BFT 67: Mostly Old Stuff - discussion thread

[lipi]

Time to analyse, deconstruct, and plain ol' guess. Also, feel free to make fun of my choices.

Some of these I picked because I really like them (even though I think they're fairly well known), some I picked not because they were the best of the best, but because I think they may be things you are unlikely to have heard before. Most are somewhere in between. If none of you stop listening in disgust before the end of the playlist, I think I did O.K. )

[jeffcrom]

I'm having a blast with this one. Full reply soon.

[Big Al]

Me too, but I think I'm going to be more of an observer than a participant because I don't know nearly enough to be able to randomly guess Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, Artie Shaw.....

But I *AM* confident in guessing that there is no Glenn Miller on here!

This is gonna be like BFT 66 from mikeweil: all kindsa fun, no clue about anything, and gonna be fighting temptation not to break the bank once the answers are revealed!

Much fun to be had on this BFT! Can't wait to start reading the guesses!

[lipi]

Me too, but I think I'm going to be more of an observer than a participant because I don't know nearly enough to be able to randomly guess Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, Artie Shaw.....

But I *AM* confident in guessing that there is no Glenn Miller on here!

Oooh...now you remind me! I ought to have put a track from "The Spirit Is Willing" on. Glenn, it turns out, could swing quite hard, he just didn't bother or want to most of the time. Anyway: that album is excellent, and only $3 used on amazon, I see.

This is gonna be like BFT 66 from mikeweil: all kindsa fun, no clue about anything, and gonna be fighting temptation not to break the bank once the answers are revealed!

Much fun to be had on this BFT! Can't wait to start reading the guesses!

Feel free to chime in with opinions and not just guesses. The Down Beat blindfold tests included a lot of subjective answers, too, and I am honestly curious to see what people think--positive or negative.

[jeffcrom]

Okay, there were so many tracks to this one that I'm going to post my comments in sections. Here's the first third.

1. Wingy Mannone - mid thirties. Wingy’s okay, but I like listening to him mostly because he usually had good musicians on his records. I don’t recognize anyone else here, but the clarinet and tenor are pretty good.

2. Nice jivey little late-twenties record – good fun, but not great. One of several nice sounding alto sax players in this set. No idea who anyone is.

3. I’ve never heard this particular track before, but I think it’s from the 1929 Beale Street Washboard Band session with Herb Morand, Johnny and Baby Dodds, and Frank Melrose. (I have another track from this session in my collection.) Johnny Dodds actually recorded quite a bit with this instrumentation, but the trumpet sounds too strong to be Natty Dominique, who was often in the trumpet chair. Nice stuff – Johnny is one of the greats of the clarinet.

4. I have a feeling that I’m going to kick myself when I find who is in this nice little quartet, but I don’t know. Excellent trumpet that reminds me of Jabbo Smith, but it’s not anything I’ve heard before. The clarinet is good, too, as is the bassist, but the guitarist is great. I like it.

5. I absolutely hate this. I don’t like the singer; the trumpet and accordion are okay, but the clarinet player.... I usually subscribe to the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything” school of thought. But this guy (or girl) is an abomination to jazz. He or she sounds more like Wilbur Sweatman on a bad night than any early jazz player. This is the only track I couldn’t listen all the through a second time.

6. “I Found a New Baby” by Django Reinhardt backing up – well, I don’t know. The trumpet player sounds like trumpet is not his first instrument, but it’s not good enough to be Benny Carter. I like the slightly wild clarinet playing the most, but the short, harmonically wayward piano solo is pretty interesting, too.

7. Dickie Wells in Paris, playing “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” with Django and Teddy Hill’s trumpet section – I think from 1937. What a great player and what a great record. I think that’s the wonderful Bill Coleman doing the last bridge.

8. Very cool. No idea who it is. Fabulous trombone solo – it sounds like Claude Jones to me, but that doesn’t make sense in context. I like the dissonant touches in the arrangement. Looking forward to finding out more about this.

