with Sweet Hunk O’Trash that Armstrong performed with Billie Holiday in a movie and seems to be chosen as a vehicle for a duet with Copeland. Armstrong played on the original Trouble in Mind, and one wonders that a more inspired vehicle for Copeland might have been this with simply Dr. John and just Nicholas Payton on trumpet.
There is a lovely rendition of What a Wonderful World (although hardly a core part of Armstrong’s repertoire when he was alive) with the Five Blind Boys to open this album and there is a fresh, funk and hip-hop rendition of “Mack the Knife” with Mike Ladd adding a rap. Also Tight Like That, with Arturo Sandoval’s trumpet is totally reworked into a Latin number. The duet with Bonnie Raitt on I’ve Got the World on a String is nice but the only thing Dr. John’s “Gut Bucket Blues” has in common with Armstrong’s Hot Five recording is its title. The performance bears little resemblance to Armstrong’s original although Payton is brilliant here and it is a nice blues vocal and performance. Despite some bombast in the arrangement, Dippermouth Blues is also far removed from King Oliver’s original or the various renditions (including under the name Sugarfoot Stomp, and becomes rollicking New Orleans funk with James Andrews (Trombone Shorty’s brother) playing hot trumpet while Doctor John sings some scat phrases he wrote (including the title of this album), That’s My Home is one of the songs here that most evokes Armstrong’s music as does Memories of You with some outstanding playing from trumpeter Sandoval.
The closing When You’re Smiling, with the Dirty Dozen, has a lively Afro-Cuban groove and a solid vocal from the good Doctor. And there is certainly nothing to fault Dr. John’s performances here. The problem is the subtitle of the album, The Spirit of Satch. If you simply called this Ske-Dat-De-Dat, I suspect few would make a connection with Louis Armstrong from listening to it other than observe several songs were associated with Armstrong. At the same time, viewed as a Dr. John album it certainly will appeal to his many fans and on that basis I have no problem recommending this.
I received a review copy from Concord Records. Here is the song Gutbucket Blues as performed by Dr. John followed by the Armstrong Hot Five recording, Gutbucket Blues.
Creole Trombone:Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz
John McCusker
University Press of Mississippi
2012: Jackson MS
Ed ‘Kid’ Ory was a pioneering New Orleans musician who was associated with some of the most important artists of the new jazz music of the early part of the 20th Century including Buddy Bolden, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Leading the Creole Jazz Band in California he made one of the earliest (if not earliest) recordings by a Creole New Orleans Jazz Band. He was an important component of some of Louis Armstrong’s most important small group recordings of the twenties and also some of King Oliver’s Chicago sessions.
In writing Ory’s story, McCusker was given access to Ory’s unpublished autobiography that was narrated in 1950 to Barbara GaNung, at the time his mistress and later his wife. It was initially taken in shorthand and later typed. This combined with his research into statistical, sacramental and public records. He weaves his story in the context of a creole, born 25 miles upriver from New Orleans, at a time when the racist southern white assault on the rights of non-whites occurred. Louisiana was the state whose law requiring separate accommodations was upheld in the infamous case of “Plessy v Ferguson.”
McCusker traces Ory’s early musical experiences growing up in a world where a racist caste system was imposed and all persons of color were disenfranchised. Ory first acquired a banjo when 13, a gift from his ailing father. As a child he became familiar with Creole folk songs which he would perform later in his life. Brass bands of St. John Parish, where he grew up, piqued Ory’s curiosity and itinerant music teachers would come from New Orleans and offer musical instruction, with a James Brown Humphrey (father of grandsons Willie and Percy themselves noted jazzmen). Humphrey led the Onward Brass Band in LaPlace, taught children and young adults on the plantations and remote communities. Humphrey would also rehearse bands from the students he rehearsed including the Pickwick Brass band which Ory played in. McCusker’s narrative also discusses the traveling musicians and bands and the social functions that music would be heard at.
Ory displayed an entrepreneurial spirit in addition to a musical one. He acquired a beat up valve trombone and later changed to the more modern slide trombone. Moving to New Orleans, he met Buddy Bolden, who left a definite impression on Ory. Bolden’s musical innovation, as detailed by McCusker, was playing the blues for dances and such songs as Make Me a Pallet On the Floor and Funky Butt, were sensations. While not able to accept Bolden’s offer to play trombone, but watching Bolden play, as well as the competing John Robichaux with its musicality, he was able to have his own idea on how a band might sound.
