Year: 2023

From the Record Shelves #122 – Auld Lang Syne. Today I listen to myself. A couple of years ago I made a record that to my surprise and great pleasure had very good reviews in the jazz press. It contains mostly forgotten songs played in some different early jazz styles (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #121 – Toronto Dig. I don’t remember where I got hold of this record, but it’s with James Sharpe (1877–1943) who used the artist name Olly Oakley. He’s British and one of their most recorded banjo players ever. He played a zither banjo (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #120 – Down Where the Blue Bonnets Grow. If you have ever been involved in a situation with a two or one microphone recording you may be aware about the big importance of the room and the distance to the mike. On this recording (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #119 – Ostrich Walk. Bix Beiderbecke never forgot the tunes that turned him on to jazz. It was after World War I that his brother returned with some records, among them the newly released ones by Original Dixieland Jazz Band. When he got (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #118 – Concentratin’ On You. There are vocal records and there are records with orchestras featuring a vocal refrain. In the beginning of the 1930s Mildred Bailey was doing records of both kinds. Here she is mostly in a sentimental mood (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #117 – The Joys. Jimmie O’Bryant (1896-1928), was a today obscure almost forgotten clarinet player. Though he was not at the very top he still was able to do performances on record that were mistaken for the great Johnny Dodds (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #116 – Santa Claus Blues. Christmas is not fun if you’re alone and cannot participate in the warm embrace of your family and friends. Luckily it never has happened to me but here’s a reminder that it’s the situation for some (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #115 – High Society. I have an extensive double CD with the Six and Seven-Eight String Band, but today I play the LP that that was my first encounter with this classic New Orleans group. When you read the line-up of the band (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #114 – That’s a Plenty. Danny Polo is for me the clarinet player that replaced Don Murray temporarily during an illness and came to play the clarinet solo on Jean Goldkette’s fabulous recording of My Pretty Girl in 1927 (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #113 – I Been ’Buked. They sing “There is trouble all over this world”. Nothing is known about The Bronzemen, but they left after them a couple of radio transcriptions from 1939. By that time the depression and radio had made (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #112 – My Baby Came Home. It’s not a generally agreed upon judgement, but to my ears and taste Red McKenzie had a wonderful voice and his expression of sentiments is fine with me. On this compilation of singers from the jazz age (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #111 – Love Sick Blues. Georgia White was a native of the state with the same name. She was born in Macon, Georgia 1903 and began her recording career 1933 when most of the classic, female blues singers had lost their popularity (…) read more and listenread more and listen