Bill Challis Archives - Paul – and some of that Jazz

From the Record Shelves #318 – Dardanella – Coinciding with WW1, let’s say between 1915 and 1920, oriental types of songs were popular, and this is one of them, published by Fred Fisher in 1919. He also wrote the lyrics, but they are seldom used. When Paul Whiteman took it up about ten years later, he assigned it (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #310 – Little Did I Know – Under the leadership of saxophone player Glenn Gray and with the aid of good management, the Casa Loma Orchestra had success in the 30’s. Here, around the turn of the decade from the 20s, they appear as a mixture of a dance band and (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #284 – Riverboat Shuffle – As always when he is present, Bix Beiderbecke, with his cornet, is the protagonist here. There are several facets of his genius, and here on this session with Frankie Trumbauer’s Orchestra in 1927 (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #119 – Ostrich Walk. Bix Beiderbecke never forgot the tunes that turned him on to jazz. It was after World War I that his brother returned with some records, among them the newly released ones by Original Dixieland Jazz Band. When he got (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #45 – Stardust. In the 20s his orchestra was considered the leading one but in the beginning of the following decade Fletcher Henderson and his men had to struggle like everyone else in the music business (…) read more and listenread more and listen