Starting point for Roy Eldridge

[Jazztropic]

Where is the best place to start to get some of the best Roy Eldridge preferable in small group settings.

Thanks

[AllenLowe]

I like the Deccas -

[kh1958]

Roy and Diz (Verve).

[vibes]

"Swingin' on the Town," if you can find it.

[Stereojack]

Coleman Hawkins & Roy Eldridge At the Opera House (Verve)

[montg]

The Verve complilation, "Little Jazz the Verve Years" seems to have gone out of print. If you can find it somewhere that'd be the place to start, imo. IN fact, other than the Mosaic box, the Verve years are not very well represented right now (except for the jam session with Diz, which has never been a favorite of mine though I ussually see it referred to as a classic, so what do I know).

Eldridge first grabbed me by the ears on the COunt Basie Newport CD on Verve--(there's not a lot of Eldridge on there, but his solo on one o'clock jump made me a fan forever) Some other sideman appearances during the Verve years that might be useful introductions to Eldridge: Johnny Hodges (Side by Side), Lester Young (Jazz Giants), Ben Webster and Associates, Benny Carter (the Urbane Sessions--a session he co-led with Carter is on there and is also on the Mosaic set).

Verve (modern day Verve/Universal) has not done justice to Eldridge. They virtually have a monopoly, since they own all the Decca and Keynote material, plus the stuff he did on Commodore with Hawkins.

Somewhat later in the day, "Nifty Cat" (from 1970) has some great playing (I think Budd Johnson is on there also).

[EKE BBB]

Coleman Hawkins & Roy Eldridge At the Opera House (Verve)

Yeah!

Or Hawkins/Eldridge/Hodges - Alive at the Village Gate!

[EKE BBB]

Or any recording by the group he led with Chu Berry in the second half of the thirties. A very recommended CD where you can hear this ensemble: "Heckler´s hop" on Hep.

[Chuck Nessa]

If you want "classic" sides and can deal with (good) '30s/40s sound, get the GRP/Decca cd called After You've Gone. The Hawk/Roy cd mentioned is a great one too. Too bad my favorites from Verve (the first 2 discs on the Mosaic set) are not available as single discs. The Verve compilation called Little Jazz is a decent anthology of the '50s stuff.

Once you get hooked you will need to seek the big band sides with Henderson, Krupa and Shaw.

Roy was a favorite.

[RDK]

Another for "Little Jazz." I had that on an old cassette before upgrading and every time I played it I converted somebody to Roy's music. That one holds a lot of sentimental value for me.

[Chuck Nessa]

If you can't find a "real" copy of Little Jazz, it's available as a download from Verve on iTunes.

[BERIGAN]

Another great "Little Jazz" cd from Columbia, Heckler's hop and other great tunes.

Of course, cd is out of print. Used cd for $6.95 on amazon.com.

Edited May 7, 2005 by BERIGAN