After Bolden’s passing, Ory started leading bands in St.John Parish, sometimes playing in New Orleans. In 1910 he finally moved to New Orleans, first living with family members. Here Ory and his band would play at the dance halls country dances and picnics, and would enter cutting contests with other bands (such as that of Freddie Keppard) and an association with other individuals who would become major figures in early jazz as Johnny Dodds, an early encounter with young Luis Armstrong who would sit in with Ory’s Band at a picnic. Later the arrival of King Oliver (replacing Mutt Carey) would solidify Ory’s Band as the leading band in New Orleans and they would become known as the Ory-Oliver Band. When Oliver left for Chicago, Armstrong replaced him.
Not simply a successful bandleader and musician, Ory was astute as a businessman and successful in sponsoring dances. When a former benefactor started sponsoring dances with Ory, Ory became dissatisfied with their deal and started sponsoring dances on his own. This led to police raids and probable threats on his life that led him to leave for California in August 1919 where he would be until 1925. Armstrong and Dodds were supposed to have joined Ory, but they didn’t so some of his former band members were recruited. His band became a leading band in Los Angeles and he met Arnie Norakog and the Spike Brothers In 1921 he would be recorded by Norakog and these were released by the Spike Brothers. These were some of the earliest jazz recordings by African-American musicians, including the original recording of Ory’s Creole Trombone, that later would be recorded by Louis Armstrong with Ory in the band. McCusker spends considerable space discussing the session, its importance and the music. These recordings are available on, Cabaret Echoes: New Orleans Jazzers at Work, 1918-1927 on the Off the Record label.
Musically things cooled off so in 1925 Ory moved to Chicago, settling in the Windy City and becoming a sideman on some of the most famous recordings of the twenties, starting with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five recordings. Ory’s recollections of making the recordings are included along with McCusker’s discussion of some of the recordings and Ory’s role on them. Ory would join and tour with King Oliver’s, The Dixie Syncopators until 1927. McCusker also details Ory’s relationship with Jelly Roll Morton with whom Ory recorded as a member of the Red Hot Peppers for some important recordings such as Black Bottom Stomp, but did not participate on later Morton recordings. He also recorded in Chicago with Luis Russell, Irene Scruggs and Butterbeans and Susie with his final recordings of the 1920s being with Johnny Dodds’ Chicago Footwarmers.
Before the end of the decade, he followed his wife back to California. He would struggle playing music until in 1933 at the age of 46 he quit and took a job as a janitor with the Santa Fe Railroad. He didn’t totally quit music and by September 1942 was playing in Barney Bigard’s band that included Charles Mingus on bass. Bigard, as detailed by McCusker, helped Ory get paid royalties for Ory’s tune “Muskrat Ramble. In 1944, Orson Welles had Ory lead a band for his radio show and with this visibility Ory’s Band recorded for several labels. Various albums have reissued transcriptions of Ory playing on Wells radio program and these are available as a download as well.. There are also details about his relationship with his second wife, a white woman, Barbara GaNung. She is depicted as a manipulative and controlling woman who was abusive to Ory, leading him to deny his African-American background and cut him off from many of his old friends and bandmates. This chapter, on his post Chicago years, is somewhat summarily presented in contrast to the discussion of his life which is the subject of the main body of the book.
In addition to this detailed narrative of Ory’s life, McCusker has included a couple of short excerpts from Ory’s Autobiography, a selected Discography of Ory’s recordings, and the music for four “lost” compositions by Ory. There are also some rare photographs and label shots included, nearly 30 pages of end notes and an index. Creole Trombone is an invaluable look at a gentleman who played a substantial role in the development of jazz as well as the times and social context in which he lived. It is a significant addition to the jazz literature.
I purchased this. This review also appeared in the May-June 2013 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 348). Here is Kid Ory with Henry 'Red' Allen in Paris. I have made a few changes in my original review to reflect the comments from Kid Ory's daughter Babette. Babette's recollections of her father, along with Kid Ory's 1921 recordings, can be heard on the afore-mentioned Cabaret Echoes: New Orleans Jazzers at Work, 1918-1927 on the Off the Record label.
