Tag: Buster Bailey

From the Record Shelves #275 – I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle – Before leaving New York for Chicago at the end of 1925, Louis Armstrong had one last session. The leader was the very busy pianist, composer and manager Perry Bradford, who called his studio band (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #257 – Everybody Loves My Baby – I may be wrong, but I have the impression that the early recordings of the Clarence Williams Blue Five featuring Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet have always been a bit hard to find, especially since I started to (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #108 – It’s Murder. There’s a lot of good jazz with New Orleans roots here, by Johnny Dodds, Red Allen and Lil Armstrong as leaders. And it’s the last mentioned with her “Swing Orchestra” that I choose to listen to today (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #94 – The Swampland. I remember a quote from Willie the Lion Smith: “The musician never masters music, but learns something new every day”. I agree with that! He was himself one of “The Three” which means one of the three (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #66 – Close Shave. Already as a tuba player with Fletcher Henderson at the end of the 1920s, John Kirby was impressive. After changing to double bass his work became an important link to more modern bass line playing (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #39 – Sensation. Fletcher Henderson had an incredible band in 1927. And it was used in the best possible manner. I can only think of Ellington that had an equally perfect balance between solos and arranged ensembles. In most numbers (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Record Shelves #24 – Senegalese Stomp. I have selected an instrumental number mostly because of its way to immediately start with a hot blues chorus that gives us a chance to hear the great cornet player Tommy Ladnier at his peak when he was a member of (…) read more and listenread more and listen