jazztrain

I didn't mention Bechet, but there's a special place in my heart for "Blue Horizon." I think of him (as he himself did) primarily as a unique voice on soprano saxophone, but his clarinet playing was also memorable. There's an October 1941 rendition of "Mood Indigo" (the take that was on one of the two Victor Vintage LPs) that still gives me chills. "Egyptian Fantasy" is another one. There are several others on which he plays both instruments to great effect such as "Save It Pretty Mama," "Ain't Misbehavin'," and "Nobody Knows the Way I Feel Dis' Mornin'." Daniels achieves almost a flutelike sound on the instrument. I remember most liking "First Prize" on Prestige and, much later, "Breakthrough." Most of the Benny Goodman Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, etc. evocations by later players (and there are scores of them) end up being ultimately unsatisfying. Most of them leave me wanting rather to go back to listen to the original. George Lewis was what he was - a simple musician whose style never changed. His early recordings have a freshness and directness that I like a lot. He probably recorded too much over the years - there's a sameness about many of the later recordings. But there are some good ones, too, like the Atlantic album. George Lewis Plays Hymns, mentioned by jazztrain, works so well because it's so straightforward and sincere. I agree with Greg M. that Bechet's "Blue Horizon" is a masterpiece. I can't follow him into Eddie Daniels appreciation, though. Daniels has amazing command of the clarinet, but his music leaves me cold.

I think I've recommended elsewhere the George Lewis "Plays Hymns" album on Milneberg. Really distinctive. The Louis Cottrell sessions that Christien produced for Riverside are gems as well.

His duo recording with pianist Tom McDermott is also quite nice.

Christopher's latest effort on Arbors (The Remembering Song) is particularly tasty, with several attractive originals. Gee, where to start? I could name dozens and dozens. I've somewhat obsessively collected jazz clarinet recordings for close to 40 years now, and there's such a wide range of sounds that can be made on the instrument. I'd start with Pee Wee. Other favorites, for various reasons, include Edmond Hall, Johnny Dodds, Lester Young, Jimmy Giuffre, Kenny Davern, Buddy DeFranco, and Tony Scott. Jeff is right about Willie Humphrey, someone I discovered recently from the Atlantic recordings on the Mosaic box. That's a good observation about Benny Carter, also. He had a slightly loose embouchure (as is the case for many doublers) but played the instrument really well. Same for Phil Woods. I love those players who achieved a personal and recognizable sound. The elegant filigree work of Albert Nicholas and the edge he gets when he goes up high. Cecil Scott and his buzz tone on recordings with Clarence Williams. For pretty sounds, Fazola, Shaw, and Bigard are certainly high on the list. Can't leave out Benny Goodman, either. And so many others... Any particular album recommendations? Damn. Okay.... I was going to use something from one of these albums on my next Blindfold Test. But this is more important. Try this for a readily available album: Delta Bound on Arbors. My favorite Evan C. album is probably going to be hard to find if you don't live in France. It's called Introduction: Live at the Meridien. I can't even tell for sure what the label is - Classic Jazz, maybe, or Jazz Traditions Project. But it's very cool - Evan plays standards, Ellington, and Ornette with a French guitar/bass/drums rhythm section. Same request here. All I have are four tracks with Billie Holiday & Bunny Berigan. Mostly Faz on Jazz Band is very good. Most of it is two mid-40s sessions from when he moved back to New Orleans. Otherwise look for the stuff he did with Bob Crosby. Yeah, Doreen's great. Not really in the first rank of New Orleans clarinetists, but not that far off, either. And I forgot to mention Ben Schenck, a New Orleans guy who just gets better and better. His band is the Panorama Jazz Band - they've got three albums, of which Come Out Swingin' is the best. They play traditional jazz, klezmer, calypso - all sorts of stuff.

Allen: Agreed that the clip from the Martin Block broadcast sounds better than I've ever heard it before. I just thought it was odd that no one had either recognized it (or bothered to note that it was out before). Having said that, I share your sentiments about the other clips. I'm just hoping that they find their way out somehow, sometime. Makes you wonder what else is there.

Wow! some astonishing clips are posted there. However, the last clip (which they call "Blues Jam") with Armstrong and Waller has been issued many times before. It's from a Martin Bloch Jam Session broadcast that is usually dated as December 14, 1938. Does anyone recognize any of the other clips as having been issued before? The short nature of some of them makes it more difficult to determine.

One of my earliest jazz experiences involved seeing the film "On the Road with Duke Ellington" at a local library in the summer after finishing high school. Most of my prior musical experience had involved classical music and pop music of the day. That film and discovering WRVR-FM in New York (with Ed Beach and others) around the same time were two early factors that started me down a slippery slope of ongoing jazz discovery and acquisition. I saw Ellington once in New Haven in the early fall of 1972. The concert was filmed at least in part (I remember, much to my dismay, a TV camera being set up almost directly in front of my seat), and I often had wished that I could go back and recapture that experience. Earlier this year I received the audio portion of an Ellington concert in New York City from within a few months of the New Haven concert. The sense of deja vu was striking. It's funny how music can stick in ones head. A somewhat similar experience involved a concert in New Haven involving Willie Ruff and Dizzy Gillespie. Years later I remember hearing a record of a live performance and thinking not just that I had heard it before but that I had been at the performance. Sure enough, I had been.

Yes, but Trumbauer played C melody saxophone, not alto.

