jeffcrom

Almost three years later, I thought it was time to revisit this thread and talk about Oliver's Victor recordings. Oliver recorded for Victor in 1929 and 1930 - 33 wildly inconsistent sides, plus alternate takes, by what was considered a big band at the time (usually three brass, three reeds, and a four-piece rhythm section). Oliver's dental problems didn't even allow him to play on the first three sessions, but he solos frequently on subsequent dates. His playing is old-fashioned for the time, and sometimes slightly flat, but is surprisingly strong - many of his solos were attributed to his second trumpeter, Dave Nelson, for years, on the assumption that Oliver would have been technically incapable of playing them. There are plenty of lame tunes among the Victor recordings - "Everybody Does It In Hawaii" is about as bad as it sounds, and there are some that are even worse, like "What's the Use of Living Without Your Love?" That one's painful. But the best of the Victors are excellent. They're not state-of-the-art - Ellington and Henderson were way hipper than Oliver by this point, and Oliver's band didn't swing in as modern a way as many bands of the time. But they combined a two-beat "rock" with a touch of New Orleans sweetness in a way that I love. The best of Oliver's Victors would have to include: What Do You Want Me to Do? Sweet Like This Too Late New Orleans Shout I Must Have It Rhythm Club Stomp Boogie Woogie Mule Face Blues Struggle Buggy Shake It and Break It Stingaree Blues There are a couple of ringers in the trumpet section at times - Bubber Miley plays on the otherwise forgettable "St. James Infirmary." The great Henry "Red" Allen's avant-garde trumpet contrasts brilliantly with Oliver's horn on several of the later recordings, particularly "Mule Face Blues," "Shake It and Break It," and "Stingaree Blues." But even on the weaker tunes, there are sometimes excellent solos - by young Hilton Jefferson and the lesser-known Glyn Paque on alto, Jimmy Archey on trombone, and Oliver himself. This band ain't the Creole Jazz Band of 1923, but I love these recordings anyway. They're a worthy part of Oliver's legacy. The whole lot, except for one alternate take, has been issued by JSP as King Oliver and His Orchestra 1929-1939, and the RCA/Bluebird CD The New York Sessions (1929-1930) (now out of print) collected all the sides on which Oliver soloed - it's got most of the best tracks (and the alternate of "Olga" that's not on the JSP). I think that Frog has also reissued the Victor sides, but I don't have those CDs.

Here's where I really seem like a moldy fig. Most folks here know that I love New Orleans music and traditional jazz, but I love bebop and avant-garde music just as much. Yes, I like Helen Merrill, Sarah Vaughan, and Sheila Jordan, but I'd say that my top three are two who have been named and one unusual choice: Louis Billie Jelly Roll Morton. Anyone who has spent any time with the Library of Congress recordings knows what an amazing singer Jelly was. If I could name one more, it would probably be Danny Barker. And all of this is based on calling Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Sippie Wallace blues singers rather than jazz singers - a pointless distinction I'll observe for purposes of this thread.

Earlier today: Johnny Littlejohn - Funky From Chicago (Bluesway). Kind of battered, but I've never come across another copy.

Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers 1924-1930 (Affinity). This is some of my favorite music; I sometimes think that I like these recordings more than the Hot Fives. Right now I'm listening to disc 3, with Trixie Smith, Clara Smith, Bessie Smith, and the great vaudeville team of Coot Grant and Kid Sox Wilson.

Steve Kuhn - Ecstacy (ECM) Clarke/Boland Big Band - Sax No End (MPS). Not with this cover, unfortunately - mine's half of a cheap two-fer. But what a great album.

I swear, it's absolutely the first time that any of us have engaged in annoying speculation in these forums. Really! It's never happened before....

Now playing: Anthology of World Music - Africa: Music of Rwanda (Rounder). Mid-50's recordings of music of the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa people. My wife's sister and her family were living in Rwanda (and my late father-in-law was visiting from Nebraska) in 1990, when the civil war broke out. Their stories are pretty interesting - they drove back home from the hotel where they were vacationing, and gathered whatever they could in 15 minutes before setting out for the border. They bribed the border guard to let them through. A couple of years later my brother-in-law went back to check on their house. A general was living there; he didn't offer any compensation and my brother-in-law didn't press the issue.

I have found Microsoft Word to be very useful with non-American-English symbols and letters, such as vowels with accents and umlauts. Open up MS Word, find the "Insert" menu, and click on the "Symbol" menu. Almost anything you can imagine is there. Find what you're looking for, insert it, copy it, and you can put it in a post here or wherever you want it.

