Year: 2023

From the Record Shelves #55 – Tears. This is a heavenly record, especially if you like saxophone and good arrangements. The key persons and masters in both departments are Don Redman and Benny Carter. Still I have chosen a number (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #54 – Once Upon a Time. This is a heavenly record, especially if you like saxophone and good arrangements. The key persons and masters in both departments are Don Redman and Benny Carter. Still I have chosen a number (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #53 – If You Knew. In a time when the historical jazz recordings were not easily available I was lucky to find the rare Jelly Roll Morton Commodore sessions on an LP released in Buenos Aires (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #52 – Wild Cherry. Today we hear some territory jazz. San Antonio, Texas had several big bands in the thirties and one of them was led by the drummer Boots Douglas. That the music is rare you can understand from the battered picture (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #51 – Love Is Just Around the Corners. On today’s record the music is not fantastic, stupendous or something in that order to my ears. It’s more like another evening at work for the guys. But sometimes you want to have your morning coffee (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #50 – Cette chanson est pour vous. I like Jean Sablon. There is intimacy in his voice. He had been in New York and Hollywood and had heard Bing Crosby who influenced him deeply, and he has a similar quality as Bing that he gets close to you (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #49 – Careless Love. This record is an invitation to join an alternative musical universe, populated by so called “moldy figs” the enthusiasts of the revival movement. I have for many years myself been a member of the Swedish Bunk Johnson Society (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #48 – Bugle Call Rag. As I remember it, it was quite a shock when I put on this record for the first time. I didn’t expect such playing in 1932 with a small group playing a free improvised ensemble. I suppose that Eddie Condon plays (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #47 – Savage Rhythm. The band worked in the shadow of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra under the same manager, Irving Mills who also gave them their name. It’s top class early 30s Harlem jazz that we hear (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #46 – John Hardy’s Wife. It’s hard to pick out one tune from this double album because once you get in an “Ellington mood” you like everything. I’ve chosen a tune written by Mercer Ellington (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #45 – Stardust. In the 20s his orchestra was considered the leading one but in the beginning of the following decade Fletcher Henderson and his men had to struggle like everyone else in the music business (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #44 – Salty Dogs. When Johnny Dodds arrived in Chicago from New Orleans he was not so young, 28 years and with a fully developed clarinet style. He had the ability to (…) read more and listenread more and listen