9. More jive. Could it be The Spirits of Rhythm? There is a good guitarist and an okay player of ukulele or some string instrument like that. Fun, but nothing I need to hear again.

I'm enjoying this one, with the one exception noted above. More comments soon.

[lipi]

1. Wingy Mannone - mid thirties. Wingy’s okay, but I like listening to him mostly because he usually had good musicians on his records. I don’t recognize anyone else here, but the clarinet and tenor are pretty good.

Wingy, mid-thirties, as you said. The clarinetist and tenor saxophonist are good, but the bigger names are guitar, bass (kinda), and drums, to my mind. There are many ex-Pollack men in this group.

2. Nice jivey little late-twenties record – good fun, but not great. One of several nice sounding alto sax players in this set. No idea who anyone is.

You're right on the date: 1930.

3. I’ve never heard this particular track before, but I think it’s from the 1929 Beale Street Washboard Band session with Herb Morand, Johnny and Baby Dodds, and Frank Melrose. (I have another track from this session in my collection.) Johnny Dodds actually recorded quite a bit with this instrumentation, but the trumpet sounds too strong to be Natty Dominique, who was often in the trumpet chair. Nice stuff – Johnny is one of the greats of the clarinet.

Very impressive! Yes, it's Morand, Dodds, Melrose, and Dodds.

4. I have a feeling that I’m going to kick myself when I find who is in this nice little quartet, but I don’t know. Excellent trumpet that reminds me of Jabbo Smith, but it’s not anything I’ve heard before. The clarinet is good, too, as is the bassist, but the guitarist is great. I like it.

Yeah, you are. ) Anyway: not Jabbo, as you already knew.

5. I absolutely hate this. I don’t like the singer; the trumpet and accordion are okay, but the clarinet player.... I usually subscribe to the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything” school of thought. But this guy (or girl) is an abomination to jazz. He or she sounds more like Wilbur Sweatman on a bad night than any early jazz player. This is the only track I couldn’t listen all the through a second time.

) I actually had my doubts about including this, because the one CD I have of these guys is not very good. I like this band so much live that I went with it anyway. It's good to hear how much you disliked it, though.

6. “I Found a New Baby” by Django Reinhardt backing up – well, I don’t know. The trumpet player sounds like trumpet is not his first instrument, but it’s not good enough to be Benny Carter. I like the slightly wild clarinet playing the most, but the short, harmonically wayward piano solo is pretty interesting, too.

Correct: title, Django, trumpet is not the leader's first instrument (good ear!). The piano solo is very interesting, I agree. Would it help if I mention that the trumpet and clarinet player are one and the same?

7. Dickie Wells in Paris, playing “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” with Django and Teddy Hill’s trumpet section – I think from 1937. What a great player and what a great record. I think that’s the wonderful Bill Coleman doing the last bridge.

Yes! (I think you're probably right that that's Coleman, but the liner notes don't specify.)

8. Very cool. No idea who it is. Fabulous trombone solo – it sounds like Claude Jones to me, but that doesn’t make sense in context. I like the dissonant touches in the arrangement. Looking forward to finding out more about this.

Not Jones. I love the dissonant touches, too, which is odd, because usually I gag at them. This track is a favourite with dancers.

9. More jive. Could it be The Spirits of Rhythm? There is a good guitarist and an okay player of ukulele or some string instrument like that. Fun, but nothing I need to hear again.

Yes, it's the Spirits of Rhythm and it's a guitar. This is a track that grew on me. I wrote it off as a novelty before, and though I still think of it as a novelty, it's one that makes me smile every time I hear it.

I was worried that I'd picked some things that were too obscure, but I'm quite at ease now: that was a smashing job, jeffcrom! Sorry you had to suffer through track 5.

[mikeweil]

BFT 67 - comments

I can't guess anybody here - my knowledge of this era of jazz is not elaborate enough, although I enjoy listening to it, especially when it's music of such high quality and entertaining diversity like the selections on your BFT disc. Thanks very much for compiling!