Jeff: You're welcome! I remember tracking down that information on Gregory Felix. I played the following Zutty Singleton (Zutty And His Band) 78s on Decca the other night: Look Over Yonder / Runenae Papa (I Want A Lot Of Love) (I Would Do) Anything For You / Clarinet Marmalade Royal Garden Blues / Bugle Call Rag You should check out the first one, especially, if you don't know it. It has some wonderful clarinet playing by the rather obscure Horace Eubanks.

If you like those, you might look for the two 2-CD sets on Tampa Red that Bluebird issued many years ago in a blues reissue series that they gave up on far too soon. I only wish that Tampa Red would have left the kazoo at home. There's a great Tommy McClennan 2-cd set in that series as well.

I resisted the urge to throw in a few names that others have added during my drive home within the last hour or so (Earl Bostic, Willie Smith (especially when he was with Lunceford -- I find much of his later work less satisfying), and Don Stovall). Here a few more to consider in the mix: Jimmy Dorsey was a fabulous alto player. Tab Smith did some interesting recordings as well; he deserves a mention at least. Fess Williams, when he wasn't slap tonguing, did some surprisingly modern sounding work.

PM sent on Art Hodes (Tribute to the Greats).

Headed shortly to the Lowell Folk Festival: Lowell Folk Festival A classic ! Had several good evenings listening to those two gents. Enjoy !

The Barney Bigard session on Keynote (which is on the aforementioned cd) is one of his most satisfying post-Ellington sessions as well.

Durium: Previous thread here: Paulo Moura Here's a link to the obit in the New York Times: Paulo Moura obit

There are four LPs on Essex that have Butterfield leading a small group: Billy Butterfield at Princeton Billy Butterfield Goes to N.Y.U. Billy Butterfield At Amherst Billy Butterfield At Rutgers Despite their titles, some of us suspect that they are all from the same concert. There also was a duo recording that he made with Dick Wellstood (originally on 77, reissued elsewhere on cd). For earlier material, hep issued a cd (Pandora's Box) of sides by his big band from 1946 and 1947.

Conniff did some nice writing and arranging for Shaw as well. Check out, for example, Just Kiddin' Around, Kasbah, Lucky Number, and especially Lament. Lament is superb. Conniff is also quite good on a small group Art Hodes session for Blue Note. I remember being surprised repeatedly over the years that the same Ray Conniff who I avoided like the plague due to the string of easy listening records by the Ray Conniff Singers played a fine trombone and helped create some memorable sides with Shaw.

RIP. I remember being charmed by his duo album ("Dois Irmaos") with guitarist Raphael Rebello. I'll be playing that again soon.

You mean Krazy Kat? Will have to give it a listen later. Or sooner if it's on my ipod.

Kelly died in 1965. His obituary was in the New York Times on Sunday, December 5, 1965 (page 89, 96 words). Here's a link to the NY Times archive page from which the obituary can be purchased: NY Times Archive The obit starts as follows: "Jack Kelly of 124 West 55th Street a pianist who played in a number of Midtown Manhattan restaurants, died Friday of cancer at Beth Israel Hospital. ..." Anyone have access to the NY Times on that date?

Maybe these will get you started: If this is the same Jack Kelly, the following indicates that he was an accompanist to Vic Damone in early 1950: BIllboard Feb. 4, 1950 Also, he was pianist and conductor for Polly Bergen and backed her on her session for Jubilee: Polly Bergen He's the pianist on a March 31, 1952 Jerry Wald session for Decca: Jerry Wald He and his ensemble back singer (and actress) Monica Lewis on another session for Jubilee: Monica Lewis Here's an earlier reference to Jack Kelly with Vic Damone: November 22, 1947 Billboard Here's still another reference to him with Damone: January 3, 1948 Here's another Billboard reference with more information saying that he was backing Vic Damone, Jane Harvey, Herb Jeffries, and formerly Buddy Clark: March 4, 1950 Billboard Still more from Billboard, this time November 22, 1947, mentioning Damone and referring some radio work backing Buddy Clark, Perry Como, and Kate Smith as well as working for Shapiro-Bernstein and doing a nightly show at the Raleigh Room: Billboard November 22, 1947 I've also found references to two other albums by him from 1955, one on Jubilee (JLP-1009, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World) and one on MGM (E-280, 'S Wonderful). It appears that he was in New York in the late 1940s and early 1950s and spent time backing vocalists in clubs and on radio. There are also references to a Jack Kelly Orchestra making radio appearances in Chicago around 1944, but it's not clear that this is the same person. Still more from Billboard. This one is from November 19, 1955, indicates he's still in New York, and had just married Marilyn Youngman: Billboard November 19, 1955

Brute: The LP box set is not quite complete. From memory (for what it's worth), there was an alternate take from one of the Coleman Hawkins dates that was left off. I think it was issued earlier on a Queen Disc LP. I don't remember off hand if the missing alternate was included on the 4-CD Hawkins issue. If I have time later I'll try to figure that out. Also, the Benny Carter CD had a lot of material that wasn't on the LP box set. Again, if I have time later I'll post information on that material. Finally, again from what I can remember, some of the LP boxes were issued without a bonus, one-sided, 45 rpm that contained an untitled blues by Tristano.

Right you are. Silly me. He mentioned those two in his post (second paragraph)

You're missing the Lester Young (Volume 1) and also the Lennie Tristano (Volume 2). The title of the Red Norvo is Red Norvo Improvisations. Anticipating that the question of what on the label (and the LP box set) was not issued in this series of cds, see previous link: Keynote

Have a happy one Jack! No One But You/Natch