Year: 2024

From the Record Shelves #276 – Firebird – Distinguishing the sound of the master and his disciple can be difficult. There are the cases of King Oliver and Dave Nelson (Sweet Liker This), Bix Beiderbecke and Andy Secrest (Raisin’ the Roof), and Louis Armstrong and Red Allen (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #38 – Sleepy Time Gal – There was already an instrumental version of the song in 1925 by Fletcher Henderson, and many singers sang it, among them Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards. While it was often either instrumental or vocal in the 1920s, I do a bit of (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #275 – I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle – Before leaving New York for Chicago at the end of 1925, Louis Armstrong had one last session. The leader was the very busy pianist, composer and manager Perry Bradford, who called his studio band (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #274 – Davenport Blues – When Adrian Rollini got a contract for a session with the newly started Decca Company in October 1934, he had help from his brother Art, the tenor saxophone player, to get together a really good line-up, including (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #273 – Precious Lord – I listen to a compilation with a band that was assembled by Alan Jaffe and well recorded at Sea Sant Studios in New Orleans at different sessions between 1976 and 1988. The home of the group was, as the name says (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #37 – Thanks to You – My life once dragged along without… One happy day… It seems I never had… Those things that make folks glad… But now that’s all been changed about… Since I met you… I have things to be glad about too… Thanks to you dreams came true (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #272 – Harlem Blues – Do I like this album? Yes! Do I prefer other earlier versions of the Ory band and other musicians at his side? Yes! But still, I’m glad that he could make a classy and swinging album this late in his life. I think that I have the same (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #271 – Am I Blue – The orchestra of Ben Selvin has many pages in Brian Rust’s “American Dance Band Discography.” They had an enormous number of sessions between 1919 and 1934. Rust says “I have had the great good fortune to receive some (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #36 – The Japanese Sandman – Once in Paris, I was asked to sit in with a very fine big band. They wanted to play this tune, and I had to refuse since I didn’t know it. Well, of course I was familiar with a recording by Frankie Trumbauer’s Orchestra with Bix (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #270 – Trouble in Mind – Bertha “Chippie” Hill was a very good singer, and she had a good accompanist in Louis Armstrong, with the result of some classic numbers. But it’s also interesting to hear another quite different version that she did (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #269 – I Lost My Gal from Memphis – This tune is often played at a murderous tempo; at least this is what happens when it comes into the hands of a French jazz band in traditional jazz style. Especially the reed players love to show off their skills (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #268 – Any Woman’s Blues – Today it’s time for a Bessie Smith recording. I tend to take her for granted and thus forget to listen often enough to her fabulous output on records. This is not one of her more spectacular ones, and with just rudimental (…) read more and listenread more and listen