I will only comment if there is anything that caught my attention more than the others - I'm busy with preparations for two weeks of vacation in the "Saxonion Switzerland" near Dresden - we're off on Monday.

# 1: Nice vocals!

#2: Nice soprano and again good vocals.

# 3: Washboard! I saved one from my grandma's household. Every percussionist should have one. It's interesting that the player here phrases rather straight, not in a ternary feel like later jazz eras.

# 5: sounds like a recent recording - who is this? Well done. I like that singer - to me her voice and phrasing is rather sexy ...

# 7: has very cute phrasing by the brass section in the end theme, and the rhythm sections swings mercilessly.

# 8: ... another great swinging band - curious voicings in the reeds.

So far I listened to the first 16 tracks - I like them all. Great entertaining stuff. :tup

[lipi]

I'm busy with preparations for two weeks of vacation in the "Saxonion Switzerland" near Dresden - we're off on Monday.

Have fun! A few replies below:

#2: Nice soprano and again good vocals.

It's an alto or clarinet you're hearing; there's no soprano on this session.

# 3: Washboard! I saved one from my grandma's household. Every percussionist should have one. It's interesting that the player here phrases rather straight, not in a ternary feel like later jazz eras.

The drummer's a New Orleans percussion god. I'm envious of your washboard. It's cool to have one that was actually used by your family in earlier days.

# 5: sounds like a recent recording - who is this? Well done. I like that singer - to me her voice and phrasing is rather sexy ...

Yup, it's recent. I love the singer, but some don't agree. ) Will reveal in the answers thread who she is. I don't think anyone will guess this one...

# 7: has very cute phrasing by the brass section in the end theme, and the rhythm sections swings mercilessly.

With Django, they hardly have a chance, of course. Identified by jeffcrom above.

Thanks for listening!

[jeffcrom]

Alex, I'm really enjoying this. Some of your selections are fairly obscure, but they seem to land right in my wheelhouse. Here's round two:

10. Bunny Berigan – no one else sounds so hot and exciting in the low register. At first I couldn’t figure out what this was, but I knew it was something I knew. I thought the tenor player was Bud Freeman, but that didn’t seem quite right. Then I recognized Eddie Miller, and everything fell into place – “Chicken and Waffles” from 1935. I’ll admit that I couldn’t place anyone else on the recording, and looked up the rest of the personnel. Great drumming and stride piano, who I didn’t recognize until I looked them up. Very nice recording from an interesting, eclectic group.

11. Another seemingly eclectic group. I think I recognize Bid Sid Catlett and Pee Wee Russell – and maybe Jess Stacy? I’m assuming that the trumpet player is also the singer, but I don’t know who it is, unless it’s Wingy again. Maybe this is from an Esquire all-star concert or something like that. Very nice, with the trumpet as the weak link.

12. Somebody recent playing Ellington’s “Cotton Club Stomp” in stereo. I’m glad there are bands doing these great older numbers. The saxes seem to be taking an “original instruments” approach – or at least playing on old-style mouthpieces to get that 20s sound. I’d love to hear this live, although I’ve got to say that, as far as recordings go, I’d rather hear the original.

13. One of the great sessions in jazz history – Sidney Bechet and Muggsy Spanier, with “Sweet Sue.” The unobtrusive rhythm section is a perfect for these two giants. Someone on the board recently asked for a rating of these sessions from one to ten. I rated them a nine, because I thought there were a few better Bechet sessions. I was wrong – it doesn’t get better than this.

14. No idea who it is. Excellent dixieland playing, for the most part – I could do without the kazoo, if that’s what it is. I don’t like the kind of dramatic, show-biz jazz singing that the singer turns to by the end. I wonder if the excellent trumpet player could be the ill-fated George Girard, and the clarinet player sounds like a New Orleans guy, but I don’t really know.