This is the second blog recapping some of the finer jazz and blues releases that came out recently. Today I focus on recordings I reviewed in the second half of 2012.
Cassandra Wilson's, Another Country (eOne Music), is a collaboration with the Italian guitarist and producer, Fabrizio Sotti. From the opening moments of Red Guitar, to the closingOlumutoro, Wilson's sultry and intimate vocals benefits from the backing. Brazilian born drummer Duduka Da Fonseca bridged the world of samba and jazz on Samba Jazz - Jazz Samba (Anzic Records). With a band of well-regarded players (and bandleaders): Anat Cohen - clarinet and tenor saxophone; Helio Alves - piano; Guilherme Monteiro - guitar; and Leonardo Cioglia on bass, he produced an appealing album with strong ensemble playing on a varied set of compositions.
Ernest Dawkins Afro-Straight (Delmark) is a terrific recording of straight-ahead jazz from an ensemble led by Dawkins, who is most associated with free jazz, as they tackle tunes from Coltrane, Shorter, Gillespie as well as an original blues from the leader. This is an excellent recording that easily refutes the stereotype that free jazz players can’t play straight-ahead.
Cornetist Josh Berman & His Gang, There Now (Delmark) is an imaginative free-bop release that includes very original interpretations of songs associated with the Chicago Jazz of the thirties. I found it a most imaginative and fascinating recording, full of surprises and passion. Five members of Brooklyn Jazz Underground, a cooperative association of jazz artists from Brooklyn, NY, collaborated on a new recording A Portrait of Brooklyn on the association’s sister company, Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. It is an excellent collection of first-rate original compositions and terrific playing.
New Blues Recordings
Vicksburg Blues (Red House Records) is the first collaboration between pianist and clarinetist Butch Thompson and singer-guitarist Pat Donohue and mostly explores classic blues in the vein of Leroy Carr, Tampa Red and Big Bill. "This is simply the finest album of blues piano and guitar duets in a number of years and certainly one of the finest new blues albums I have heard in 2012."
Johnnie Bassett had a new release on Sly Dog Records, I Can Make That Happen. This was another well produced and enjoyable recording. He died not long after this was released but was still making it happen with his soulful and sophisticated blues. There are several songs on Linsey Alexander's Delmark debut Been There Done Thatthat if were recorded thirty years ago would be viewed as blues classics. This was one of the finer blues albums I heard in 2012.
Michael Burks, Show of Strength (Alligator). What turned out to be a posthumous release was a stunning display of his fiery fretwork and soulful singing performing some fine material.
Omar and the Howlers, Too Much Is Not Enough (Big Guitar). There is the second album of JimmY Reed's music Omar Dykes has put together and this includes the alte harmonica master Gary Primich about others. These are wonderfully paced performances and many ‘blues players’ would do well to see how one can take familiar material and make it sound fresh and vital
The Lioness of the Blues, Sista Monica, most recent recording on her Mo Muscle Records label is Living In The Danger Zone. A singer that combines the power of an Etta James with the nuanced delivery of Ruth brown, Sista Monica has produced another strong release. Willie Buck with The Rockin’ Johnny Band had a new album on Delmark, Cell Phone Man. Evoking Muddy Waters, His vocals exhibit some of the same expressive qualities and with the strong backing here (which at times suggests some of the outstanding Delmark albums of the late sixties and seventies) Buck produced an outstanding recording of real-deal Chicago blues.
Fourteen Stories is the self-released recording by the Red Lotus Revue, a band rooted in fifties’ Chicago blues. They produced a strong collection of Chicago styled blues.
Vintage Jazz and Blues Recordings
Magic Sam, Live 1969 - Raw Blues (Rock Beat label). Exceptional previously unissued club recordings by legendary Magic Sam backed by Bruce Barlow (later with Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen) on bass and Sam Lay on drums. Soul may not be quite hi-fi, but the performances are searing. Don Sebesky’s Giant Box was part of the CTI Masterworks reissues of classic CTI albums marking the label’s 40th Anniversary. The performances onGiant Box display how his ambitious synthesis of classical, jazz and popular music was realized. His orchestrations frame the featured players here and enhance the solos that exhibit the skill and imagination of some of the greatest jazz musicians of four decades ago.
