AOTW Sept. 4-11, 2016: The Complete Wolverines

[jeffcrom]

 

 

The Complete Wolverines:1924-1928 (Archeophone/Off the Record)

I know that this album will not be to everyone's taste. But from what I could tell, there has only been one AOTW that included music from as far back as the 1920s, and I wanted to expand things a little. And the music is "important" as well as excellent.

This music was not originally issued as an "album," of course, but as a succession of 78 RPM records with three minutes of music per side. But such collections of single records have made the AOTW lists before, and the Wolverines sides have been issued together in album form many times over years. I, and many other listeners, I suspect, think of them as a unit. The Archeophone/Off the Record CD is the clearest and cleanest reissue of this material yet. The sound is archaic, but should pose no problems to anyone coming to it with an open mind and ears.

There's a certain personal nostalgia to my selection. The first two jazz albums I remember buying were a Charlie Parker collection and a Milestone two-fer called Bix Beiderbecke and the Chicago Cornets, which had the Wolverines sides along with other material. I suppose that was a strange choice for a teenager, but I had read about Bix and was fascinated. It took me about four minutes in to "get" Bix - I responded to his solo on "Jazz Me Blues" right away.

The Wolverines (Wolverine Orchestra, officially) were young when they first recorded in the Gennett studio in Richmond, Indiana in 1924 - Bix was a month shy of 21. The band was influenced by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, but except for Beiderbecke, they couldn't match that band's easy sense of rhythm. What they did have to offer was a sense of adventurous modernism, in the context of the time. Presumably prodded by Bix, who had a strong sense of musical curiosity, they explored extended and altered chords, and interspersed their music with interesting arranged passages.

But without Bix, they would probably be forgotten today. Listen to the first side the Wolverines recorded, the New Orleans classic "Fidgety Feet." Most of the band has a kind of jerky sense of time, athough they loosen up as the tune progresses, and clarinetist Jimmy Hartwell takes a credible low-register solo. But Bix is already somewhere else. Although he doesn't solo, his lead cornet is flowing and imaginative; he sings where the others plod.

The next side, "Jazz Me Blues," includes Bix's first recorded solo. I may be exaggerating, but only slightly, when I say that this is where "cool jazz" was born. Even when I heard this solo all those years ago, I was struck by the beautiful note choices and the relaxed, graceful flow of the lines.

The last of the Wolverines sides with Bix on board also features his first recorded piano solo. The "Big Boy" solo is a little clumsy and heavy-handed, but melodically and harmonically odd enough to reveal an unusual and original musical imagination.

Beiderbecke reveals his youth with a few missteps here and there. For instance, his solo on Hoagy Carmichael's "Riverboat Shuffle" has some corny, repetitive licks in the mix.

The two 1925 Wolverines sides recorded after Jimmy McPartland replaced Bix reveal mostly how much the band needed Beiderbecke. McPartland has started to mature by the 1927 "Original Wolverines" session, but the band is a rhythmic and ensemble mess.

I want to put in a minor good word for the Wolverines' tenor saxophonist, George Johnson. He wasn't a particularly imaginative player, but he had a nice sound and seemed to be interested in just playing pretty music on the saxophone - he didn't resort to slap-tongueing or novelty effects, as so many saxophones at the time did; even young Coleman Hawkins wasn't immune.

Edited September 4, 2016 by jeffcrom

[JSngry]

Any leads to an illegal download, or maybe a popularly priced release?

[jeffcrom]

Well, shoot - I didn't realize that this CD is already out of print. Certainly don't buy the $80 or $250 used copies I see on Amazon. It looks like they might still have some new copies for $18.73 here. An alternative would be the CD or download version of that Milestone album that entranced me as a teenager, Bix Beiderbecke and the Chicago Cornets. It's got all the Bix material the Off the Record set has, plus the two 1925 Wolverines sides with McPartland, plus part (why not all?) of the Muggsy Spanier Bucktown Five session from the same period. I don't know what the sound is like, but it can't be as good as The Complete Wolverines, because that's the best I've ever heard for this material.

Edited September 4, 2016 by jeffcrom

[danasgoodstuff]

I have some of this on anthology/compilation, so I'm re-listen and comment shortly. Bix pretty much is the show, IIRC.

[lipi]

20 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

But from what I could tell, there has only been one AOTW that included music from as far back as the 1920s, and I wanted to expand things a little.

Great post, Jeff. A quick correction: there were two releases with music from the 1920s, weren't there? The King Oliver 1923 sides, and that funny Cabaret Echoes one with Ory, Marable, etc. EDIT: Oh, I'm an idiot. "AOTW" stands for "Album of the Week"...I assumed it was some sort of "Archaeophone Off The ...something" abbreviation. Anyway. Back to your regularly scheduled business of discussing jazz...

I don't have this Wolverines disk. I have the material on the "Bix Restored" series and have been talking myself out of buying it again. Now I'm reconsidering again...

Edited September 5, 2016 by lipi

[jeffcrom]

The 1920s is late for the Archeophone label! For those who aren't familiar, their releases explore the earliest days of recorded sound.

