Pagin' The Devil

It's been another hectic month, what with all the holidays here and there, some travel, work, etc., but I hope to be more active here in the next few months. As it's a rather gray and questionable day out there, and I face the prospect of commuting at least an hour or more through an inevitable oncoming storm, I figured something with some bounce is in order. One of the best to bounce was Lester Young. From Allmusic,com, "This is the first leg of the Lester Young story, covering his exciting years as Count Basie's star tenor saxophonist and master of the metal clarinet. Opening with Young's very first appearances on record in 1936, the compilation boasts several vivid selections by the Count Basie Orchestra, examples of the gentle, relaxed intimacy of Billie Holiday and Pres with Teddy Wilson's band, and several outstanding instrumental small-group jams either led by or simply graced with the presence of Lester Young. These include the famous Kansas City Five and Six on the Commodore label, the Benny Goodman Sextet ("without Goodman" but with Charlie Christian), and various masterworks originally issued on both the Savoy and Keynote labels. There's no real adherence to a strict chronology -- the producers of this compilation were obviously aiming for playback textural ambience rather than concise sequential context. After wading into the cream of Young's work from the early '40s, the focus abruptly lurches back to the late '30s with vintage stomps and swing by Basie's orchestra and the Kansas City Six. Here, then, is a good introduction to Lester Young as he sounded in his prime. The only glaring fault occurs in the enclosed discography; the drummer on "Sometimes I'm Happy" and "Afternoon of a Basie-ite," recorded for Harry Lim's Keynote label in December of 1943, was Sidney Cattlet, not Jo Jones." Scan of the discography is at the bottom of the post. Enjoy! +

Tracks

01. Shoe Shine Boy
02. Lady Be Good
03. Roseland Shuffle
04. Swinging The Blues
05. Taxi War Dance
06. This Year's Kisses
07. I'll Never Be The Same
08. I've Found A New Baby
09. Lester Leaps In
10. Ad Lib Blues
11. Sometimes I'm Happy
12. Afternoon Of A Basie-Ite
13. Lester Leaps Again
14. I Got Rhythm
15. Four O'Clock Drag
16. Jo-Jo
17. I Don't Stand The Ghost Of A Chance With You
18. Blue Lester
19. Jump, Lester, Jump
20. Texas Shuffle
21. I Ain't Got Nobody (And There's Nobody Cares For Me)
22. I Want A Little Girl
23. Pagin' The Devil
24. Twelfth Street Rag

Scatter-Brain

This seems like a good follow-up to the last radio-based post. I can only imagine how cool it must have been to be able to hear weekly live broadcasts of one's favorite band. Let the radio warm up, find the station, and it's almost like being there. Nobody does that these days, alas. Fortunately for us, many radio band remotes survive to this day and we can hear the real thing still. Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, the Dorseys, and many more ... so much great music. Although their 78 rpm recordings are essentially live recordings (no dubs, remixes, edits, etc.), it's different playing in front of a crowd of fans with expectations and reactions. These recordings give us the chance to see just how good the musicianship was, and Benny Goodman ran one of the tightest groups. Goodman went to Hollywood in 1936 to take advantage of a huge West Coast fan base that developed through East Coast broadcasts (9:30 pm) of Let's Dance. He joined CBS' Camel Caravan in 1936, with recordings existing from 1937 until late 1939 (this collection), as well as a couple more featuring Bob Crosby and his Orchestra into 1940. The show switched networks to NBC in March, 1939. Enjoy. +


Tracks

Benny Goodman and His Orchestra: Ted Pearson (announcer), Benny Goodman (cl),  Jimmy Maxwell, Johnny Martel, Ziggy Elman (trumpet), Red Ballard, Vernon Brown, Ted Vesely (tbn), Toots Mondello, Buff Estes (as), Buss Bassey, Jerry Jerome (ts), Fletcher Henderson (pn), Arnold Covey (g), Art Bernstein (bs), Nicky Fatool (d), Mildred Bailey (v).


Benny Goodman Sextet: Benny Goodman (cl), Lionel Hampton (vib), Fletcher Henderson (pn), Charlie Christian (g), Art Bernstein (bs), Nicky Fatook (d).

The Camel Caravan. November 4, 1939, NBC.

1. Introduction
2. Down By The Old Mill Stream
3. What's New
4. I Didn't Know What Time It Was (vocal, Mildred Bailey)
5. Bolero
6. Shivers (sextet)
7. Love Never Went To College
8. Scatter-Brain (vocal, Mildred Bailey)
9. Roll 'Em
10. Closing


The Camel Caravan. November 18, 1939, NBC.

11. Introduction
12. Scatter-Brain
13. Lilacs In The Rain (vocal, Mildred Bailey)
14. In The Mood
15. South Of The Border (sextet)
16. Swingin' A Dream (vocal, Mildred Bailey)
17. Boy Meets Horn (featuring, Ziggy Elman)
18. Oh Johnny Oh! (vocal, Mildred Bailey)
19. Sing, Sing, Sing (featuring, Lionel Hampton, drums)
20. Closing