Jazz Focus

WETF Jazz Focus show... Red's Jump . . .Swing/Bop/R&B sides by Red Allen with his terrific little band in 1944-47, featuring J.C. Higginbotham and Don Stovall

Pete's Housewarming Blues . . the great boogie woogie pianist Pete Johnson recording for Savoy in 1944 and Decca in 1939 . . featuring Hot Lips Page, J.C. Higginbotham, Clyde Bernhardt, Albert Nicholas, Eddie Barefield, Don Stovall, Don Byas, Ben Webster, Budd Johnson, J.C. Heard, Jimmy Shirley, Al Hall, Abe Bolar, A.G. Godley and others

Daughters of the Stride II . . (see my podcast for the first installment) - sides made by Lil Hardin Armstrong (with Jonah Jones, Reunald Jones, J.C. Higginbotham, Buster Bailey and Don Stovall) and Ramona Davies (with Bunny Berigan, Charlie Teagarden, Jack Teagarden, Benny Bonacio and Dick McDonough)

Eccentric . . the hot little band led by Max Kaminsky that played at the Pied Piper in Greenwich Village in the spring and fall of 1944.  Featuring Rod Cless, Frank Orchard, James P. Johnson, Willie The Lion Smith and a cameo by George Zack.

Thelonious . . Monk's first band recordings on Blue Note 1947-52 . . Kenny Dorham, Idrees Suliemann, Sahib Shihab, Lou Donaldson, Lucky Thompson, Art Blakey and Max Roach

Feeling a Draft - Roy Eldridge and Oscar Peterson  . . Eldridge featured in 1953 and 54 for Norman Granz backed by the Peterson quartet (Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and either Alvin Stoller or Buddy Rich) . .great playing by the trumpeter- some more reflective and introspective than expected.

WETF show ..The Trumpeter's Prayer . . King Oliver and His Orchestra on Victor, 1929-30 featuring Louis Metcalf, Punch Miller, Red Allen, Ward Pinkett, Jimmy Archey, Charlie Holmes, Hilton Jefferson, Glyn Pacque, Charles Frazier, James P. Johnson, Don Frye, Manzie Johnson and Roy Smeck

Christopher Columbus - The Fletcher Henderson band at the Grand Terrace in Chicago, 1936-38.  Studio recordings for Victor and Vocalion as well as a live broadcast . . Roy Eldridge, Emmett Berry, Fernando Arbello, Al Wynn, Buster Bailey, Hilton Jefferson, Eddie Barefield, Chu Berry, Franz Jackson, Horace Henderson, John Kirby, Sid Catlett and Pete Suggs

WETF Show - Pardon Me, Pretty Baby . . .recordings made by Coleman Hawkins in Europe (Paris and Holland) in 1937-8 . . featuring Freddy Johnson, Benny Carter, Andre Ekyan, Alix Combelle, George Chisholm, Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and Tommy Benford

WETF Show- Barrelhouse Piano - Three great Chicago blues and barrelhouse pianists - George Zack (with Danny Alvin), Tut Soper (with Baby Dodds) and Art Hodes (solo) from 1942-44.