BFT 217 Reveal

[randyhersom]

The partial theme was Jazz Firsts.  I On three occasions I discovered that what I thought was a first was not, two of those three happened after the BFT was posted.
I will be forever grateful to the late Harrison Ridley Jr. for encouraging and refining my appreciation of early jazz music both as an classroom instructor and a colleague at WRTI, the college radio station at Temple University which had an all jazz format at the time.

1. Louis Armstrong Hot Five - Heebie Jeebies 1926
Louis Armstrong cornet, Lil Hardin Armstrong Piano, Kid Ory trombone, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, and Johnny St. Cyr Guitar, Banjo
Some sources have said that this track was the beginning of jazz scat singing.  Just last night I looked at Wikipedia while gathering personnel, and saw the statement "Armstrong did not invent scat singing, because it was already practiced by many musicians in New Orleans during the early twentieth century".  Digging a little further in https://web.archive.org/web/20071223035158/http://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/issues/v28/v28n3.edwards.html we find the specifics:  Baudoin notes Don Redman, who recorded a scat break of "My Papa Doesn't Two-Time No Time" with Fletcher Henderson five months before "Heebie Jeebies." Will Friedwald, in Jazz Singing, points to vaudeville singer Gene Green's half-chorus of imitation-Chinese scat in his 1917 recording of "From Here to Shanghai," and mentions other overlooked figures including Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, who scatted on a December 1923 record of "Old Fashioned Love," and used to work in a theater accompanying silent movies "with his ukulele as well as with singing, vocal sound effects, and 'eefin'" (the word Edwards used before anyone had thought of 'scat')." In the late-1930s, the champion self-promoter and deft revisionary historian Jelly Roll Morton told Alan Lomax of his own role in the mode's origins more than twenty years earlier: "People believe Louis Armstrong originated scat. I must take that credit away from him, because I know better. Tony Jackson and myself were using scat for novelty back in 1906 and 1907 when Louis Armstrong was still in the orphan's home.

2. Duke Ellington - 05 - Creole Love Call 1928
The first here would be a jazz composition using entirely wordless vocals.  A hit record in its time, and a recognized Elington classic.  Bubber Miley, Louis Metcalf(t); Joe Nanton(tb); n/k(cl,as); Edgar Sampson(as); Otto Hardwick(cl,ss,as,bar,bsax); Duke Ellington(p); Fred Guy(bj); Mack Shaw(bb); Sonny Greer(d) Adelaide Hall(v)

3. Clarence Williams Shooting the Pistol 1927
The first jazz flute solo.  I had thought that honor belonged to the next track for a number of years.
Clarence Williams Piano, Albert Socarras Flute and sax

4. Benny Carter - Devil's Holiday (Carter)
Benny Carter Alto Sax, Wayman Carver Flute

5. Jess Stacy - Barrelhouse 1935
Jess Stacy (piano), Israel Crosby (bass), Gene Krupa (drums)
The first jazz recording with instrumentation of piano, bass and drums, a combination that would become commonplace.

6. Coleman Hawkins - Picasso
Coleman Hawkins, Tenor Saxophone
The first jazz solo saxophone recording

7. Coleman Hawkins - Woody 'n' You (Gillespie)

Coleman Hawkins, Tenor Saxophone, Dizzy Gillespie Trumpet
The first commercially recorded and released bebop record.  There was a home recording of Bird and Diz the previous year that wasn't released until much later (if at all?)

8. Eddie Jefferson - Body and Soul
I had seen sources that credit Eddie Jefferson's recording of Body and Soul as the first example of jazz vocalese, where lyrics are fashioned to the melody of an actual jazz solo.  I knew this wasn't that recording because King Pleasure had a huge hit with Red Top not long after Eddie's original Body and Soul, and this was a much later recording.  Then I found this in the Wikipedia for vocalese:  However, Kurt Elling makes a point to recognize Bee Palmer, who sang lyrics to a Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer solo on "Singin' the Blues" as early as 1929.  That's on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4gY8hQqEs.  I still would like to dig up the details on Eddie's original Body and Soul.