15. Artie Shaw with Count Basie, from an Armed Service Radio Service broadcast. I recognized Shaw right away, but I doubt I would have figured out that it was Basie except that I have this on CD. Your copy is a lot better than mine, though – I’m jealous. A truly amazing clarinetist.

16. Okay, don’t freak out – I know this one. Once again, recognizing one player helped me figure out what it is – “Algiers Stomp” by Mills Blue Rhythm Band. I’ve always liked this underrated band, and when they had Red Allen as the main trumpet soloist, they were pretty powerful. I think that’s Tab Smith on alto and my homeboy J.C. Higginbotham on trombone. I don’t know who the clarinetist is, but I wonder if he played a favorite Red Allen lick near the end of his solo (the up-and-down arpeggio lick) as a dig at his bandmate. Very nice stuff.

Again, I'm having a blast. Part three soon.

[lipi]

Alex, I'm really enjoying this.

I'm really glad.

10. Bunny Berigan – no one else sounds so hot and exciting in the low register. At first I couldn’t figure out what this was, but I knew it was something I knew. I thought the tenor player was Bud Freeman, but that didn’t seem quite right. Then I recognized Eddie Miller, and everything fell into place – “Chicken and Waffles” from 1935. I’ll admit that I couldn’t place anyone else on the recording, and looked up the rest of the personnel. Great drumming and stride piano, who I didn’t recognize until I looked them up. Very nice recording from an interesting, eclectic group.

Yup! Good job. It's from the JSP set (I didn't manage to get the Mosaic before it went out of print.)

11. Another seemingly eclectic group. I think I recognize Bid Sid Catlett and Pee Wee Russell – and maybe Jess Stacy? I’m assuming that the trumpet player is also the singer, but I don’t know who it is, unless it’s Wingy again. Maybe this is from an Esquire all-star concert or something like that. Very nice, with the trumpet as the weak link.

It's not Big Sid, but you're right on Pee Wee (of course!), Stacy (very impressive, I think--there's no way I would have gotten that without the liner notes), and Wingy. It's not an Esquire concert, but you're thinking along the right lines. I have to admit I edited this track to remove a spoken introduction that would have spoiled some of the guessing fun.

12. Somebody recent playing Ellington’s “Cotton Club Stomp” in stereo. I’m glad there are bands doing these great older numbers. The saxes seem to be taking an “original instruments” approach – or at least playing on old-style mouthpieces to get that 20s sound. I’d love to hear this live, although I’ve got to say that, as far as recordings go, I’d rather hear the original.

Yup, it's recent. It's hard to beat the '29 Ellington, of course, but these guys do a tremendous job. I have some more fun information I'll share in the answer thread--don't want to spoil it in case others want to think about it some more.

13. One of the great sessions in jazz history – Sidney Bechet and Muggsy Spanier, with “Sweet Sue.” The unobtrusive rhythm section is a perfect for these two giants. Someone on the board recently asked for a rating of these sessions from one to ten. I rated them a nine, because I thought there were a few better Bechet sessions. I was wrong – it doesn’t get better than this.

I agree--these are (currently, at least) my favourite Bechet tracks. This one was taken from the HRS Mosaic set.

14. No idea who it is. Excellent dixieland playing, for the most part – I could do without the kazoo, if that’s what it is. I don’t like the kind of dramatic, show-biz jazz singing that the singer turns to by the end. I wonder if the excellent trumpet player could be the ill-fated George Girard, and the clarinet player sounds like a New Orleans guy, but I don’t really know.

It's not Girard, and the clarinet player played solid NO style up to this point in his career, but was originally from New York. The kazoo-like sound isn't mentioned in the liner notes, but my guess is that it's a brass mouth piece or perhaps a funny mute.

I'm really hoping that a bunch of you will be surprised by this track. (So far so good, I guess!)

15. Artie Shaw with Count Basie, from an Armed Service Radio Service broadcast. I recognized Shaw right away, but I doubt I would have figured out that it was Basie except that I have this on CD. Your copy is a lot better than mine, though – I’m jealous. A truly amazing clarinetist.

