Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

Continuing with the Classics motif ...  "This is the first volume in the Classics label's chronological profile of vocalist Mildred Bailey. It documents the beginning of her recording career with 24 titles she waxed for the Parlophone, Okeh, Brunswick and Victor labels between October 5, 1929 and August 11, 1932. ... In 1913, the family moved to Spokane, where Mildred and her brothers befriended a boy named Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby. By the age of 17, Mildred was living with relatives in Seattle and working as a singer demonstrating songs in a sheet music store. She entered showbiz using the surname of her first husband, Ted Bailey. After developing her skills by singing in speakeasies and over the radio in the Northwest, Mildred Bailey married a bootlegger named Benny Stafford and moved to Los Angeles where she began attracting a lot of attention by singing in nightclubs on the Sunset Strip. (Legend has it she also operated her own highly acclaimed illicit microbrewery.) In 1925, Crosby and Al Rinker dropped out of college, hopped in a Model T and drove from Spokane to Hollywood where Mildred showed them around and hooked them up with her best showbiz contacts. By October 1926 Crosby and Rinker were working for society bandleader Paul Whiteman. Teamed with Harry Barris in a trio nationally recognized as The Rhythm Boys, they eventually expressed their gratitude by introducing Mildred Bailey to Whiteman in 1929. Whiteman hired her at once; her voice was soon heard on national radio broadcasts and by 1930 she was his highest-paid performer. (The ethical nadir of her discography occurred on November 30, 1931 when Whiteman had her sing "That's Why Darkies Were Born.") Apart from four attractive sides cut with the Casa Loma Orchestra in September 1931, most of the recordings making up this segment of Mildred Bailey's chronology involve either the Paul Whiteman Orchestra or smaller ensembles largely composed of musicians who were affiliated with the self-styled "King of Jazz." Mildred's first two session bands were led by guitarist Eddie Lang and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer, with cornet passages by Andy Secrest that were carefully patterned after the style of Bix Beiderbecke, who had made his last recording with the Whiteman orchestra only weeks earlier on September 13, 1929. Beiderbecke's combined absence and presence are eerily evident. It's obvious why Mildred Bailey caught on so quickly as a vocalist; all of her best traits -- sweetness, charm, passion and poise -- were evident from the very beginning. Tougher than Annette Hanshaw and gutsier than Ruth Etting, sometimes Mildred let loose like a sassy American girl; on "I Like to Do Things for You" she even sounds like Helen Kane. At her best, Mildred Bailey was a gifted interpreter of ballads and topical amusements; her superb abilities as a jazz and pop vocalist are well represented by this first volume of her complete recorded works." (Allmusic.com) Enjoy! +

Tracks

01. What Kind o' Man is You
02. I Like to Do Things For You
03. Blues In My Heart
04. You Call It Madness
05. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
06. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (and Dream Your Troubles Away)
07. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
08. Can't You See
09. My Goodbye to You
10. Too Late
11. Georgia on My Mind
12. Concentratin' on You
13. Home
14. Lies
15. That's Why Darkies Were Born
16. 'Leven Pounds of Heaven
17. I'm Sorry, Dear
18. All of Me
19. Dear Old Mother Dixie
20. Hot Cha Medley
21. Stop the Sun, Stop the Moon
22. Strangers
23. I'll Never be the Same
24. We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye

Feelin' No Pain

Another must-have for fans of this era. "For a period in the 1920s, Miff Mole was (prior to the emergence of Jack Teagarden) the most advanced trombonist in jazz. He had gained a strong reputation playing with the Original Memphis Five (starting in 1922) and his many recordings with Red Nichols during 1926-1927 found him taking unusual interval jumps with staccato phrasing that perfectly fit Nichols' style. However, in 1927, he started working as a studio musician and Mole concentrated less on jazz during the next couple of decades. He played with Paul Whiteman during 1938-1940 and was with Benny Goodman in 1943. By the time he returned to small-group jazz in the mid-'40s (working with Eddie Condon and leading a band at Nick's), Mole sounded like a disciple of Teagarden and his style was no longer unique, although his record of "Peg of My Heart" was popular. Miff Mole's health was erratic by the 1950s and he was largely forgotten by the greater jazz world by the time he died in 1961.

