jeffcrom

That's a good one - some of my favorite latter-day Skip James.

First I've got to say that this: is so wrong! Isn't there some other cornet player who recorded that particular tune? Back to the game: Man Here Plays Fine Piano (Benny Goodman/Joe Bushkin) The Piano Has Been Drinking (Tom Waits) Lazy Piano Man (Muggsy Spanier) Ralph's Piano Waltz (Ralph Towner) Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 73 (Beethoven) Next up: NOTE

Lou Donaldson - Hot Dog (BN Liberty)

I have a picture-of-the-day blog, and I know from the tracking software that one of the most-viewed pictures is one of my wife kissing a statue in Germany - I titled that post "Hot Girl-on-Girl Action."

Apparently my feeble brain was telling me that I don't already have blogs and websites. So I started a new one a few days ago, which may be of interest to the 78 collectors here. Jeff's 78 Labels

All gone - thanks for looking and purchasing.

Mats Gustafsson - Solos for Contrabass Saxophone (Table of the Elements). Improvised contrabass sax solos on a one-sided, decorated, transparent LP. You know - same old same old....

That's one I bought when it came out. I didn't have much money and really couldn't afford it, but I bought it anyway. It's the first thing that came to mind when I saw the title of this thread.

The episode I saw today (season 1, episode 8, I think), had a scene set in Donna's, which was one of my favorite spots in the world. Bob French was sitting behind the drums, as on so many Monday nights over the years. That scene made me happy and sad at the same time.

Great BFT, full of interesting music. And I only missed one track which is in my collection - I have the old Phoenix LP with the Cootie Williams Sextet sides, but haven't played it for quite a while. I need to correct that.

I'm late to the party; I don't have "The Cable" - only have broadcast/airwaves TV. I hadn't planned on watching "Treme" - it's sometimes painful watching a TV show or movie about something you know a lot about. But my wife got me the first season on DVD for my birthday, and I'd say that they got it 90% right. A few things don't ring true, but it mostly makes me wish I was in New Orleans. Of course, they put in big musical names like Kermit Ruffins and Trombone Shorty, but damn! I'm up to episode 6, and I've seen, without mention, Matt Perrine, Jack Fine, Doreen Ketchens, Aurora Nealand, Tom Fischer, Don Vappie (okay, his name was mentioned), Uncle Lionel Batiste, Washboard Sam, and Ben Schenck, - some of my favorite musicians. How hip is that? And one of my favorite writers, Roy Blount, Jr., had a cameo. Cool! And the wax figure of Ernie K-Doe at the Mother-In-Law Lounge.... Ben, the leader of the Panorama Jazz Band, is Davis Rogan's brother-in-law, by the way. In actual real life, I mean.

Annette Peacock - Been in the Streets Too Long (Ironic)

Over the past couple of days: A bunch of classical - acoustic and electric Victor Red Seals by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The electrics, from the late 1920's, sound fabulous. Then, some great cellists from the acoustic era - Hans Kindler on Victor blue label, Pablo Casals on Columbia, and Arnold Foldesy on Odeon. And something completely different - New Orleans R & B by Dave Bartholomew, Roy Brown, and Smiley Lewis. I really enjoyed "Jailbird" by Smiley on Imperial; it's a variant of the Junco Partner/Junker's Blues theme.

Stone Cold Dead in the Market (Louis Jordan) I'm in the Market for You (Louis Armstrong) Farmer's Market (Art Farmer) Eastern Market (Yusef Lateef) In a Persian Market (Larry Clinton) Next word: MIDNIGHT

Dexter Gordon - Sophisticated Giant (Columbia)

Today I spun the Algiers Brass Band's Lord, Lord, Lord (Sound of New Orleans, 1992) for the first time in a while. The Algiers is more or less a neighborhood brass band in Algiers (the section of New Orleans directly across the river from the French Quarter), although I've heard them in the Quarter a few times. The band is kind of rough and ready - they play like amateurs, but in a good way. The Algiers sticks mostly to the traditional repertoire, although they venture into different territory on a few tunes, like the Meters' "Hey Pocky Way." And somebody (uncredited) grabs a guitar while they do Z.Z. Hill's "Down Home Blues" - I'll bet the folks in Algiers ate that one up. There is one truly awful track - "Wonderful World," with perhaps the worst fake-Louis Armstrong vocal I've ever heard. The Algiers BB is still around; I last heard them about three or four years ago, and they sounded pretty much the same. Lord, Lord, Lord is a good example of a stictly local brass band playing for the people.

Another New Orleans brass band LP so obscure that I couldn't find a picture online: Imperial Brass Band - A New Orleans Street Parade Live in Paris (Sandcastle). This was trumpeter Alvin Alcorn's band, and was a pickup band, rather than a working group, I believe. This was a mid-70's concert; I heard clarinetist Ralph Johnson at Preservation Hall a couple of times years later, and trombonist Freddie Lonzo many times.

After spinning Leroy Jones and his Hurricane Marching Brass Band of New Orleans (Lo An), I turned to the album Rebirth Brass Band founder Philip Frazier calls "The Bible:" Dirty Dozen Brass Band - My Feet Can't Fail Me Now (Concord) It's still stunning 25 years later. My copy, bought the week it was issued, is still in near-mint condition, but I might look into the Floating World remastered CD. It's always bothered me that you can barely hear the bass drum on the LP - that's arguably the most important instrument in a New Orleans brass band. (Read Louis Armstrong's comments about bass drummer Black Benny Williams in My Life in New Orleans.)

