Jazz Focus

WETF Show - The Rampart Street Paraders . . great West Coast trad led and arranged by Matty Matlock, with Clyde Hurley, Abe Lincoln, Eddie Miller, Joe Rushton, Nick Fatool, George Van Eps and others . .1953-57!

State Street Ramblers .  .Barrelhouse Stomp.  An ad hoc group of Chicago jazz and blues musicians recording in 1931 and 1932.  Very  free swinging and hot records featuring Roy Palmer, Darnell Howard, Bob Hudson, Big Bill Broonzy, Bat Robinson, Ed Hudson, Jimmy Blythe, Buddy Burton, Jimmy Bertrand

Edgar Hayes and His Orchestra . .Manhattan Jam . .1938-39 big band recordings by a little known group featuring great tunes and arrangements by the leader as well as Joe Garland (who also plays tenor and bass sax) and players such as Clyde Bernhardt, Robert Horton, Crawford Wethington, Henry Goodwin, Leonard Davis, Rudy Powell and a very young Kenny Clarke on drums and vibes

Bix and His Gang . . all the recordings by Bix Beiderbecke with his gang and with Bix and His Rhythm Jugglers . . Don Murray, Bill Rank, Tommy Dorsey, Izzy Friedman, Lennie Hayton and others..the roots of the modern trad jazz repertoire

WETF Show  Lady Who Swings The Band . . Mary Lou Williams band sides in the 1940's featuring Ed Hall, Frankie Newton, Dick Wilson, Ben Thigpen, as well as compositions and arrangements by Mary Lou herself

Teddy Wilson and Edmund Hall . . superb chamber jazz recordings from the early to mid 1940's featuring both players in sextet and quartet settings for Commodore and various transcriptions. . with Joe Thomas, Emmett Berry, Sid Catlett

A Prince of a Fellow - recordings from 1926-45 featuring the underrated Prince Robinson on tenor sax and clarinet with Duke Ellington's early band, Clarence Williams, Benny Moten, Billie Holiday, McKinney's Cotton Pickers and others . .

The Other Smith (one of them, anyway) - Clara Smith in the 1920's.  Great Classic Blues with Lem Fowler, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson and many others  . . .not only blues, but hot dance, tent show standards, and pop of the 20's as well.

In The Middle - Transition recordings with Bebop and Swing musicians (1938-1945) . .featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell with Coleman Hawkins, Georgie Auld, Joe Marsala, Edgar Hayes, Rudy Powell, Henry Goodwin, Chuck Wayne, Cliff Jackson, Chu Berry, Benny Carter and Lionel Hampton

WETF Show - Clarence Williams Jugs and Washboards - 1930's.  Small Groups featuring Ed Allen, Eva Taylor, Cecil Scott, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Cyrus St. Clair and others.  Great small group swing in the Depression, leading to the Swing Era.