Dixie Drag
CD Jazz Oracle BDW8060
This tune came out of a nice and interesting 1928 session by ”Mendello’s Dance Orchestra”. I first get to think about Red Nichols and his Five Pennies, and the rhythm section that gives much of the character to the group are the usual suspects: Arthur Schutt, piano; probably Carl Cress, guitar; and Vic Berton on drums. But then the clarinet doesn’t play as perfectly as Jimmy Dorsey, and the trumpet playing is a little bit too aggressive to be by Nichols.
It’s Fud Livingston on clarinet, and the trumpet player is one Toots Mendello (not the alto sax man), who only recorded the six sides released by this band. When it comes to the trombone solo that I think is the high point, I would not protest if it was said to be Miff Mole, but it is in fact supposed to be Glenn Miller. There is no information about who did the arrangement. It could be any of the three—Miller, Livingston, and Schutt—and, of course, someone else. Credit for the composition goes to a person called Otvos.