House Rent Rag

Just in the nick of time! It's been a busy month, fortunately, but watching the Ken Burns documentary on Prohibition reminded me to get something posted. This should fit the bill well. "One of the all-time great clarinetists and arguably the most significant of the 1920s, Johnny Dodds (whose younger brother Baby Dodds was among the first important drummers) had a memorable tone in both the lower and upper registers, was a superb blues player, and held his own with Louis Armstrong (no mean feat) on his classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. He did not start on clarinet until he was 17 but caught on fast, being mostly self-taught. Dodds was with Kid Ory's band during most of 1912-1919, played on riverboats with Fate Marable in 1917, and joined King Oliver in Chicago in 1921. During the next decade, he recorded with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and on his own heated sessions, often utilizing trumpeter Natty Dominique. He worked regularly at Kelly's Stables during 1924-1930. Although Dodds continued playing in Chicago during the 1930s, part of the time was spent running a cab company. The clarinetist led recording sessions in 1938 and 1940, but died just before the New Orleans revival movement began." (Allmusic.com) Enjoy! +

Tracks

01. Bohunkus Blues
02. Buddy Burtons Jazz
03. Perdido Street Blues
04. Gate Mouth
05. Too Tight
06. Papa Dip
07. Mixed Salad
08. I Can't Say
09. Flat Foot
10. Mad Dog
11. Messin' Around
12. Adams Apple
13. East Coast Trot
14. Chicago Buzz
15. Idle Hour Special
16. 47th Street Stomp
17. Stock Yards Strut
18. Salty Dog
19. Ape Man
20. Your Folks
21. House Rent Rag
22. Memphis Shake
23. Carpet Alley - Breakdown
24. Hen Party Blues

I'm Goin' Huntin'

It's time to get back to some real good Prohibition-era music to kick of the year, and one of the best is Johnny Dodds. Dodds and his younger brother, drummer Baby Dodds are well known. However, pianist Jimmy Blythe is usually overlooked despite performing on a lot of recordings during the twenties. The sides presented here include some alternative takes, and Louis Armstrong makes a cornet appearance on four tracks. Full info is in the scans. "Johnny Dodds was one of the greatest clarinetist of the 1920's. Although both Jimmie Noone and Sidney Bechet had better technique, Dodds had a very soulful, bluesy style of playing that was often emotionally powerful. He was a master of the New Orleans' ensemble style of collective improvisation. He didn't have the flash of Louis Armstrong, but often provided the perfect environment for Armstrong to shine. He worked with most of the major Hot Jazz bands of the era. Dodds was in Kid Ory's band in New Orleans from 1912 to 1919. He played on riverboats with Fate Marable in 1917 and moved to Chicago in 1921 to play with King Oliver. Johnny and his brother Baby Dodds were an important part of Louis Armstrong's classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings for Okeh. During the 1920's he also recorded with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Jelly Roll Morton and on most of Lil Hardin-Armstrong's sessions. Unlike many of his famous contemporaries, Dodds and his brother stayed in Chicago and were pretty much forgotten as Jazz moved East to New York in the Thirties. He recorded several records under his own name in the Twenties, often with Natty Dominique on trumpet, and worked regularly at Kelly's Stables from 1924 to 1930. Dodds continued to play and record in Chicago throughout the Thirties, and also ran a cab company with his brothers." (redhotjazz.com). Enjoy! +

Tracks

01 - Little Bits
02 - Struggling
03 - Struggling
04 - Easy Come Easy Go Blues
05 - The Blues Stampede
06 - I'm Goin' Huntin'
07 - If You Want To Be My Sugar Papa
08 - Bohunkus Blues
09 - Idle Hour Special
10 - 47th Street Stomp
11 - 47th Street Stomp
12 - Buddy Burton's Jazz
13 - Messin' Around - Take 1
14 - Messin' Around - Take 2
15 - Adams Apple
16 - Ape Man
17 - Your Folks
18 - Weary Way Blues
19 - Poutin' Papa
20 - Hot Stuff
21 - Have Mercy!
22 - My Baby
23 - Oriental Man

Chicago Mess Around

I believe I picked up this one solely because it was produced by Classics. Ah, the power of packaging and marketing! From Allmusic.com, "One of the first important female bandleaders in jazz, Lovie Austin deserves to be much better known. After studying music in college, she toured on the vaudeville circuit, settling in Chicago in 1923. During 1924-1926, she recorded frequently with her Blues Serenaders, a group that at various times had Tommy Ladnier, Bob Shoffner, Natty Dominique, or Shirley Clay on cornet; Kid Ory or Albert Wynn on trombone; and Jimmy O'Bryant or Johnny Dodds on clarinet, along with banjo and occasional drums. Fortunately, a Classics CD has collected all of those recordings. Austin (as house pianist for Paramount) also backed many blues singers (including Ida Cox, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter). But after 1926, her recording activity largely came to a halt. Austin worked for 20 years as the musical director for the Monogram Theatre and later on as a pianist at a dancing school, only returning to record in 1961 as part of Riverside's Living Legends series. Although mostly an ensemble pianist, Lovie Austin was a skilled arranger." Enjoy. +

Tracks

1. Jelly Roll Blues
2. Skeeg-A-Lee Blues
3. I'm Three Times Seven
4. Steppin' on the Blues
5. Traveling Blues
6. Charleston Mad
7. Charleston (South Carolina)
8. Heebie Jeebies
9. Peepin' Blues
10. Mojo Blues
11. Don't Shake It No More
12. Rampart Street Blues
13. Too Sweet for Words
14. Jackass Blues
15. Frog Tongue Stomp
16. Who's Gonna Do Your Loving (When Your Good Man's Gone Away)?
17. Nobody Else Will Do
18. Sunday Morning Blues
19. You Don't Mean Me No Good
20. Out Bound Train Blues
21. Walk Easy 'Cause My Papa's Here
22. Chicago Mess Around
23. Gallon Stomp
24. In the Alley Blues
25. Merry Maker's Twine

Wild Man Blues

What can be said about Louis Armstrong that hasn't been said before? Seriously. The man could blow a horn.

(from Amazon) Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens existed only as recording bands, with the members working regularly in other groups, but they created music that will endure as long as people listen to jazz. The sessions on volume 2 of the Columbia series come from 1926 and 1927, with the first eight tracks continuing the work of the Hot Five and the final eight showing the beginnings of the expanded Hot Seven. The varied sessions demonstrate Armstrong's broadening confidence and musical invention, ranging from the clarion trumpet of "Wild Man Blues" to the bawdy vocal on "Big Butter and Egg Man." Raucous but well arranged, this is cornerstone ensemble music with enormous energy and bright, spirited blasts. --Stuart Broomer

+ (256) ..... Tell 'em Volstead sent you.

Tracks

1. Lonesome Blues
2. Sweet Little Papa
3. Jazz Lips
4. Skid-Dat-De-Dat
5. Big Butter And Egg Man
6. Sunset Cafe Stomp
7. You Made Me Love You
8. Irish Black Bottom
9. Willie The Weeper
10. Wild Man Blues
11. Alligator Crawl
12. Potato Head Blues
13. Melancholy
14. Weary Blues
15. Twelfth Street Rag
16. Keyhole Blues