Right on! My CD is on Hindsight, and I see amazon has it as mp3s, too.

16. Okay, don’t freak out – I know this one. Once again, recognizing one player helped me figure out what it is – “Algiers Stomp” by Mills Blue Rhythm Band. I’ve always liked this underrated band, and when they had Red Allen as the main trumpet soloist, they were pretty powerful. I think that’s Tab Smith on alto and my homeboy J.C. Higginbotham on trombone. I don’t know who the clarinetist is, but I wonder if he played a favorite Red Allen lick near the end of his solo (the up-and-down arpeggio lick) as a dig at his bandmate. Very nice stuff.

Yes, that's right! That's really impressive. It is Red Allen and Tab Smith, but I'm not sure about Higginbotham. I bought this from emusic, so have no liner notes. I don't have a copy of Tom Lord's discography, and the Bruyninckx I looked in didn't list a trombone (or clarinet, for that matter) for the session. Unless someone takes a dip into a discography (would be much appreciated!), it'll have to remain a mystery.

[NIS]

I have a couple of albums by current artists covering older tunes (like W.C. Handy and Jelly Roll Morton) that are real favorites for me. I figure I should find out more about the originals in the traditional (if that's the right word) area. I wanted to post my brief thoughts so I can start reading the other comments and find out who I'm listening to.

In general, there really wasn't anything I didn't enjoy on some level, some things better than others of coarse. I do have to admit that I have mostly thought of music like this as being (I am searching for the right way to express what I mean) novelty-esque, something from the old movies, soundtracks for the old cartoons. Honestly, couldn't you hear Bing and Bob singing the song on Track 9? Please don't kill me. I'm not saying that this assessment is correct. I'm just saying that except for a few things, for the reason poorly expressed above, I personally haven't done a lot of “critical” listening in this area. I hope to correct that error.

I did like several of the tracks better than most.

-For my taste, I thought the playing on Track 4 and Track 13 was really interesting. Looking forward to finding out about these guys/gals.

-I thought track 24 was great. I've heard this song, not this version, before. Don't know where. It kind of reminds me of the vibe on some of the tunes from the Dr. John album, “Gumbo”.

-Track 25 is great fun. Anything by Fats Waller works for me.

-Track 12 – This is might be from an album by Don Byron called “Bug Music”. Right or wrong, a great song and pretty good playing.

Thank you very much for this BFT. Sorry that I didn't have much to add to the discussion. I'm not done listening and I'm looking forward to the reveals.

[lipi]

In general, there really wasn't anything I didn't enjoy on some level, some things better than others of coarse. I do have to admit that I have mostly thought of music like this as being (I am searching for the right way to express what I mean) novelty-esque, something from the old movies, soundtracks for the old cartoons. Honestly, couldn't you hear Bing and Bob singing the song on Track 9? Please don't kill me. I'm not saying that this assessment is correct. I'm just saying that except for a few things, for the reason poorly expressed above, I personally haven't done a lot of “critical” listening in this area. I hope to correct that error.

I understand completely. ) And track 9 is definitely in novelty territory (see a comment above).

-For my taste, I thought the playing on Track 4 and Track 13 was really interesting. Looking forward to finding out about these guys/gals.

Those two tracks are some of the best jazz I have ever heard, in my opinion, so we agree there. Big names, too. One has been identified above, already.

-I thought track 24 was great. I've heard this song, not this version, before. Don't know where. It kind of reminds me of the vibe on some of the tunes from the Dr. John album, “Gumbo”.

New Orleans, indeed. (I had never heard of Dr John, and may pick up one or two of his CDs now. Reminds me of Leon Redbone.)

-Track 12 – This is might be from an album by Don Byron called “Bug Music”. Right or wrong, a great song and pretty good playing.

Not Byron.

