The Joint Is Jumping

This is a rather pedestrian collection of swing tunes, with the exception being that it does jump. Although suffering from commonitis (e.g., Woodchopper's Ball, In The Mood) it is saved by Stuff Smith, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans and Lucky Millinder. And though Drum Boogie shows up in several collections, I never get tired of hearing it. Cab Calloway shows that he, too, succumbed to the vocal chorus fever (reminding me of Tommy Dorsey's sides with the Pipers et al), but then there's Count Basie with a good one, as well as Harlan Leonard and His Rockets. Imo, the weakest tunes are Cleo Brown and Slim & Slam (I don't see how they are swing tunes), but that's just my two cents. All in all, a good listen. Enjoy. +

Tracks

1. Stompin' At The Savoy - Chick Webb and His Orchestra (1934)
2. Walking And Singing - Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy (1936)
3. Breakin' In A New Pair Of Shoes - Cleo Brown (1935)
4. Don't Be That Way - Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (1938)
5. T'ain't What You Do (It's The Way You Do It) Jimmy Lunceford and His Orchestra (1939)
6. The Joint Is Jumping - Fats Waller and His Rhythm (1937)
7. In The Mood - Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (1939)
8. At The Woodchopper's Ball - Woody Herman and His Orchestra (1939)
9. The Flat Foot Floogie - Slim and Slam (1938)
10. Tuxedo Junction - Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra (1939)
11. Back Bay Shuffle - Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (1938)
12. After You've Gone - Stuff Smith and His Onyx Club Boys (1936)
13. Hairy Joe Jump - Harlan Leonard and His Rockets (1940)
14. Jumpin' At The Woodside - Count Basie and His Orchestra (1938)
15. Woo Woo - Harry James and The Boogie Woogie Trio (1938)
16. Drum Boogie - Gene Krupa and His Orchestra (1941)
17. Oh Boy, I'm In The Groove - Horace Henderson and His Orchestra (1940)
18. Just You, Just Me - Lester Young Quartet (1943)
19. Wham (Re-Bop-Boom-Bam) - Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra (1939)
20. Flying Home - Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra (1942)
21. Second Balcony Jump - Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans (1941)
22. Little John Special - Lucky Millinder and His orchestra (1942)
23. I Want To Rock - Cab Calloway and His Orchestra (1942)
24. Walk 'Em - Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra (1946)

Life Goes To A Party

This is one of those collections that inspired me to seek out more of the same music. It's tough to cram an entire decade of popular music into 20 songs, but I think this Volume 1 set shows a terrific effort (unlike Volume 2). One of my next acquisitions was the Art Deco set of Fred Astaire, Dorsey's Clambake Seven, as well as some Larry Clinton. Are there many songs that match Bea Wain's energy on Martha, or Edythe Wright on Tommy Dorsey's The Music Goes 'Round And Round? ... From Allmusic.com, "The 1930s were a tumultuous decade, and the record business almost went under after the stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression that gripped the nation. But in adverse times America still wanted to be entertained, and Victor provided much of the soundscape for that decade. This first of two volumes features escapist fare like Bing Crosby's "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," Leo Reisman's optimistic "Happy Days Are Here Again," Fred Astaire's "We're in the Money," Cole Porter's "You're the Top," Tommy Dorsey's "The Music Goes 'Round and Around," and Kate Smith's patriotic flag-waver "God Bless America." But it was also the beginning of jazz taking the nation by storm, with tracks like Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose," Benny Goodman's "Life Goes to a Party," Meade "Lux" Lewis' "Honky Tonk Train Blues," Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade," and Bunny Berigan's "I Can't Get Started with You" counted in the mix. And great torch songs like Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" and Mae West's (with Duke Ellington) "My Old Flame," along with infectious novelties like Wayne King's "Josephine" and Maurice Chevalier's "Mimi," help to give the big picture of the decade in this marvelous collection. Transfers are still a bit grainy, as these recordings were still a good decade and a half away from the invention of magnetic tape, but nothing sounds like a battered 78 on here either." I would suggest that sometimes a battered 78 can still sound good. Scans of the covers included. Enjoy. +

Tracks

1. Happy Days Are Here Again
2. Cooking Breakfast For The One I Love
3. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
4. Mimi
5. Stardust
6. We're In The Money
7. Jitter Bug
8. My Old Flame
9. You're The Top
10. The Music Goes 'Round And 'Round
11. Honky Tonk Train Blues
12. Josephine
13. Honeysuckle Rose
14. I Can't Get Started
15. Life Goes To A Party
16. The Donkey Serenade
17. Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
18. Martha
19. Moonlight Serenade
20. God Bless America

We Called It Music

It's been a busy time of late, so apologies for not getting this out sooner. Here we have the fourth and final volume of this Eddie Condon collection. This volume covers January 21, 1942 through August 1949, and includes more of the fantastic lineup: Max Kaminsky, Pee Wee Russell, Joe Bushkin, George Wettling, Zutty Singleton, Benny Morton, Hot Lips Page, Miff Mole (tracks 8 & 13), Billie Holiday, Bobby Hackett, as well as Jack Teagarden, Louis Armstrong and James P. Johnson. If this isn't all-star, then the term is meaningless. On top of that, there is one of the sexiest voices ever, Lee Wiley. Tracks that stand out for me are Cherry, Peg O' My Heart, Ballin' The Jack, and Georgia Cake Walk. But feel free to choose your own. Enjoy. +

Tracks

01. Don't Leave Me Daddy
02. Georgia Cake Walk
03. Liberty Inn Drag
04. Indiana
05. Get Happy
06. Oh, Katharina
07. Uncle Sam's Blues
08. How Come You Do Me Like You Do
09. Clarinet Marmalade
10. Joe's Blues
11. Village Blues
12. Tiger Rag
13. Peg O' My Heart
14. Cherry
15. Ballin' The Jack
16. Jada
17. When Your Lover Has Gone
18. Wherever There's Love
19. Improvisation For March Of Time
20. Just You, Just Me
21. Atlanta Blues
22. Keeps On A-Rainin'
23. We Called It Music

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