jeffcrom

Thanks for the quick shipping - the CD arrived yesterday, and I'm enjoying it now.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Willis Jackson - Grease 'n' Gravy (Prestige silver label stereo). It took me about halfway through side one to realize who guitarist Pat Azzara was.

Taft Jordan Plays Duke Ellington: Mood Indigo!!! (Prestige/Moodsville/Status mono). Just finished spinning a wonderful album I was not even aware of until a couple of hours ago, when I found it in an Atlanta record store. Jordan plays Ellington with Kenny Burrell, Richard Wyands, Joe Benjamin, and Charlie Persip - very nice. My copy is a typical Prestige hybrid - Status labels and a Moodsville cover.

Happy birthday, Allen!

Wolter Wierbos, playing solo, I presume. On the rare occasion when an internationally-known improviser of this caliber accidentally finds his way to Atlanta, it's apparently supposed to be kept top secret. It was a lot of trouble to find out when and where Mr. Wierbos is playing tonight. One "view map" link led to a location across town from the stated address; I guess they were afraid an audience might show up and ruin the experience. But I persevered, and am 90% certain that if I show up at a certain location at a certain time tonight, I might get to hear Wolter Wierbos.

I heard back from Mark Berresford, who is familiar with the record. He doesn't know who the Superior Jazz Band is, but he doesn't think that they're the OM5. He calls the trumpeter "far coarser and 'hotter' than Napoleon" and describes the band as "very good and not as refined as the OM5." I don't know - neither of those descriptions (except the "very good" part) seem quite right to me. Without knowing any of the circumstantial evidence, I thought it was Napoleon and Lytell. The amount of circumstantial evidence strengthens the case. I'll continue to listen, compare, and think about it.

Well, Ladd's Black Aces was the pseudonym the Original Memphis Five used when recording for Gennett. (It's actually a little more complicated than that - there was some variation in the Ladd's Black Aces personnel, but that's basically it.) There were actually quite a few Ladd's Black Aces sessions for Gennett between 1921 and 1924, mostly by the Original Memphis Five guys. Arto was a record company who was not affiliated with Gennett - they were active from 1920 to 1923. Bell was the "dime store" label of the W. T. Grant chain, and their records were drawn from the Arto catalog until Arto went out of business. After that they used material from Emerson and the Plaza group of labels (Banner, Oriole, Regal, Domino, etc.) So there's a connection in that the "Superior Jazz Band" and Ladd's Black Aces are both basically the Original Memphis Five, but beyond that there's no connection between the Ladd's Black Aces sessions and the Arto/Bell sessions. The amount I've learned in the past year about early 20th century record labels and their relationships is frightening and pathetic.

Complete Atlantic Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz & Warne Marsh; disc two, the Tristano Quartet from the Confucius.

Even though there's little doubt in my mind, I want a second opinion, so I've emailed Mark Berresford, asking if he'll listen to them. I suspect that Bell P-440, while not common, is not that rare, either. I just don't think anybody familiar with the Original Memphis Five has listened carefully to it before. I'll take the ten grand, if offered, though. I think so - give me a day or two. 3.14 - they were first called the Original Memphis Pi.

The material is immaterial. Yeah, there are tunes I don't like as "tunes." But there are always musicians who can make something incredible out of them.

I don't know if there are any other Original Memphis Five fans here, but I think I just discovered a "new" record by them. I recently took a chance and spent five bucks on a 78 by the "Superior Jazz Band" on the early Bell label. According to the Rust discography, "Virginia Blues" and "Georgia" were recorded on April 18, 1922, but "Georgia" was rejected and remade on May 2. They were issued on three related labels, Arto, Bell (#P-144), and Globe. The instrumentation is the same as the OM5; Rust didn't know who the five musicians were, but noted that Ed Kirkeby directed the session. Kirkeby is best known as the manager of the California Ramblers and (later) Fats Waller, but also "managed first dates for the Original Memphis Five," according to John Chilton's Who's Who of Jazz. The first known record by the OM5 was Bell P-140, recorded some time in April, 1922; it was also issued under a pseudonym: The Original Dixieland Jazz Band! Which brings us to my record. I figured it was probably something pretty corny until I put it on the turntable today. My thoughts went like this: 1. "Wow - this is pretty good." 2. "That sounds like Phil Napoleon on trumpet." 3. "Is that Jimmy Lytell on clarinet?" 4. "Damn! I think this is the Original Memphis Five!" I compared the playing to that on the earliest OM5 record I had, from June, 1922 - it sure sounds like the same band. "Georgia" (by Walter Donaldson - the Hoagy Carmichael song hadn't been written yet) is excellent throughout. "Virginia Blues" starts well, but gets bogged down when it turns into a medley of "Southern" songs. The trombonist is a little stiff, but I don't know who else it could be except Miff Mole. He and Napoleon loosened up quite a bit on the band's 1923 recordings, but they both were slightly stiff on the 1922 records I've heard by them. I know this post is kind of esoteric, but I wanted this information (or at least informed speculation) to be on the web somewhere. I couldn't find anything in print or on the web linking this record to the Original Memphis Five.