The recordings made in the year 1927 by trombonist Irving Milfred "Miff" Mole are precious and rewarding. Whenever Miff recorded for the Okeh label he called his band Miff Mole's Molers. When moonlighting with Harmony Records, the ensemble was billed as the Arkansas Travelers (no relation to the joke-riddled fiddling tune made famous by Earl Johnson's Clodhoppers). It was Miff's Molers who made the most strikingly handsome records. Arthur Schutt, remembered by Eddie Condon as the pianist who nearly always wore a carnation in his lapel, handled the instrument with gentlemanly candor. Vic Berton's approach to drumming was inventive and full of little surprises. These two men appear on five of the nine sessions included on this CD. Their mutually precise conduct provided the Molers with immaculate support. Red Nichols made his best records in the company of Mole. Jimmy Dorsey also distinguished himself on several of these sessions, as did guitarists Dick McDonough and Eddie Lang. There are few recordings in all of traditional jazz so sublime as the Molers' subtle, meditative "Some Sweet Day." Their beautiful rendition of Bix Beiderbecke's "Davenport Blues" is a masterpiece. Joe Tarto, remembered today as the "Titan of the Tuba," delivers fine solos on "Darktown Strutter's Ball" and "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," which unfortunately begins with a spoken introduction that is nothing more than a dopey imitation of blackface vaudeville. Brian Rust's discography reveals that some 78 rpm issues of this selection deliberately edited out the stupid patter, beginning instead with the gentle cymbal crash that leads so smoothly into the slow, elegant strut of the opening theme. The gutsiest jamming occurred on the session of August 30 1927, as Adrian Rollini drove everyone forward with great blasts on the bass saxophone. Also included in the front line were clarinetist Pee Wee Russell and reedman Fud Livingston, who contributed two of his own compositions. "Feelin' No Pain" is the smoker, bursting with explosive rhythms. Included in the chronology are four vocal tracks by a living historical edifice named Sophie Tucker, who sounds most natural during "I Ain't Got Nobody." As for the Arkansas Travelers, they seemed to always include alto saxophonist Fred Morrow among a small Molers contingent. Certainly the toughest tune they tackled was Duke Ellington's "Birmingham Breakdown," and everything they touched turned into first-rate hot jazz. Without question these are the best recordings left to us by the great Miff Mole." (Allmusic.com) Enjoy! +

Tracks

01. Washboard Blues
02. That's No Bargain
03. Boneyard Shuffle
04. Alexander's Ragtime Band
05. Some Sweet Day
06. Hurricane
07. Davenport Blues
08. The Darktown Strutter's Ball
09. A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
10. After You've Gone
11. I Ain't Got Nobody
12. One Sweet Letter From You
13. Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong
14. Ja Da
15. Sensation
16. Stompin' Fool
17. Imagination
18. Feelin' No Pain
19. Original Dixieland One-Step
20. My Gal Sal
21. Honolulu Blues
22. The New Twister
23. Birmingham Breakdown
24. Red Head Blues
25. I Ain't Got Nobody

