April 2024 - Paul – and some of that Jazz

From the Studio #18 – Just a Gigolo – The tune is known to the world from Louis Prima’s show version, but since I heard a touching recording by Bing Crosby first, I much prefer that serious attitude. This very sad song with a bittersweet melody has Austrian origin (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #225 – New Orleans Lowdown – Now I’m back with the early Ellington. The French release of all his recordings in chronological order reached twelve volumes, and I’m lucky to have them. Here you get all the versions of the masterpieces (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #224 – Indigo Stomp – There have been clarinet players all over the world who wanted to play like Johnny Dodds. I’ve had the pleasure of playing gigs with a few of them. Cy Laurie from England, Matthias Seuffert from Germany, and Claus Forchhammer (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #223 – Easy to Love – Another thing that came with the CD was the possibility to present an original digitalized album and often, as in this case, there was space for two LPs. “Wilbur De Paris Plays Cole Porter” was the title of this Atlantic LP (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #17 – Many Happy Returns of the Day – My one-man band plays a full arrangement of a celebration song, but as you see below or hear on the recording, it’s not a happy one. Trombone and cornet are the main instruments, and the mutes come to good use (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #222 – The Rooster Crowing Blues – Hosea Woods sings, “I used to be a lover, baby, in my younger days. Now I’m old and feeble, but I still got my loving ways.” With recordings like “Walk Right In,” Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers inspired young people (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #221 – I Want to be Bad – One advantage of the CD format is that it contains more. In the case of hot dance music it means that you get more than a glimpse of the vast output of some orchestras. Even if it still has to be a compilation there is a difference (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #16 – Loveless Love – This is also named Careless Love and was composed by W.C. Handy. It’s one of those tunes that is always good to play, simple and basic, and inspiring to the soloist. Many have recorded it. My favorite is Bessie Smith’s version with (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #220 – Joseph, Joseph – Oscar Aleman was a versatile guitar player with a beautiful sound. On this CD we get to hear proof of that on recordings from 1928 until 1943, of which only a fraction can be considered jazz music. But on this swinging track (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #219 – China Boy – Today I enjoy the virtuosity of Benny Goodman and his small group members. Virtuosity must be combined with other things to get my attention in more than, say, twenty second. And here the combination is that (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #218 – Ridin’ But Walking’ – As often happens, there is an ugly yellow label glued to the LP sleeve that is impossible to take away. It says that you’re not allowed to exchange the record when the seal is broken. I didn’t because (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #15 – Glad Rag Doll – Today I play a couple of choruses on a nice tune composed by Jack Yellen, with lyrics by Dan Dougherty and Milton Ager. I do not sing, so you will not hear the lyrics but they are quite sad. Glad Rag Doll means a girl dressed in (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #217 – The Wild Dog – A big department store in the center of town was closing down at the beginning of the 1990s. It was my favorite place to buy records, so it was sad. Now they had made up a plan to get rid of their stock; they lowered the prices (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #216 – ’Taint So, Honey, ’Taint So – It was raining like mad, but I was out on my bike. I had a very important business to take care of, which was buying a record. When I came to Leif Anderson he opened the door wearing his bathrobe. Leif was (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #14 – More Than You Know – Here are a couple of choruses of a lovely, for once positive, love song by Vincent Youmans with lyrics by William Rose and Edward Eliscu. Many have recorded this. My favorites are by Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #215 – Sweetie Pie – Fats Waller and Mezz Mezzrow seem like a very odd couple to me, but here they are on a session together. This not-so-remarkable tune gives a good picture of the actual swing of the group, something that is often overshadowed by (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #214 – Just One of Those Things – I started to listen to 78 rpm records when my uncle found an album for me sometime in the 1960s. It contained mostly modern jazz. I enjoyed some of it but didn’t care much about Buddy DeFranco’s (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #213 – Nobody Knows the Way I Feel Dis’ Mornin’ – Here’s another good Sidney Bechet record in the Vintage series. When he became a leader in the recording studio for the first time in his career, Sidney Bechet used the name New Orleans Feetwarmers (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #13 – Honeymoon Hotel – Today I needed to warm up my clarinet, so I played a couple of choruses on a tune that is not a jazz tune but a song from a 1937 Busby Berkeley musical comedy with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. It’s a long sequence (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #212 – Sunday – The Vintage series made compilations of tunes from special years on some albums. I bought them as they came out in chronological reverse order, starting in 1928 and finish with 1926 which is the album that (…) read more and listenread more and listen