Thanks, guys. I am enough of a perfectionist that I was really reluctant to post those rehearsal samples, but I appreciate your comments.

Cryin' in the Morning: An Anthology of Post-War Blues (Muse). Most of this stuff is from Regal and associated labels, early 1950's, I believe.

One of my favorite musicians' jokes: Q: How many girl singers does it take to sing "My Funny Valentine?" A: All of them, apparently.

Punch Miller - Hongo Fongo (Imperial mono)

Two mid-60's albums with Reggie Workman on bass, recorded at Van Gelder studios. Very different in some ways, but it's all meat off the same bone. New York Art Quartet - Mohawk (Japanese Fontana) Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land (BN New York stereo). My copy is not pristine, but it still sounds fabulous. Sonically, this is one of my favorite Blue Notes.

I'm up to twelve 78 sides by the California Ramblers, that hot band from the 1920's. (A couple of these records have other groups on the flip side.) Most of these have forgettable vocals, but most also have hot solos - from Red Nichols, the Dorsey Brothers, the underrated saxist Bobby Davis, the great Adrian Rollini, and others. I played them all today: California/Frisco Syncopators - Pick Me Up and Lay Me Down in Dear Old Dixieland (Puritan, 1922) Cover Me Up With the Sunshine of Virginia/California, Here I Come (Columbia, 1923) No, No, Nora/That Old Gang of Mine (Columbia, 1923) as Golden Gate Orchestra - Yes! We Have No Bananas/Original Memphis Five - Memphis Glide (Perfect, 1923) as Golden Gate Orchestra - Tell All the Folks in Kentucky/Sittin' in a Corner (Perfect, 1923) as Southampton Society Orchestra - I Miss My Swiss/Oh, Say! Can I See You Tonight? (Hormograph, 1925) as Golden Gate Orchestra - My Troubles Are Over/Glad Rag Doll (Diva, 1928) The original owner of my copy of "California, Here I Come" was apparently a skating rink. There's a piece of tape on the label with "All Skate" written on it.

I would like the Carter/Bradford. Always regretted not getting it at the time.

Well, I hesitated to give any, since all we have at this point are rough rehearsal recordings. But here you go, warts and all. I think these come from what was just our second rehearsal, so be warned.

Yep. I play alto & baritone, Eric Fontaine on soprano & tenor, Ben Davis on tenor, and Bill Nittler on baritone.

Arne Domnerus - Songs of Simon (Sonet). The great Swedish reed player plays Paul Simon, 1972. I saw this in a little record shop in Malmö, and almost didn't get it, because, well, it looked like it had the potential to be stunningly bad. But I'm glad I grabbed it. Some parts are better than others, and there's kind of a campy aspect to it, but Domnerus plays great, and it's a very entertaining album.

I wanted to warn you all about the new ensemble that's about to be inflicted on the world. The Edgewood Sax Quartet will make its debut on Friday the 13th of April at WonderRoot Arts Center in Atlanta. Four of Atlanta's best saxophonists (well, three of the best plus me) will be presenting a program of music that's kind of all over the place stylistically, although it's mostly jazz-based. We'll be playing my off-center originals, a couple of Ornette tunes, some Steve Lacy (including Steve's arrangement of "Staples" that I stole from the back of the Saxophone Special album), and my arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's "That's Earl, Brother" featuring a lost Charlie Parker solo in four-part harmony. I know that few of you live anywhere near the creative music wasteland that is Atlanta, but I'd love to see some of you there.

Just put on disc two.

Jimmy Lyons/Sunny Murray Trio - Jump Up-What to Do About (Hat Art); disc one.