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 #256 – Let’s Misbehave – This was the first of the “year” records that came out in the Vintage Series. I think that the year was 1967, at least that was the year I bought my copy. For me, it was an introduction to several fine dance orchestras. (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #255 – Whispering – Paul Whiteman had a smash hit with whispering in 1920. The record features an element of novelty effect, which is a chorus of slide whistle. By 1928, it was time for a revival of the song and a modernized version. Typically (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #254 – Under a Blanket of Blue – I recently found an LP with Connie Boswell (1907–1976) and the so-called “Original Memphis Five” with Billy Butterfield in place of Phil Napoleon. Connie was still good in the 1950s, but the music didn’t turn me on (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #253 – Get Your Man – The compilation consists of peppy melodious music played by some of the best and most interesting hot dance orchestras that the era produced. Listening through to choose one, I hoped that some tracks would stand out, but (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #252 – Trees – A colorized photo and manipulated sound—I should hate this, but I don’t. This is an early LP reissue from 1959. I don’t know much about which methods they used to try to enhance the sound quality, but in this case, I think that they managed (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #251 – Tico Tico – Today I picked up a record at random, and it became this one. Xavier Cugat (1900–1990), the Spanish-American bandleader, sure had an orchestra suited to play numbers like this. The vocalist that has to sing a lot of words is (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #250 – Ory’s Creole Trombone – Kid Ory recorded his composition as early as 1922 in Los Angeles and again in Chicago in 1927 with an exuberant Louis Armstrong. But this version, again from the West Coast, recorded in Hollywood in 1945 (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #249 – The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise – This is more a demonstration of skills than jazz, but when it is as good as this, I can take it in a small portion. Especially since I know that those musicians can do a lot more than that, which the fine Swaggie LP (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #248 – Out of Nowhere – Some time ago, I felt the tide of history when we went for a walk with our friend Phillippe Baudoin, a professor of jazz, in his neighborhood, which is Pigalle in Paris. He showed us some places in this illustrious pleasure district (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #247 – Troubled Waters – When this LP just came out in the middle of the 1960s, I borrowed it from a friend and recorded it on reel-to-reel tape. Now I have a well-kept copy that used to belong to the American Library at Stockholm University (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #246 – When You and I Were Young Maggie – You have the feeling that they do nothing special, just play an old tune together, like they always do. And still, it’s a magical moment in 1938. “Together” is the key word here. None is taking down (…) read more and listenread more and listen
From the Record Shelves #245 – Tangerine – Maybe you are familiar with this French clarinet player called Maurice Meunier. I wasn’t until I found this record about ten years ago. It doesn’t come as a surprise that there are good ones in France because the French influence is (…) read more and listenread more and listen