From the Record Shelves #189 - I Wonder What’s Become of Joe?From the Record Shelves #189 – I Wonder What’s Become of Joe? – This is happy music. First of all, the aim is to entertain and make people dance. Secondly, it’s made during the Roaring Twenties (1926) when many young people in the US had a good time. Then, thirdly (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #153 - Be Bo BoFrom the Record Shelves #153 – Be Bo Bo – Jack Purvis is a favorite of mine. He left relatively few recordings behind and had a short career. Still, his biography fills much space in the Who’s Who of Jazz. There are so many stories and rumors connected to (…) 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 #129 - Up and At ’EmFrom the Record Shelves #129 – Up and At ’Em. Today I listen to another LP with California Ramblers. Their output on records is enormous until 1930 when they dropped the name and became Ted Wallace and his Orchestra on records (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #126 - Hey! Young Fella!From the Record Shelves #126 – Hey! Young Fella!. I bought this LP in 1967. I think it was cheap. But the music on it is anything but that. It’s rich and almost every track is a masterpiece. In February 1933 violinist Joe Venuti brought his fellow musicians (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #110 - After You’ve GoneFrom the Record Shelves #110 – After You’ve Gone. During the pandemic Ate Van Delden’s biography of Adrian Rollini made good company, and he is also involved in this CD release with 26 well-preserved tracks from 1924-27. During this period (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #107 - I Like What You LikeFrom the Record Shelves #107 – I Like What You Like. Even if her recording career only lasted eight years there is enough material with Annette Hanshaw to fill a pile of LP records. But it’s hard to think that any of them would be better than this one (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #100 - What Is This Thing Called Love?From the Record Shelves #100 – What Is This Thing Called Love?. This is a record in the RCA Vintage series which means good sound and a good compilation. I bought it in the autumn of 1969 when I started my studies in English at the university, and (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #84 - Five PenniesFrom the Record Shelves #84 – Five Pennies. On the record label of this Brunswick 78 rpm we can read the lineup of the group, Red Nichols and his Five Pennies and our ears can easily confirm it. The timpani of Vic Berton starts off this rather peaceful performance (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #83 - Really BlueFrom the Record Shelves #83 – Really Blue. On the LP we find a couple of classic Venuti-Lang recordings in two takes each which is good for comparison. Their routines are well worked out with virtuoso playing and the capacity to fill three minutes (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #80 - Tessie! Stop Teasing MeFrom the Record Shelves #80 – Tessie! Stop Teasing Me. Today I listen to a very good CD, thanks to the producers at FROG records and to John R. T. Davies whose restoration and transfers of the originals from 1924 make them sound like new (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #79 - Somebody Stole My GalFrom the Record Shelves #79 – Somebody Stole My Gal. The Spanish-American pianist Fred Elizalde played an important part as a jazz pioneer in England in the 1920s. As a student at Cambridge he organized a band and after having a certain success with this he (…) read more and listenread more and listen