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 #148 - Shivery StompFrom the Record Shelves #148 – Shivery Stomp. On May 19, 1929, The Orchestra played at Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and a few days later they started on their trip to California to shoot the film King of Jazz by appearing in Philadelphia (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #147 - Sweet SuzanneFrom the Record Shelves #147 – Sweet Suzanne. Here’s an example of a record that I can pull out of the shelves sometimes and enjoy a sweet melody without tapping my foot, looking up the personnel in a discography, and without the need to play it again (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #146 - I Keep the BluesFrom the Record Shelves #146 – I Keep the Blues. We see them on the football ground and sometimes hear them in music performances; couples that work so fine together, where they seem to know each step that the other is going to take in advance (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #145 - Little ButtercupFrom the Record Shelves #145 – Little Buttercup. Frank Signorelli wrote the tune and recorded it three years earlier with Eddie Lang under its usual name, I’ll Never Be the Same. Later versions with touching lyrics were made by among others Billie Holiday (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #144 - Stompin’ at the SavoyFrom 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 BabyFrom 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 teFrom 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 DanceFrom 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 TightFrom 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 RhapsodyFrom 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 MoonlightFrom 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 OrleansFrom 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