Celebrating a half century of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a new box set on Columbia/Legacy, The 50th Anniversary Collection. It spans there recordings and includes some previously unreleased material. This is a joy and soulfulness of all of the performances here on this celebration of 50 years of what is truly a cornerstone of American culture, not simply music. Labor Records issued a new Louisiana Red CD, When My Mama Was Living, bringing together 16 tracks comprised of one track on CD for first time and the rest previously unissued selections or unissued alternate takes. This new release of unissued songs and alternate takes is welcome as. Louisiana Red was in quite fine form during this period.
Grant Green, The Holy Barbarian/ St. Louis 1959 (Uptown Records). This is first release of live recording of nearly 70 minutes of what was a strong performance of blues and hard-bop organ jazz in St. Louis at a short-lived pioneering venue. Beautifully packaged this is as exciting release as Resonance Records recent Wes Montgomery CD.
Louis Armstrong & the Allstars,Satchmo at Symphony Hall - 65th Anniversary: The Complete Recordings (Hip-O-Select). A double CD reissue that includes previously unissued music that is one of the classic traditional jazz recordings and one of the most legendary performances of Armstrong’s career which thankfully is finally available in a complete issue.
It was 65 odd years ago that the great Louis Armstrong in May, 1947 did his first small group performance in many years at New York City’s Town Hall. The performance was such a success and combined with the fact that Armstrong’s Big Band was struggling, he disbanded his band band a month later. After performing with his new small group at Billy Berg’s in Hollywood, he came to Boston’s Symphony Hall in November, 1947 for a performance that would be recorded and be celebrated when it was initially issued on two LPs a few years later. Hip-O-Select has just released Satchmo at Symphony Hall - 65th Anniversary: The Complete Recordings, which includes several previously unissued performances and several performances unedited for the first time.
Armstrong and the All Stars included in addition to the leaders’ trumpet and singing, Jack Teagarden on trombone and vocals, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Dick Cary on piano, Arvell Shaw on bass and Big Sid Catlett on drums. Velma Middleton was also on vocals. The music here was in the format that Armstrong would employ leading groups for the rest of his life and while personnel would change (Catlett would pass away around the time of the original release of this material in 1951).
Included are two sets of music totaling about two hours. Both sets open with abbreviated renditions of Armstrong’s theme, When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, and close with short treatments of I Got a Right to Sing the Blues, associated with Teagarden. Listening to the first CD, one is treated to a rousing Muskrat Ramble, followed by the poignant song about racism (What Did I Do To Be So) Black & Blues. After taking us to Chicago on Royal Garden Blues, Teagarden is showcased for Lover and Stars Fell on Alabama with a nice vocal from Mr. T. A couple vocals from Velma Middleton include a take on Buddy Johnson’s Since I Fell For You, followed by Bigard features on Tea For Two and Body and Soul. Armstrong then takes a traditional blues Back O’Town Blues, a staple still of New Orleans bands today that is followed by a showcase for Catlett’s spectacular stick work, Steak Face.
The second set displays a similar variety of material as Armstrong opens with old favorites of his including Mahogany Hall Stomp, On the Sunny Side of the Street and the parade classic High Society. Teagarden was always at home with the blues and does a nice version on St. James Infirmary, while Velma Middleton’s Velma Blues is a mix of traditional lyrics. Its followed by her taking the initial vocal on That’s My Desire before Armstrong joins in for some fun. Bigard is featured on C Jam Blues, while bassist Shaw is spotlighted on How High the Moon. Catlett again gets to display his showmanship and deft drumming on Mop Mop although one can hear him failing to catch one of his sticks as it crashes into the stage. The last number of the performance (before the closing theme) is the previously unissued Jack Armstrong Blues that the two had recorded originally on a V-Disc. In addition to the two swapping lyrics, there was some spectacular playing by both here.
While there is occasional noise from the source material, sound is generally quite good. This is packaged in a small hardback with the accompanying booklet including the original 1951 notes as well as the more recent observations (including how this reissue came about) from Ricky Riccardi who is the Archivist for the Louis Armstrong House Museum. This is one of the classic traditional jazz recordings and one of the most legendary performances of Armstrong’s career which thankfully is finally available in a complete issue.
The record company sent me the review copy. Here is video of a later edition of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars.
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