Louis Armstrong - Disney Songs the Satchmo Way (Buena Vista stereo) Don't laugh. This 1968 record is my favorite late Louis album. Yeah, most of the songs are stupid, and have leaden accompaniments with corny choirs, but neither of those things ever stopped Louis from being brilliant. And along with the lousy songs are some pretty good ones, like "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Chim Chim Cheree." In addition to the great singing, there's a trumpet solo on almost every song, and the playing is just brilliant - every solo has surprising note choices, unexpected suspensions, and asymmetrical phrasing. This is some of Armstrong's absolute best latter-day trumpet playing.

A bunch of one-sided acoustic opera/classical vocal records, mostly by Caruso and Amelita Galli-Curci. The incredible Miss Galli-Curci is, after Caruso, my favorite voice from opera's Golden Era. I have six 12" and two 10" records by her, and they all show off her beautiful, clear voice and amazing control. It was fun to play two versions of the Sextet from Lucia - I have an original "A" stamper Victor Red Seal pressing of the 1908 recording featuring Caruso and five other stars of the Metropolitan Opera. This was the most expensive record on the market at the time - $7.00 for a one-sided 12" record. That's $168.00 in today's money - for not quite five minutes of music. A couple of years later Victor issued a record of the Sextet by the anonymous Victor Opera Sextet; it was on their less-prestigious purple label and cost a mere $1.25. It's not as spectacular as the record by Caruso and company, but it's arguably a better ensemble performance. It must have been a real bummer to break a $7.00 record in 1908.

Yadhtrib Yppah!

Coleman Hawkins - The High and Mighty Hawk (Felsted - British pressing)

A series of them!

Oh, Chuck....

A nice collection! Check out some of the earlier stuff (although you've got 25 minutes on Early and Late)- Evidence from the early 1960's, Disposability from the middle of the decade, and some early-to-mid 1970's stuff - Trickles, maybe. And you've got to have at least one unaccompanied solo album - 5 X Monk, 5 X Lacy is maybe my favorite, although there are many excellent ones.

I got the "Complete" set the week it was issued, and love it, although I often program the tracks to reproduce the original albums - easy enough to find the info through the tubes of the internet.

Late last night, some early country - all my Jimmie Rodgers: Sleep Baby Sleep/The Soldier's Sweetheart (Victor, 1927) My Carolina Sunshine Girl/Desert Blues (Victor, 1928/29) New Orleanian Tony Fougerat is allegedly the trumpet player on "Desert Blues." The clarinetist also sounds like he's from New Orleans. I'm Lonely and Blue/Treasures Untold (Montgomery Ward, 1928) Moonlight and Skies/Rock All Our Babies to Sleep (Bluebird, 1930/32) This is Bluebird 5000, the very first buff-label Bluebird record, issued in 1933.

Lee Konitz Meets Warne Marsh Again (Pausa)

From a little poking around the web, it appears that all the music is there, but some spoken introductions were cut. I've got a really nice-sounding Japanese two-CD issue of this album.

Downloaded and listening right now. I just renewed my yearly Wolfgang's Vault membership. For $48, you get $50 worth of downloads (FLAC or MP3), and they're cheaper than for non-members. I immediately used $30 of my credit - this Ellington concert, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from the same night, Albert Mangelsdorff from Newport 1965, Gerry Mulligan and Marian McPartland playing Alec Wilder from 1973, and Anthony Braxton (with George Lewis and Muhal Richard Abrams) from 1976.

I thought that sounded like you clapping on the Atlantic album.

Couldn't find a picture of this excellent New Orleans LP: De De Pierce and His New Orleans Stompers (Center). A relatively rare appearance of De De without his wife Billie; George Lewis and Jim Robinson are in the band, as is bassist Chester Zardis, whom I saw in Preservation Hall at age 90, a couple of months before he died. He sounded fantastic.

Just got back from the first Atlanta performance by the New Orleans Bingo Show, which I would describe as punk rock vaudeville. It's led by Clint Maedgen, a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist who sometimes plays saxophone with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. There was lots of off-center rock, a pretty girl, and we played bingo. I didn't win.

I have one 78 and one 45 by the Firehouse Five Plus Two, and I think I listened to each one once. I'm someone who loves traditional jazz - dixieland, if you will - and I don't much care for this band. Music can be fun without being a cheap joke.

Thanks for posting this. There are things that bother me about Rascher's playing, but he's still one of my heroes. I've got a fairly nice copy of his Concert Hall Society album A Classical Recital on the Saxophone, from 1950 or so, and it's a pretty strong contender for the top of my "best classical saxophone records" list.