Jazz Focus

After several years with Benny Goodman in the 1930's, Vido Musso later went with Gene Krupa, Harry James and Stan Kenton and began his own bandleading career.  These sessions come from Savoy in 1946 (with Sanford Gold, Marty Napoleon, Kai Winding, Gene Roland, Boots Mussulli, Lem Davis and Eddie Safranski), Sunset (with Willie Smith, Andre Previn and Howard McGhee), Atlantic (Jess Stacy, Murray McEachern, Ziggy Elman) and Modern - his own band with Kenton alumni!

Called The Thesaurus Rhythm Makers (as were all the dance bands recording for that company), this group is unmistakably Shaw's, doing tunes they recorded commercially for Brunswick and some they never did again - all featuring either Max Kaminsky or John Best on trumpet, George Arus on trombone, Tony Pastor on tenor sax and vocals, Les Burness on piano and Cliff Leeman on drums!

Great singer -the best Ellington ever had - heard here fronting her own group (mostly Ellington's band), the Gotham Stompers (a combination of Ellington's and Chick Webb's bands) and two all stars sessions for Black and White on the West Coast.  Featuring Johnny Hodges, Willie Smith, Harry Carney, Cootie Williams, Karl George, Lucky Thompson, Irving Ashby, Charles Mingus, Chick Webb, Joe Nanton, Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard, Buddy Collette and others!

Early followers of the first jazz band - Earl Fuller's band with Ted Lewis and the Louisiana Five with New Orleans natives Alcide "Yellow" Nunez and Anton Lada along with Charlie Panelli.  Very vigorous and hot jazz of the pre 1920's!

Great band in the style of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band led by clarinetist Claude Luter . . before he became a Bechet fanatic he was a Johnny Dodds stylist and his band brings out the early New Orleans sounds very well in a program of mostly standard tunes but with a few originals thrown in . .Christian Azzi, Pierre Merlin, Moustache Galipedes .. .

The Washingtonians, as they played at the Kentucky Club in New York . . featuring Bubber Miley, Harry Cooper, Leroy Rutledge, Charlie Irvis, Joe Nanton, Otto Hardwick, Prince Robinson, Don Redman, Jimmy Harrison, Fred Guy, Bass Edwards, Mack Shaw and Sonny Greer . .all pre-Cotton Club!

Live dates over two stays at the Crescendo Club by Ella Fitzgerald, one with Lou Levy, Herb Elllis, Wilfred Middlebrooks and Gus Johnson and the other with Paul Smith, Middlebrooks and Stan Levey . . great unfettered singing - some highly arranged, some spontaneous and great audience interaction! 

Sun Ra (born Herman Blount) was a talented pianist and composer who played and arranged for one of Fletcher Henderson's last bands.  He began collecting a company of musicians around him in the 1950's including tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, baritone saxist Pat Patrick, altoist Marshall Allan and others.  They created a music that began as hard bop, moved through soul and then became something quite extraordinary!  Here are examples (issued as singles on Ra's label Saturn) from all those periods

Albert Nicholas was the only New Orleans musician here - a great clarinetist who had played with King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Luis Russell, he had relocated to Europe by the middle 1950's and here is presented with a band of French players recording for Vogue and Club Francais.  Great trio sides (with Claude Bolling and Kansas Fields) and two bands including trumpeter Guy Lognon and trombonist Benny Vasseur.

Leo Watson was a drummer, trombone and tipple player, although he was best known as a scat singer . . .here are his records with Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa, Vic Dickenson, Jack Teagarden and the John Kirby Sextet - well worth listening to!  The Robin Williams of the scat singing world  . . .