Year: 2024

From the Record Shelves #144 – Stompin’ at the Savoy. It’s a small group assembled around the genius Art Tatum at the piano. In the rhythm section we find John Collins, guitar, Billy Taylor, bass and Eddie Dougherty on drums. In this session from New York 1941 (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #143 – My Melancholy Baby. This was something new when I found and bought it around 1970. The record itself was green and there were no details about the personnel and no text to read on the sleeve. You had to have the Brian Rust (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #142 – Beato te. Even if you do not know Italian you may feel the joy of spring that is the subject here. “Beato te” means “lucky you”. And late in the song it’s comes to “lucky me”. “Primavera” is the Italian word for spring. (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #141 – Let’s Face the Music and Dance. We had a seven pieces orchestra from about 1983-1995 called The Absalon Orchestra. This tune was one of our hits. When we started we were only five and the idea was to play my arrangements of jazz tunes (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #140 – Too Tight. Even if the main ingredient is missing, there is a lot of King Oliver connections in this band that played at Kelly’s Stable in Chicago and recorded for Victor in 1929. Five of the six musicians were members of King Oliver’s (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #139 – Creole Rhapsody. This classic LP is from an Ellington period 1929-1931 when the trumpet player Bubber Miley, one of the most important members of the band during the Cotton Club era, had left. His replacement Cootie Williams (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #138 – A Sailboat in the Moonlight. This LP was my introduction to Billie Holiday. My big sister got it for Christmas. She woke up with a big neck pain on Christmas Day and had to stay in bed. So we listened to this over and over again. I found (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #137 – I’ve Got a Daddy Down in New Orleans. What strikes me immediately when I put on this LP is the good sound quality. It’s, in reality, very good transfers of originals in good condition that make it possible for us to enjoy the outstanding (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #136 – Fourth Street Mess Around. In the 1960s there was a radio program of half a hours’ length in which Olle Helander went around in the south of the USA interviewing and recording the original blues men. In one of the programs (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #135 – Adam and Eve Had the Blues. Side two of the LP has eight numbers where Louis Armstrong and Jimmie Noone played together in the accompanying group, with many glimpses of their virtuosity. I may come back to that, but today (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #134 – Magnolia Blues. In 1937 a Broadway Musical called Babes in Arms with music by Rogers and Hart included songs like The Lady Is a Tramp and My Funny Valentine. Andrew Sisters had a hit with By Mir Bist Du Schön and Maxine Sullivan (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #133 – Candlelights. I have listened many times to this record with, and it’s special. I probably found it at a sale for a low price. The music is recorded in 1953 and the album was originally called Syncopated Chamber Music (…) read more and listenread more and listen