May 2024 - Paul – and some of that Jazz

From the Studio #24 – On the Sunny Side of the Street – This is a real standard tune. Louis Armstrong’s different versions have given the song depth, and another favorite is Lionel Hampton’s 1939 recording with the opening chorus by Johnny Hodges on alto sax (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #240 – Close Fit Blues – In Clarence Williams rich output of records between 1927 and the Depression, there are two distinct kinds: the washboard bands and the ones with a tuba, and this LP has material from the latter category. The aim with which (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #239 – Barbara Surrenders – Today’s soundtrack to my breakfast is not happy—not a very positive one. And how could it be when Johnny Mandel’s great jazz score was written for a dramatic and tragic, reality based film in which Susan Hayward (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #238 – Sing On – Today I will not say much myself; instead I give the word to Richard Hadlock, who wrote the liner notes in 1986: “New Orleans jazz, music which strikes many listeners as ingenuously blithe and sportive, is, for its players, a life and (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #23 – These Foolish Things – I don’t think that this song needs to be as sad as it happens to sound in my present version. Apart from classic versions by Bing Crosby, Al Bowly, and Billie Holiday, my best memory of the tune is from the film Daddy Longlegs (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #237 – Here Comes My Ball and Chain – I treasure this RCA Vintage Series LP record. The Coon-Sanders Nighthawk Orchestra from Kansas City became famous through national radio broadcasts, starting in 1922. A couple of years later they moved their activities to Chicago, and their recorded output for Victor which then followed comprised about 80 titles (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #236 – Farewell Blues – I have a faint memory of seeing his name as a piano accompanist to a striptease act here in Malmö, Sweden, in the 1960s. I was too young to be allowed into that venue. Claude Hopkins (1903–1984) had a long career (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #22 – Little Girl – I was a bit ambitious and put in some saxophone work and a bit of my trombone when I recorded this. I think that the tune deserves it. I have many favorites among the 1920s pop songs and also from my early memories. As a teenager (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #235 – What’s New – When I started to buy records I did not have much money, and the records were expensive. I may remember it wrong, but in my mind the price of a record in the 1960s was about the same as a pair of jeans. I had to concentrate on (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #234 – Melancholy – There’s a special atmosphere in this fine recording featuring Johnny Dodds and Louis Armstrong. This is April 1927, and the couple plus drummer Baby Dodds recorded the tune again only a few weeks later (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #233 – Careless Love – In the 1970s when cassette radios came about, I sometimes recorded our gigs. One of the guys I played with got extremely nervous, so I had to hide the machine in a bag and put it near the loudspeakers. This live recording (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #21 – Try a little Tenderness – Yes, I know that it’s not completely true what is said in the lyrics. But it’s well meant, and the basic message is good—to try a little tenderness. Otis Redding made a fine soul version of this song, as did Aretha Franklin (…) read more and listenread more and listen