Thank you very much for this BFT. Sorry that I didn't have much to add to the discussion. I'm not done listening and I'm looking forward to the reveals.

You're welcome!

[NIS]

jeffcrom,

Are you a music savant or something? I've been reading the comments and your knowledge of this music is pretty amazing. Actually, if I remember correctly you also knew alot of the tracks on the last BFT I was involved in.

My hat is off to you.

Edited August 31, 2009 by NIS

[jeffcrom]

jeffcrom,

Are you a music savant or something? I've been reading the comments and your knowledge of this music is pretty amazing. Actually, if I remember correctly you also knew alot of the tracks on the last BFT I was involved in.

My hat is off to you.

Thanks. I'm not that smart, I have just had a pathetic life - much of my time the last 30-plus years has been spent playing and listening to jazz. Like many people here, I've got a ridiculously large record/CD collection, but I probably have more earlier jazz than many people here. Most of what I recognized was because I have the exact or similar tracks by the same artists in my collection.

And if you check the last BFT, the Hammond organ one, you'll see that I crashed and burned. I don't think I correctly identified anyone on that test. That's why I was glad that this one was heavy on artists I knew.

Just an obsessive jazz geek. And it's killing me that I can't identify track #4.

[jeffcrom]

Here's my final installment:

17. My favorite singing of this set – straightforward, unaffected and not overdone. I also like the way the instrumentation reveals itself slowly – the trumpet doesn’t come in until the song is over half over, and you’ll miss the trombone if you don’t listen carefully. I’d like to hear more of the soprano saxist – I like his (or her) sound. And it’s a cool song! I don’t know what I’ll do when there ain’t no jazz.

18. A real New Orleans-style clarinetist, but my guess is that he was born elsewhere. If I had to make a guess, I’d say that maybe it’s Jacques Gauthe. Nice track – not earth-shattering, but nice.

19. I can’t come up with what this is, except that’s it’s a nice little late-twenties big band recording. Nice solos all around, and the band is loose (in a good way) and swings pretty well for its time. I like it a lot. This is one of those tracks that I'm looking forward to finding out more about.

20. Another nice big band track. The excellent piano solo makes me wonder if it’s Andy Kirk’s band with Mary Lou Williams. In any case, it’s a band with a very good pianist. The other soloists are good, too. Nice swinging track.

21. Jabbo Smith– Michiganlander Stomp. Jabbo is one of the underrated jazz giants of the twenties. He was one of several trumpeters recruited by record companies in an attempt to find a rival for Louis Armstrong. Jabbo had his own style, though. Nice alto, although I can’t remember who it is. The banjo solo gets kind of out there, perhaps more than intended.

22. I don’t know this piece, but it sounds like Bennie Moten: somewhat corny two-beat rhythm, not-very-good accordion solo, slap-tongue clarinet. Moten’s band didn’t really get good until later in its career. Of course, I could be totally off on who it is. The trombone player’s got some chops.

23. The great Edmond Hall, who has one of the most distinctive clarinet sounds in jazz. He always added some fire and spontaneity to the sometimes predictable Louis Armstrong All-Stars, which is the band he appears with here. This is a good old good one, as Louis might say.

24. Jelly Roll Morton, from his General recordings, with a nice little mostly-New Orleanian band. Red Allen sounds good here, as does Claude Jones on trombone and Zutty Singleton on drums. I think Albert Nicholas is the clarinetist, but he’s hardly audible on this track. This is not my favorite of Jelly’s General sides, but any Jelly is good to me.

25. Fun little band with good players. I’d rather hear the vocalist actually sing than more or less speak the lyrics as he does here, but if I was hearing these guys in a bar on Frenchman Street I wouldn’t care – I’d be really enjoying this. And I’m guessing that I could actually hear them on Frenchman Street in New Orleans, since the singer mentions Doreen’s Candy Store – Doreen Ketchens is a fabulous clarinet player who runs a candy store in the Crescent City. I think this might be the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, who are pretty popular down there. In any case, if this is not their theme song, it should be.

