Enjoy my new series with Records from the Shelves
I started out in the 1960s buying vinyl records and some 78’s. Most of the records I bought at any price because I just had to have them. My mother could send me out with money to buy new trousers, but I came back with a record. In the beginning it was mostly the milestones of classic jazz and records by blues artists alone with guitar, because that was the music that I wanted to play myself.
When the CD’s came in the 90s I bought many recordings again since they were more practical to work with, and they often contained transfers of better originals. Furthermore, you could sometimes get everything recorded by a special artist in chronological order. Today I’m back to buying vinyl again most often because I find them cheap, and thus I can take a chance to listen to music that I may or may not like.
I have made many discoveries over the years. Things that may not be as important to me as the cornerstones of classic jazz but are still enjoyable and that gives me a wider spectrum.
Now I’m going to play a record every day and present a tune with a short comment. Early jazz, blues, modern jazz, operatic arias maybe and some bygone popular artist’s recordings. Let’s listen together, and we’ll see what comes up!
From the Record Shelves #377 – Oh, How I Miss You Tonight – It’s nice to hear tunes that have been used a lot in the New Orleans Revival in their original 1920s versions, straight and including the verse. Here it is: The Benson Orchestra of Chicago plays one such number on a very early electrical recording (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #376 – Mahogany Hall Stomp – It’s one of those classic recordings that I need to hear every now and then, on CD, on LP, or like now, on 78 rpm. In Europe Odeon released a lot of Armstrong with something else on the other side in their Swing Series. The pressing sounds very good (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #375 – Who Takes Care of the Caretakers Daughter – Whitey Kaufman’s Original Pennsylvania Serenaders play a tricky arrangement well executed with an especially enjoyable brass section to begin with. The slap tongue bass clarinet is another feature as is a (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #374 – Satisfied – This is Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra. According to the personnel on the record, we hear, besides Noone on clarinet, Doc Poston on alto sax, Zinky Cohn on piano, and Junie Cobb on banjo or guitar. The tuba player is Bill Newton, and (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #373 – Blue – This was recorded in 1923 in Paris by Mitchell’s Jazz Kings. A name to mention is the trumpet player Cricket Smith. He was born in 1883, and he was the uncle of Arthur Briggs, another trumpet player who came to live in Paris. Before WWI he played (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #372 – Swanee River – I love the rhythm of this! I don’t want to go into details or try to prove that it is better than any other kind of jazz. I just say that it is a pure form of expression in music, that it makes me feel happy, and that listening to it is a great way to start the day (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #371 – Doin’ the New Lowdown – Chris Albertson produced an album in 1960 with veterans Elmer Snowden and Cliff Jackson. The former is the banjo player most famous for starting an orchestra called The Washingtonians that would be (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #370 – Just a Little Lovin’ – Grady Martin and his Slew Foot Five is described as a country jazz band from Nashville. It’s fun to hear them, and it’s curious that they were put together with Bing Crosby in the role of just a refrain singer. I like the contrast between Bing’s laid-back singing and the eagerness of the group (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #369 – The Skunk – Today’s hot jazz is a tune recorded in New York but with strong influence from New Orleans. The latter town is the hometown of the records bandleader and banjo player Buddy Christian (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #368 – Forty and Tight – It’s a lot of music from a quartet. The Beale Street Washboard Band recorded this in 1929 in Chicago. Herb Morand plays trumpet, and Frank Melrose, who composed the tune, is at the piano, but most of the swing (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #367 – I Would Do Anything for You – When Oran ”Hot Lips” Page did a recording session in 1940, he used some tunes that had earlier been in the repertoire of Jimmie Noone, and among them was this one. In his small band he was supported by a sax trio and a swinging rhythm section (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #366 – You Know You Belong to Somebody Else – This is a somewhat worn record by The Virginians. But I still hear and like the sound of a good trombone in the opening presentation of the melody. That could be a good inspiration for New Orleans revival trombonists (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #365 – Back In Your Own Backyard – This four-LP box covers a lot, and I could have presented any track here. There are the interesting beginnings with its mix of early New York jazz and dance music, then the short Armstrong period when inevitably everything sounds (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #364 – It Won’t Be You – The agent Frank Walker sent Clarence Williams down south to search for a special female singer. He came back with someone that, according to Walker, looked like seventeen and was scared to death. But he forgot about all that when he heard her sing (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #363 – Red Hot Hottentot – Jazz clubs in Europe sometimes started record labels (or vice versa), and this is an example of that. They would make rarities available to their audience and thus promote the original jazz from the 20s. In this case, the Swedish Gazell has chosen (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #362 – Flow Gently, Sweet Afton – The title comes from a poem by Robert Burns and Afton is the name of a Scottish river. (In Swedish it’s a word that means ”evening”). Musically, there is a lot that I like here, most of all the ensemble playing with Sidney De Paris’ strong lead (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #361 – Body and Soul – It says Benny Goodman Trio, but the drumming from presumably Gene Krupa is very discrete, so we can enjoy the Goodman clarinet and the piano from Teddy Wilson as a duo. Beautiful music! The tune is, as usual, played in D flat (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #360 – Miss Otis Regrets – I have much respect for the Danish traditional jazz. On the sleeve of this LP it says: ”Denmark became after England, for unknown reasons, the country where the trad jazz became best rooted. It didn’t become just Mickey Mouse music (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #359 – Tiger Rag – Jack Teagarden’s Orchestra in 1931. This was released for the first time on an LP many years later. I haven’t a clue why it was so because it contains good solos from both Jack on trombone and his brother Charlie on trumpet with their laid-back attitude. (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #358 – Pink Elephants – The title “primarily refers to a euphemism for visual hallucinations, often associated with Delirium Tremens, a severe alcohol withdrawal symptom.” The musicians involved in this session may have sent thoughts to their newly deceased friend (…) read more and listenread more and listen