Rockin' With The Rockets

Here's one that I found recently. Normally I draw from my own collection of cds, but I know I'm not the only person who collects the Classics Chrono[lo]gical series and this is too good to leave in obscurity. I'm currently listening to the band for the second time around, and the four recording sessions Harlan Leonard made in 1940 are as solid and respectable as any music put out by other bands of the era. Even Myra Taylor sounds a bit like Ella Fitzgerald. From Wiki, "a professional musician from the age of 17, he joined Benny Moten's orchestra in 1923, where he led the reed section until 1931. In 1931 he and Thamon Hayes formed the Kansas City Skyrockets, which included trumpeter Ed Lewis, trombonist Vic Dickenson, and pianist Jesse Stone. After disputes with the Chicago local of the American Federation of Musicians the band broke up. Leonard then formed a new band, Harlan Leonard and his Rockets which featured a young Myra Taylor. Charlie Parker played in this band for five weeks, but was fired by Leonard for lack of discipline. The band's music is considered transitional between swing and bop. The band broke up during the Second World War, and Leonard left professional music."  "One of the top Kansas City bandleaders of the late 1930s and early '40s, Harlan Leonard was fortunate enough to lead four recording sessions in 1940 that resulted in 24 selections and really showed off the strengths of his band. Leonard started playing professional with George E. Lee's group in 1923, and a few months later, he became lead altoist with Bennie Moten. He was with Moten for eight years (up until 1931) and then during 1931-1934, the altoist was with the Kansas City Sky Rockets which was led by trombonist Thamon Hayes. When Hayes departed in 1934, Leonard became its leader. Three years later, the group broke up and he soon formed a new big band, Harlan Leonard's Rockets. The band was most notable for the arrangements of Tadd Dameron (in his prebop days), Eddie Durham, and Buster Smith, and the solos of tenorman Henry Bridges and trombonist Fred Beckett (an early inspiration for J.J. Johnson). Although they appeared in New York during part of 1940, the Rockets were based in Kansas City and mostly played in the Midwest until 1943 when Leonard relocated to Los Angeles and put together a completely different orchestra. After that group broke up in 1945, Harlan Leonard permanently left music to work for the Internal Revenue Service."(Allmusic.com) Scans are included. Enjoy! +

Tracks

01. Rockin' With The Rockets
02. Hairy Joe Jump (Southern Fried)
03. Contact
04. Snaky Feeling
05. My Gal Sal (They Called Her Frivolous Sal)
06. Skee
07. I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire
08. Ride My Blues Away
09. I'm In A Weary Mood
10. Parade Of The Stompers
11. Rock And Ride
12. 400 Swing
13. My Dream
14. My Pop Gave Me A Nickel
15. Please Don't Squabble
16. A La Bridges
17. Dameron Stomp
18. Society Steps Out (Rachmaninoff Jumps)
19. Mistreated
20. Too Much
21. Keep Rockin'
22. Take 'Um

Tappin' The Commodor Till

Good things come to those who wait. After taking a brief detour, here is volume three from the Eddie Condon box set. Recorded between January 17, 1938 and April 24, 1940, it starts off with Buddy Hackett & Pee Wee Russell sharing the melody of Embraceable You. One almost expects the band to bust loose, but they hold their energy for the next couple of tracks before mellowing out again with the mournful What's The Use (listen for the solitary vocal shout out during the piano bit). Generally, this is a solid set of popular tunes with the perhaps the weakest being the lone vocal track Let There Be Love sung by Doris Rhodes (who?). Regardless, the combination of Bud Freeman, Pee Wee Russell, Jack Teagarden with Eddie Condon keeping rhythm could never rightfully be called boring. These guys know how to make the joint jump. The last four tracks are a jam session at the Commodore which includes Jess Stacy on the piano. Full track information is in the scans.

Enjoy. +

Tracks

01. Embraceable You
02. Tappin' The Commodore Till
03. Life Spears A Jitterbug
04. What's The Use
05. I've Found A New Baby
06. Easy To Get
07. China Boy
08. As Long As I Live
09. The Sail Fish
10. Sunday
11. Satanic Blues
12. Oh! Baby
13. I Need Some Pettin'
14. Susie
15. Big Boy
16. Let There Be Love
17. Sensation
18. Fidgety Feet
19. Tijuana
20. Copenhagen
21. Prince Of Wails
22. A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Part 1
23. A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Part 2
24. A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Part 3
25. A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Part 4