Really enjoyed this blindfold test. Thanks for an interesting collection of recordings.

[lipi]

17. My favorite singing of this set – straightforward, unaffected and not overdone. I also like the way the instrumentation reveals itself slowly – the trumpet doesn’t come in until the song is over half over, and you’ll miss the trombone if you don’t listen carefully. I’d like to hear more of the soprano saxist – I like his (or her) sound. And it’s a cool song! I don’t know what I’ll do when there ain’t no jazz.

The singer isn't primarily a jazz singer--I like her a lot, too.

18. A real New Orleans-style clarinetist, but my guess is that he was born elsewhere. If I had to make a guess, I’d say that maybe it’s Jacques Gauthe. Nice track – not earth-shattering, but nice.

It's not Gauthe.

19. I can’t come up with what this is, except that’s it’s a nice little late-twenties big band recording. Nice solos all around, and the band is loose (in a good way) and swings pretty well for its time. I like it a lot. This is one of those tracks that I'm looking forward to finding out more about.

Some very big names on this one. I guess I'm just teasing now. ) You nailed so many of the others, that I am very glad there are some tracks you are left curious about.

20. Another nice big band track. The excellent piano solo makes me wonder if it’s Andy Kirk’s band with Mary Lou Williams. In any case, it’s a band with a very good pianist. The other soloists are good, too. Nice swinging track.

Not Kirk.

21. Jabbo Smith– Michiganlander Stomp. Jabbo is one of the underrated jazz giants of the twenties. He was one of several trumpeters recruited by record companies in an attempt to find a rival for Louis Armstrong. Jabbo had his own style, though. Nice alto, although I can’t remember who it is. The banjo solo gets kind of out there, perhaps more than intended.

Yes! And it's Omer Simeon on alto.

22. I don’t know this piece, but it sounds like Bennie Moten: somewhat corny two-beat rhythm, not-very-good accordion solo, slap-tongue clarinet. Moten’s band didn’t really get good until later in its career. Of course, I could be totally off on who it is. The trombone player’s got some chops.

No, you're exactly on: it's Moten.

23. The great Edmond Hall, who has one of the most distinctive clarinet sounds in jazz. He always added some fire and spontaneity to the sometimes predictable Louis Armstrong All-Stars, which is the band he appears with here. This is a good old good one, as Louis might say.

Yup. Another one I edited: this time to remove Louis's spoken intro (and as much of his "Aaaaaaah!" at the end as I could without cutting into the music.) I love Edmond here: he sounds on the edge of control, with the reed ready to squeak at any time. Wonderful.

24. Jelly Roll Morton, from his General recordings, with a nice little mostly-New Orleanian band. Red Allen sounds good here, as does Claude Jones on trombone and Zutty Singleton on drums. I think Albert Nicholas is the clarinetist, but he’s hardly audible on this track. This is not my favorite of Jelly’s General sides, but any Jelly is good to me.

Yup--that's all correct, including Nicholas.

25. Fun little band with good players. I’d rather hear the vocalist actually sing than more or less speak the lyrics as he does here, but if I was hearing these guys in a bar on Frenchman Street I wouldn’t care – I’d be really enjoying this. And I’m guessing that I could actually hear them on Frenchman Street in New Orleans, since the singer mentions Doreen’s Candy Store – Doreen Ketchens is a fabulous clarinet player who runs a candy store in the Crescent City. I think this might be the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, who are pretty popular down there. In any case, if this is not their theme song, it should be.

Oh, c'mon now: this was supposed to be one of the really hard to guess ones! Indeed, it's the New Orleans Jazz Vipers. Thanks for the bit about Doreen's Candy Store: I never knew what that referred to exactly. It's fun to learn these things. I've seen some youtube videos of Doreen playing on the sidewalk in NO a year or two ago, and I was way impressed. She's great.

Thanks for playing, Jeff! Hope others aren't too intimidated to post now.

