Captain Howdy

This reminds me of the mid '80s when I was in college and my friend and I joked that every music review we read cited either The MC5 or James Brown as an influence on every new record released. These claims always seemed somewhat dubious to me since who had ever heard The MC5 or James Brown? I was vaguely aware of James Brown, had probably heard "Sex Machine" in a commercial or somewhere, but who was The MC5? Today James Brown's complete singles have been re-released, and you can instantly hear The MC5's complete oeuvre on Spotify for free. What a world, what a world.

I've heard Buddy Johnson too. I've been listening to a lot of early R&B so I came to Hawkins, Millinder, Andy Kirk, and Johnson from that direction. I was listening to them as proto-R&B however, so I guess I'll have to go back and listen again as jazz since aside from Hawkins they didn't really make much impression. I suppose what I was vaguely asking in my OP had to do with the canon and the ranking order. In my mind at least at the top sits Duke, the Count, Benny, and Artie. Those are the giants of the era. Who's next? "Immerse" doesn't seem like the right word. I'd like to take a top-down approach from most important to less important, if that's possible. I want to take them one or two at a time, not immerse myself in hundreds of bands at once.

>>Is it a matter of "historical listening", i.e. listening to all varieties to cover the field in full (as a matter of "essential educational" listening), or do you already have preferences from what you so far have listened to? Yes, "essential education" is a good way to put it. I have formed preferences but they shouldn't really influence your recommendations at this point. Benny is my favorite but I like Duke, the Count, Artie, and Erskine Hawkins. Tommy Dorsey has too many corny vocals and yet I enjoy listening to him, at least once. I didn't like Harry James. I generally don't like vocals. >>It depends on what you mean by "big band": how many brass and reeds satisfy you? I can't make any rules. It depends on the band and the music. If it's good it's good. >>It also depends on what you mean by "need to hear." "essential education" >>To understand where all these guys came from, the twenties and early thirties are important. I don't dig that style. I might get there eventually, but not today. >>Cab Calloway >>Lucky Millinder I don't like Cab's vocals but I have heard the Millinder band. Yes, I have heard Erskine Hawkins and quite enjoyed it, except for some of the early vocals.

I've heard the Duke, the Count, Benny, and Artie. I've heard or am currently listening to Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Gene Krupa, Erskine Hawkins, and Chick Webb. What other big bands from the 1935-1945 period do I need to hear?

It is indeed. Out of curiosity I tracked down the movie this was taken from. https://www.amazon.com/Black-Big-Bands-Cab-Calloway/dp/B00YSP2LKA Here are the personnel for the Millinder band: BOARDING HOUSE BLUES (1948) (excerpts) Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra: Personnel (prob.): John Bello, Harold Johnson, Archie Johnson, Leon Meriam (tp), Alfred Cobbs, Gene Simon, Frank Mazzoli (tb), Burnie Peacock, Sam Hopkins, George Nicholas (as), Clarence "Bullmoose" Jackson, Sam "The Man" Taylor (ts), Ernest Purce (brs), Sir Charles Thompson (p), Bernard Mackey (g), Jerry Cox (b), Panama Francis (dr), Lucky Millinder (dir/vo). "Unidentified title" (2:28) "Sweet Slumber" (3:56) (Lucky Millinder) vocal by Paul Breckenridge "Let It Roll" (2:39) (Berry) vocal by Annastine Allen "I Love You, Yes I Do" (3:27) (Andy Gibson) vocal by Clarence "Bullmoose" Jackson "Do The Hucklebuck" (3:27) (Andy Gibson/Roy Alfred) Note that Annisteen Allen's name is misspelled.

Picture quality is better in this clip.

Scans are on archive.org now. https://archive.org/details/LuckyMillinderChronologicalClassics1943-47 https://archive.org/details/covers_201706 If these URLs stop working, search for "lucky millinder" and select media type: image. Mine were added Jun 20, 201.7

If anyone is still interested I can post the scans from the Chronological Classics for 1943-47 and 1947-50 which include discographies. If you have a preference, let me know where you'd like me to upload them, as it seems they're too large to attach here. I tried uploading to archive.org but it's not cooperating. 1947-50 is up there, at least for the moment, but 1943-47 never showed up.