I'm reading Mick Burns' Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance right now. Like Burns' book on the Olympia Brass Band, it's more or less an oral history - he lets the musicians tell the story. It came out in 2005, right before Katrina, and it really clarifies what was really going on in the brass band scene in New Orleans between the decline of the Eureka and the rise of the Rebirth. Musician after musician emphasized how important Danny Barker's Fairview Church Brass Band was, as was its offshoot, Leroy Jones' Hurricane Brass Band. So tonight I just had to pull out the scarce-as-hens-teeth 1975 Lo An LP by the Hurricane. It took me years to track down a copy of this, and I couldn't even find a picture of the cover on the internet. All the musicians were around 20 years old, and the record is fresh, energetic, sloppy, and immature. Most of the tracks are from the traditional brass band repertoire - "Bourbon Street Parade," "Closer Walk," Joe Avery," etc. But there's a wildness and abandon about these young musicians' playing that reminds me of the 1958 Young Tuxedo album, but which also seems to be pushing toward something new. The drum intro to "Saints" is funkier than anything in brass band music up to that time, and the whole band sounds like they're on the verge of breaking through to a newer style. Shortly after this, Tuba Fats joined the Olympia Brass Band, and inspired by his bass lines and by trumpeter Milton Batiste's ideas, the Olympia started playing R & B tunes like "I Got a Woman" and "Mardi Gras in New Orleans." The real stylistic change hinted at by the Hurricanes didn't come to fruition until five years later, though, when the Dirty Dozen Brass Band was formed. But Danny's Fairview band and the Hurricane Brass Band are the groups that brought brass band music to a new generation of New Orleanians. I feel compelled to list the personnel of the Hurricane album. Most of them went on to become well-known in New Orleans music. A few were already in the union and couldn't appear under their real names. Trumpets - Leroy Jones, Gregory Davis (later of the Dirty Dozen), Gregg Stafford (as Gregory Vaughan) Trombones - Lucien Barbarin, Michael Johnson Clarinet - Joseph Torregano (as Joseph Charles) Alto sax - Darryl Adams Tenor sax - Henry Freeman Tuba - Anthony Lacen (Tuba Fats) Snare drum - Raymond Johnson, Jr. Bass drum - Charles Barbarin Right now I'm on the last track, "Olympia Special." This band must have driven the second-liners out of their minds - there's so much energy here. If you can find a copy of the Lo An album, grab it!

Bud Shank - New Groove (PJ stereo). It's been awhile, and I had forgotten how good this album is.

Bobby Naughton/Leo Smith/Perry Robinson - The Haunt (Otic) Beautiful! Thanks to Leeway for making me aware of this one and to Chuck for pointing me to Mr. Naughton's website, where it's for sale.

Listened to all my 78s by the Louisiana Five today. I love this pop-jazz band, which made around 50 sides over the course of one year, from December 1918 to December 1919. There was no trumpet player (except on "Slow and Easy"), so the melodic lead was played by New Orleans clarinetist Alcide "Yellow" Nunez. Some of their selections are better than others, but Nunez provides a nice glimpse into the early days of New Orleans clarinet. Several of these records have other bands on the flip sides; I played those, too. That Shanghai Melody/Sensation (Emerson Xylo-Phiends) (Emerson 9") The Emerson company experimented with different size records until settling on ten-inchers like everyone else. The grim-sounding Xylo-Phiends are actually a lot of fun - they are the xylophone-playing Green Brothers, who were very popular at the time. Rust isn't sure who else is on this side, but I think New Orleanian Tom Brown is playing the nice tailgate trombone - he played a lot with the Greens around then, and it sounds like a New Orleans guy. Golden Rod/Summer Days (Emerson) Sunshine Girl/B-Hap-E (Emerson) Weeping willow Blues/Big Fat Ma (Emerson) Yelping Hound Blues/Another Good Man Gone Wrong (Columbia) Musically, the Emersons are generally better than the Columbias. Columbia had the band "introduce" one to three extra songs in medley form on each of their records, so just as the band gets warmed up, they switch to a different song. The Emersons give Nunez more room to stretch out. He doesn't really do any hard-core improvising, but does some nice embellishing as the records go on. The Alcoholic Blues/Kansas City Blues (Wilbur Sweatman's Original Jazz Band) (Columbia) You Can't Get Lovin' where There Ain't Any Love/Wond'ring (Ted Lewis Jazz Band). The La. 5 side has a vocal by vaudevillian Billy Murray. The flip was the first recording by the Ted Lewis Jazz Band. Too bad it wasn't the last. Slow and Easy/Dance-O-Mania (The Happy Six) (Columbia). Doc Behrendson is on cornet on "Slow and Easy." Tom Brown is definitely on trombone on the side by The Happy Six, a bouncy little dance band I've always kind of liked. Sorry about the long post - I just think this is an interesting band.

Yeah, that's a good one. Louisiana Red sings the blues on it, too.

It is indeed an interesting album - not a masterpiece by any means. There are compositions by all involved, and some good playing, although I'm not sure it ever quite jells. It's also not that well recorded or pressed - I bought my copy sealed, and it was pretty noisy. Worth having, in my opinion, but it's not the album I turn to first when I want to hear any of these four guys.

Yeah - the top picture is brilliant.