Departing from the theme in order to increase the challenge of this BFT over the next three tracks

9  Gerry Gibbs - Love Letter to Dawna Bailey - Acoustic Bass – Derek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz, Drums, Cowbell, Wood Block, Gong, Bells, Chimes, Whistle, Sounds [Bike Horn], Glockenspiel [Glockenspiel Keyboard], Rainstick, Arranged By – Gerry Gibbs, Piano – Billy Childs, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Ravi Coltrane, Vibraphone – Joe Locke, Violin – Mark Feldman
I became aware of the leader during Michelle Coltrane's set at the High Point NC John Coltrane Festival - Gerry was Alice Coltrane's stepson and he and Michelle had grown up together.  During the same festival, Ravi Coltrane played a set of his mother's music at the festival named for his father.  I enjoyed the set and appreciated the subversiveness of the choice, I think John would have approved.

10. Francisco Mora Catlett - Saints at Congo Square - Afro Horn MX - JD Allen: tenor sax; Vincent Bowens: tenor sax; Alex Harding: britone sax; Aruan Ortiz: piano; Francisco Mora Catlett: drums, bata; Roman Diaz: congas, bata, voice.  I came across this when checking out some JD allen titles mentioned on a thread here and searched Amazon Music for JD.  Was fascinated that the leader had been a Sun Ra sideman.

11. Preservation - Nublu Orchestra conducted by Butch Morris — LIVE AT JAZZ FESTIVAL SAALFELDEN - 
Alto Saxophone – Jonathon Haffner
Conductor – Butch Morris
Cornet – Graham Haynes
Drums – Kenny Wollesen
Electric Bass – Michael Kiaer
Guitar – Thor Madsen, Zeke Zima
Percussion – Mauro Refosco
Tenor Saxophone – Ilhan Ersahin
Trumpet – Fabio Morgera, Kirk Knuffke
JSngry correctly detected he influence of the modern classical field here.  Starting out on cornet with his bassist brother Wilbur in David Murray's band, Lawrence D "Butch" Morris later created/explored his own new genre named conduction where his role was composer and conductor of works that included improvisation.

12. Cecil Taylor - Carol-Three Points
Cecil Taylor piano, Buell Neidlinger bass, Denis Charles drums, Bill Barron tenor sax, Ted Curson trumpet
I had the privilege of interviewing Ted Curson on WRTI in the late seventies.  After the on-air interview was complete, Ted mentioned to me that when he was in Cecil's band, they had actually recorded free jazz before Ornette recorded the "Free Jazz" album, and that it wasn't released a the time, but had now come out in the "brown bag" 2 LP set on Blue Note.  This is that track and Ted said it wasn't the whole track that was free, only part of it.  So this returns to the theme, but not with absolute certainty.  Opinions very welcome.
 

[Milestones]

This was a great Blindfold Test.  I enjoyed so much of the music on here, and it was a fine idea to do the theme (or partial theme) of jazz firsts.

 

[randyhersom]

Thanks, Milestones

[Dub Modal]

Thanks for putting this together. It's a reference point for me now, with the recorded firsts - very interesting!

I think this is the 2nd BFT that I've participated in where there was an early Cecil Taylor song included and I really liked both of them. Clearly I enjoy his early recordings...

Edited May 2, 2022 by Dub Modal

[felser]

Good stuff, did not realize you had been at WRTI ("The Freedom Sounds" !).  Cut my jazz teeth on that station in the early 70's  My wife and I used to listen to Harrison Ridley, Jr. on Sunday nights ("alrighty, yes indeedy") and enjoyed him so much.  We also attended a dinner in honor of him as guests of Keith McKinley and Ruth Naomi Floyd.  Kenny Barron Trio (Barron, Ben Riley, maybe Ray Drummond on bass?)  played at the event.  My all-time favorite on the network was Kim Berry.  Was very sad when they collapsed the classical programming into the schedule, and actually have rarely listened to the station for many years now.

[randyhersom]

I couldn't help but smile and think of Harrison when "indeedy" was added to the Scrabble dictionary!