[paul secor]

Some thoughts and notes from listening over the past couple of days:

"Jazz Me Blues" - Bix's first recorded solo and it's a beauty. He followed it up on the next recording, "Oh Baby" with another fine solo. Compare Bix's solo on that one with George Johnson's, and there is no comparison.

Bobby Gillette's banjo is the driving force (along with Bix's cornet) on these early recordings. Min Leibrook's tuba drags things down, though by the time of the Sioux City Six date later that year, his playing had improved.

"I Need Some Pettin'" - Another fine solo by Bix and his playing drives the band.

"Tiger Rag" - A thrilling solo and lead cornet by Bix over somewhat leaden playing by the rest of the band.

By the time the band recorded "Big Boy" (actually only six months after their debut recording), they had improved greatly. Unfortunately for them, by that time Bix was leaving The Wolverines.

"Toddlin' Blues" by Bix and His Rhythm Jugglers, not by The Wolverines - Beautifully relaxed playing by a relaxed Bix and a relaxed band.

"Davenport Blues" - Again some beautiful playing by Bix.

I had to step back and realize that Bix Beiderbecke was only 20 and 21 years old when these recordings were made. Very few musicians have it together at that age - remarkable.

Archeophone (actually Off the Record issued this initially) did a beautiful job on this reissue - sound, liner notes, overall presentation - a model for vintage jazz reissues. I hope that The Complete Wolverines will come back into print. Amazon says "Usually ships within 1 to 3 months", so perhaps it will. I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in early jazz. Even if you already have the music on another release, the sound quality of this one makes it an excellent pick up.

Kudos to Jeff for this AOW choice. I enjoyed the time I spent with it.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

Well, turns out I only have two Wolverines cuts I can find - Big Boy & Copenhagen - and that I need to reconsider Bix being the whole show and that the W's were that much weaker a band than Goldkette's and the smaller recording groups (Bix & his gang, Tram & the Tamatics).  Who's to say that what we hear now as a period affect, the herky jerky rhythm so like early film, etc., wasn't a plus to the original audience, not just as dance music but signifying something else as well...Listening to more W's cuts on youtube, I thin I'll have to find this to buy. Til now I was content with my Time/Life 3 LP Bix collection.  Thanks a lot!

[JSngry]

I really thought I had some variant of the Milestone release in some form somewhere, but if I do, I can't find it. Seems important enough stuff to get the new copy linked to by Jeff above, so on the way.

About Bix in general, I have a hard time hearing it "objectively", because my head has been so macro-programmed by so many 0other counter/parallel things that it usually takes a concerted effort to not hear him as an underpulsed, underblown intimidated Shy Guy. But I know that's wrong, I know the impact that he had and why he had it, and every so often, the programming gets shaken off and I can begin to really get it.

Please note that I make not even the slightest claim of legitimacy for the reactions my programming create. My point is just that, even at that, the guy sounds different, obviously different, than what all else was going around here. Whatever qualities I project onto that based on my programming...that's on me to work on adjusting. But the obvious difference of quality he had, that's all his doing. That's why he mattered then, that's why he matters now, he did it. When somebody comes out that different...not everybody can do that, you know?

Also, fwiw, my dad's family had a branch from Davenport...they in no way gave off a "jazz" vibe as I understood it, but finding out that my Dad's aunt had been widowed and then remarried a guy that was, like, 20 years her junior, and always, ALWAYS had a twinkle in her eye, that gives me pause again to reflect, because if what you know at first is all you always know, hey...it's a short road, the one that goes nowhere but back again.

[danasgoodstuff]

Just wanted to add that while Bix's post Wolverines output sounds to us now as more modern, usually because of the ensembles, and may have then too, that doesn't necessarily make it better...and the things that he did with them that he redid later are particularly interesting.

[paul secor]

I'll add that I didn't really hear or "get" The Wolverines recordings until I heard the Archeophone CD. I don't know whether it was my fault or the fault of other issues of the music or a combination of both. I'm just glad that we finally got together.

[kh1958]

I don't know what original 78s of this material sound like, but I find the two Off the Record early jazz releases--this one and King Oliver--to be very listenable, and to lift a veil that inhibited connecting with jazz recorded up to 1925. I was hoping they would do more early jazz releases. At any rate, this one and the King Oliver set are both essential Early Jazz releases.

[jeffcrom]

10 hours ago, paul secor said:

Bobby Gillette's banjo is the driving force (along with Bix's cornet) on these early recordings. Min Leibrook's tuba drags things down, though by the time of the Sioux City Six date later that year, his playing had improved.

You're not wrong, but it's ironic, because Leibrook was about the only member of the Wolverines besides Bix and pianist Dick Voynow (and Bix's replacement, Jimmy McPartland, of course) to go on to any kind of real career in the music business. He later added string bass and bass sax to his arsenal and joined Paul Whiteman's band, where he was reunited with Beiderbecke. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a studio and theater musician until his died prematurely at age 40.

[jeffcrom]

6 hours ago, JSngry said:

About Bix in general, I have a hard time hearing it "objectively", because my head has been so macro-programmed by so many 0other counter/parallel things that it usually takes a concerted effort to not hear him as an underpulsed, underblown intimidated Shy Guy. But I know that's wrong, I know the impact that he had and why he had it, and every so often, the programming gets shaken off and I can begin to really get it.

