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 #64 – Crazy Rhythm. It’s a good example of how jazz music travels and inspires. After the visit of Django Reinhardt and his “Quintette du Hot Club de France” in Stockholm in 1939 some Swedish musicians decided to form a Swedish version (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #63 – Manhattan. I have always aimed at the strategy of turning defeat into victory. For example already as a teenager in school I had the following method. When I was feeling sick and felt that the flu was coming (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #62 – Always in All Ways. There is a lot to choose from on today’s record, mostly small groups with unusual combinations of instruments and with organ, bassoon, harp and washboard among them. And the LP has as much as 10 tunes on each side (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #61 – Stomp Off, Let’s Go. When we started a new band playing jazz and hot dance music in the beginning of the 1980s I wanted to keep it small in order to get reasonably paid gigs. And the first recordings of The New Orleans Owls are a good model of what you can achieve with (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #60 – Corky Stomp. Today it’s more Kansas City jazz on a nice Ace of Hearts Lp that I bought in 1966. The record company Brunswick sent out two men in 1929 to look for talent in the city. The two were (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #59 – Kansas City Breakdown. The title tells us where they came from. Bennie Moten’s Orchestra was the most popular orchestra during the 1920s in Kansas City and the territory around. Later in the 30s after Moten’s sudden death its leadership was taken over by (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #58 – I’ve Lost My Heart in Dixieland. A group of musicians from New Orleans were destined to have their names written into the history of jazz. First they assembled in Chicago, conquered New York next and after making records went overseas to London (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #57 – Baltimore. The title of this LP means that the popular, tin pan alley sort of tunes is absent. Otherwise, it’s quite natural and what you expect from a New Orleans Band that they play spirituals and blues (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #56 – Take My Hand, Precious Lord. The title of this LP means that the popular, tin pan alley sort of tunes is absent. Otherwise, it’s quite natural and what you expect from a New Orleans Band that they play spirituals and blues (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #55 – Tears. This is a heavenly record, especially if you like saxophone and good arrangements. The key persons and masters in both departments are Don Redman and Benny Carter. Still I have chosen a number (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #54 – Once Upon a Time. This is a heavenly record, especially if you like saxophone and good arrangements. The key persons and masters in both departments are Don Redman and Benny Carter. Still I have chosen a number (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #53 – If You Knew. In a time when the historical jazz recordings were not easily available I was lucky to find the rare Jelly Roll Morton Commodore sessions on an LP released in Buenos Aires (…) read more and listenread more and listen