carnivore

Joe Dixon Don Watt Johnny Mince

Doris Waters Elsie Waters Pete Fountain

Have a Good One Folks! If it all falls apart we have the solace of an enormous store of great music in which to immerse ourselves. (Could be a run on windup gramophones shortly...)

Sleepy Stein Symphony Sid John Snagge

Visconti Antonioni Fellini

Blue Steele Rip Torn Tak Takvorian

Marion Morrison Archibald Leach Bernie Schwartz

Sister Lilian Brother Matthew Father Flotski

'Shufflin' at the Hollywood' in particular.......

Jagdish Bhagwati Jah Wobble Jap Allen

If you don't have the bulk of the Chu stuff on other sources I'd definitely get the Mosaic - all of his playing is 'must have' The guy was one of the really Great tenor players and it's intriguing to imagine where he might have gone musically if he hadn't got into Andrew Brown's car that night....

Joe Yukl Glenn Miller Jimmy Stewart

Tartarin of Tarascon Taras Bulba Abdul Abulbul Amir

Clare Fischer Arnold Fishkin Robert Fisk

Allyn Ferguson David Allyn Al Wynn

Rufus T. Firefly Hugo Z. Hackenbush Otis B. Driftwood

I'm just working my way through the set - basically listening to the master takes then going back and listening to all takes of each number - this aspect probably of most interest to someone like myself who has played in the saxophone section of big bands....or those who have played in other sections for that matter. Apart from the obvious - the brilliant writing of Eddie Sauter and Mel Powell and the sterling work by Fletcher Henderson and Jimmy Mundy - the main impression so far, given the opportunity to listen to the band's entire non-vocal output is a new-found astonishment at the incredible level of excellence the sidemen had achieved by this time. One had always known Benny's band at this period was good - but I'd forgotten how good. In particular Toots Mondello's lead, and many solos from him too. And Cootie was by no means wasted either. The other thing that comes to light as the recordings progress from 1939 to 1942 is the fantastic strides the Columbia engineers made in capturing the sound of the band. The early recordings are quite opaque, but there is extraordinary space and clarity by 1941. There's also a fascinating dynamic at play with Sauter writing almost Kentonian arrangements as in 'Moonlight on the Ganges' and Benny still playing it safe by having Henderson arrange 'Somebody Stole My Gal' and cover 'Frenesi' A great set.

John Wilkes Booth Lord Boothby Boofhead

Teddy the Toad Jack the Bear Moose the Mooche

As far as the McPartland sides are concerned, Brown's playing is quite eccentric and I've never heard anyone else play remotely like him. I always thought the sides were great in spite of Boyce. I recall hearing the Brother Matthew album a long time ago and thought it was pretty disastrous, at least from his point of view. The remainder of the 'Chicago Jazz Album' also included a marvelous set from George Wettling with Charlie Teagarden, Joe Marsala on tenor, Danny Polo, Floyd O'Brien, Jess Stacy, Jack Bland, and Artie Shapiro

Willie the Weeper Jack the Bellboy Harry the Rat with Women (Jules Feiffer strip)

Jack E. Leonard Joe E. Brown Robert E. Lee

The Jimmy McPartland recordings were originally part of George Avakian's 'Chicago Jazz' Album, which I have on LP. I don't think the entire album has been reissued on CD - some of the material, the Condon sides I think were released under the 'supervision' of Orrin Keepnews a few years back with truly horrific sound quality.

Charlie Green Charlie Irvis Charles Williams

Geraldo Orlando Bertini