Edited September 2, 2009 by alex.

[NIS]

Alex,

In regard to the tracks that have been identified; Is it bad form to ask specific questions now? Would you like me to wait until all comments are in?

[lipi]

In regard to the tracks that have been identified; Is it bad form to ask specific questions now? Would you like me to wait until all comments are in?

Go right ahead. I think the more activity in this thread, the better--the BFTs are meant to generate questions in the listeners. Most people wanting to guess will do so before reading the thread anyway, I hope.

And I reserve the right to answer cryptically. )

[NIS]

In regard to the tracks that have been identified; Is it bad form to ask specific questions now? Would you like me to wait until all comments are in?

Go right ahead. I think the more activity in this thread, the better--the BFTs are meant to generate questions in the listeners. Most people wanting to guess will do so before reading the thread anyway, I hope.

And I reserve the right to answer cryptically. )

Thanks, Alex.

What I had in mind was, now that I know who they are, where do I check them out further? Specifically, on the Sidney Bechet and Muggsy Spanier track; In another thread, our friend Jeffcrom reccommended an album called "Up A Lazy River" I think. Do you agree and do you have any other suggestions?

Also, same question about the Jelly Roll Morton track.

I'm kind of embarassed to be asking about some of the giants but there it is.

[lipi]

What I had in mind was, now that I know who they are, where do I check them out further? Specifically, on the Sidney Bechet and Muggsy Spanier track; In another thread, our friend Jeffcrom reccommended an album called "Up A Lazy River" I think. Do you agree and do you have any other suggestions?

That album has all eight of the Bechet-Spanier session masters. The HRS Mosaic set has those, plus the two alternate takes. Sound is good on both. The HRS is one of my favourite Mosaic sets, so I say go for the HRS set if you can afford it. If you're just after the Bechet tracks, the "Up a Lazy River" CD is only $5 used on amazon right now.

If you want other Bechet or Spanier suggestions, let me know. I love both.

Also, same question about the Jelly Roll Morton track.

That one I got from "Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings" on Verve. Good collection. Again, if you're curious about more Jelly Roll than just that album, let me know. I'm happy to suggest places to start looking.

[NIS]

I would be happy to have some other suggestions, especially on Jelly Roll.

Thanks, again.

[lipi]

I would be happy to have some other suggestions, especially on Jelly Roll.

Start with the JSP set "Jelly Roll Morton: 1926-1930". It has all the Victor sides, and sounds better than the RCA-Victor set. Very exciting early jazz.

The Library of Congress recordings are great fun, but the music is interspersed with stories, and tracks end halfway through Jelly's playing. It's an excellent historically resource, but does not make good background listening. Try to borrow a CD from the library before you buy this one. I happen to love it, but others are bored by it.

Between those two (and the Last Sessions) you'll have his most important recordings.

[lipi]

*crickets*crickets*

*a tumbledweed rolls by*

With all the excitement in the Mosaic threads, one would think someone would stop by the poor, ignored BFT threads.

So what's holding folks back? Is the music just not to your taste at all? I'm happy to hear about that, too! Are you afraid of looking foolish by guessing plain wrong? You won't! (And if you want, I promise I'll make a way bigger fool of myself on whatever the next BFT is to make up for it.)

Should we call this one closed early and let someone else have a go in another week or so? I don't want to completely kill any already-nearly-non-existent BFT momentum.

[jeffcrom]

Should we call this one closed early and let someone else have a go in another week or so? I don't want to completely kill any already-nearly-non-existent BFT momentum.

It's still early in the month - I wouldn't wind things up yet. In the few BFTs I've participated in I have posted both early and late in the month.

I hope I didn't show bad form in posting my answers so early. I just figured that people would do what I've done in the past - not read the thread until they had their comments ready. I had a lot of fun with this one and hope that I didn't spoil anyone else's fun with it.

[Big Al]

Great comments in here! I need to spin this one again while reading the comments!