The three adjectives you put before "Shy Guy" are just wrong, but the "Shy Guy" part I get. Part of Bix's greatness is that he presented one of the first alternatives to "hot jazz." His music was cool, pretty ("beautiful" is probably better) , and adventurous in an overtly intellectual way. But it was also Jazz with a captial "J," and Bix was almost always the hardest swinger in any group he recorded with. If you have it or can find it, listen to the Wolverines' version of "Tiger Rag," which survived only in a test pressing. It's fast and hot, and Bix plays plenty of blue notes in his solo. But he's still somewhere else, and that somewhere else didn't really fully reveal itself until Lester Young came on the scene.

6 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Just wanted to add that while Bix's post Wolverines output sounds to us now as more modern, usually because of the ensembles, and may have then too, that doesn't necessarily make it better...and the things that he did with them that he redid later are particularly interesting.

Yes. These were still early days for Bix, and most his greatest achievements were ahead of him. And the Wolverines were certainly a mixed bag. Like lots of jazz from the 1920s, listening to the Wolverine Orchestra requires sympathetic ears and a willingness to accept a certain amount of chaff along with the wheat.

[danasgoodstuff]

Yes. These were still early days for Bix, and most his greatest achievements were ahead of him. And the Wolverines were certainly a mixed bag. Like lots of jazz from the 1920s, listening to the Wolverine Orchestra requires sympathetic ears and a willingness to accept a certain amount of chaff along with the wheat.

How is this a 'yes' to what I said?  I know a bias towards modernism and progress has made people hear the Wolverines as less worthy than what came after...but I was trying to express my skepticism, both because '20s audiences may well have heard a different significance to what we now hear as quaint period artifacts, and because the further away we get the less important the shifts from the '20s to the '30s (and all the little steps inbetween) should be to us.  Yes they mattered to audiences and musicians then, but so did their functional utility as a dance band and I guess I'm trying to find a way to respect what the music did in its original context and find an enduring quality that transcends that too.  even fixating on Bix, I find nothing lacking in his playing here.

[jeffcrom]

It's a "yes" to how I misread the last part of statement. Oh, well.

[danasgoodstuff]

3 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

It's a "yes" to how I misread the last part of statement. Oh, well.

's OK, I was having a hard time conveying my particular shade of ambivalence....

[jeffcrom]

Your meaning was clear enough except when someone (that would be me) reads too quickly and carelessly.

You did put an idea in my head - I don't know why, in my 40 years of listening to Bix, I have never played, back to back, the Wolverines tunes he later remade with those later remakes. It's happening tonight.

[jazztrain]

I seem to remember hearing somewhere that OTR had been planning a complete New Orleans Rhythm Kings release. 

Off The Record is described as "a now-defunct production company" on the Archeophone Records website.  Guess we shouldn't expect any more OTR releases.  In addition to the King Oliver and Wolverines releases, they had a 2-cd issue of music from New Orleans entitled "Cabaret Echoes."  That one is out of print as well.

I remember the Milestone 2-fers as having really awful sound. 

 

[ghost of miles]

Retrieval did a pretty decent-sounding NORK set back in 2001, which appears to still be available:

New Orleans Rhythm Kings 1922-1925

...but I would have loved to have heard what Off The Record would have done with that material.  Too bad that they're apparently no longer in operation.

[jazztrain]

I've got the Retrieval set.  My recollection is that it used some old John R. T. Davies transfers (not necessarily a bad thing).  However, I was eager to have heard what OTR would have done based on their other efforts. 

[paul secor]

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 11:01 PM, jeffcrom said:

You're not wrong, but it's ironic, because Leibrook was about the only member of the Wolverines besides Bix and pianist Dick Voynow (and Bix's replacement, Jimmy McPartland, of course) to go on to any kind of real career in the music business. He later added string bass and bass sax to his arsenal and joined Paul Whiteman's band, where he was reunited with Beiderbecke. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a studio and theater musician until his died prematurely at age 40.

The fact that he died at age 40 in 1943 made me think that he might have died as a soldier in WW 2. Looked him up and he actually died from meningitis.

Edited September 10, 2016 by paul secor

[jeffcrom]

Since we're on the last day for this album, I'll reiterate something Paul alluded to. This CD, and most other issues of the Wolverines material, also contains the Sioux City Six and Bix and His Rhythm Jugglers sessions, recorded shortly after Bix left the Wolverines. The Rhythm Jugglers' "Davenport Blues" is considered to be prime Bix - it's his first recorded original composition, and his playing shows off his advanced harmonic ideas well.

[mikeweil]

On 7.9.2016 at 5:14 PM, jazztrain said:

I remember the Milestone 2-fers as having really awful sound. 

 

Same here - I always avoided them for that reason. No chance that Archeophone might re-release their issue?

[JSngry]

Did those Milestone things just replicate the old Riverside issues from the earliest bays of that label?

My "in stock" Amazon copy has yet to ship, but now y'all got me looking forward to when it does.