Year: 2025

From the Record Shelves #344 – Red Man Blues – Here’s another fine jazz recording to remember, enjoy, and celebrate because of its 100th birthday this March. Piron’s New Orleans Orchestra was well recorded in their hometown by Victor in 1925, with portable equipment. The violin player Armand Piron (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #343 – My Good-For-Nuthin’ Man – When we look at the record production from March 1925, a hundred years ago, we find Clara Smith in there with a couple of recordings. She made many interesting and good ones in her recording career that spanned over eleven years (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #342 – Creole Blues – This is March in 1925, just a little century ago! And the place is New Orleans, where the Victor Talking Machine Company had traveled with portable electric equipment. One of the bands they recorded was led by clarinet player Anthony “Tony” Parenti (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #341 – Sweet Georgia Brown – Ben Bernie had a good dance band that, a hundred years ago, played in the newly opened, fashionable Hotel Roosevelt in New York. Located in the heart of Manhattan, the still-standing Hotel Roosevelt now serves as housing for asylum seekers (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #340 – If I Never See You as Long as I Live – It was in March 1925 that Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards recorded this song. He was immensely popular in the twenties with his ukulele and his beautiful voice, often adding an imitation of a kazoo in the process of performing (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #339 – Papa De-Da-Da – Step into the time machine and travel back a century. On March 4 in 1925, a band under the leadership of Clarence Williams was in the studio to record and promote one of his own compositions (in partnership with Spencer Williams). His wife, Eva Taylor (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #338 – My Gal, My Pal – This was recorded in March 1925, a hundred years ago, but it still hasn’t reached its “best before date” limit. The lively performance was recorded in Buffalo, New York, with portable recording equipment and released on Okeh. The band that managed (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #337 – A Monday Date – Earl Hines wrote the tune and recorded it the same year, 1928, with Louis Armstrong, and that’s an unbeatable version. But this is not bad either; there is a lot to enjoy: Earl’s own piano solo, the demonstration of impeccable clarinet technique by (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #81 – I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now – I had a friend; he’s gone a long time ago, but when I first met him, we went on a long tour. He didn’t go into details, but I understood that he was unlucky in love and his girlfriend had left him. So he insisted that we should play this tune (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #336 – Original Dixieland One-Step – Arranged Dixieland with the usual repertoire is normally not my cup of tea, but when it’s as here played by some veterans of a status like Frank Signorelli, Jimmy Lytell, Miff Mole, and Chauncey Morehouse on piano, clarinet, trombone, and drums (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #80 – Rhythm King – This particular “King” was immortalized through recordings by such icons as Bing Crosby with “The Rhythm Boys” and “Bix and his Gang”. It has a good major/minor feel and the verse and chorus goes very well together. In all a tune that should be played more often (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #335 – Yardbird Suite – A classic jazz record is, for me, one that you have played many times. You may know it by heart and just have to close your eyes to hear it within you; you don’t even have to put it on, but if you do, you’re happy. This is one of them, and it is one of the few (…) read more and listenread more and listen