Jazz Focus

Ella Fitzgerald and Her Savoy Eight . . small group from the Chick Webb band led on recordings for Decca 1935-9 by Ella.  Featuring Taft Jordan, Sandy Williams, Pete Clark, Hilton Jefferson, Louis Jordan, Teddy McRae, Tommy Fulford and Chick along with some first rate songs

Milton's Boogie . .Roy Milton and His Solid Senders.  This combination Swing/Boogie/R&B group from the late 1940's features great piano by Camille Howard along with vocals by Howard and Milton.  Also some great solos by Benny Waters, Jackie Kelso, Hosea Sapp, Earl Sims, Buddy Floyd, William Gaither and Arthur Walker . .dance your heart out!

Honoris Causa - For the sake of Marty Grosz . . 1957-61 recordings done in Chicago (some from the "Hooray for Bix" album) . .featuring Frank Chace, Bob Skiver, Bob Mitchell, John Dengler, Tut Soper, Carl Halen, Art Gronwall, Bob Saltmarsh and, on the first four tunes, a brief return of Jabbo Smith, who hadn't recorded in twenty five years!

Johnny Hodges - the sideman in the 1940's.  Recordings featuring Hodges done for Keynote, Signature and HRS . .The Billy Taylor Big Eight, Sandy Williams Big Eight, Eddie Heywood Trio (with Shelley Manne) . . also featuring Harry Carney, Ted Nash, Rex Stewart, Joe Thomas, Emmett Berry, Lawrence Brown, Vernon Brown, Johnny Guarnieri, Cozy Cole . .great late period Swing

In Harlem's Araby - 1920's recordings by lesser known black bands active in the smaller clubs in New York (the Nest, Small's, the first Savoy, etc.)  Bands led by Elmer Snowden, Chick Webb, Willie The Lion Smith, and James P. Johnson including great performances by Louis Metcalf, Edwin Swayzee, Robert Horton, TeRoy Williams, Jimmy Harrison, Sidney Bechet, Buster Bailey, Luis Russell, Happy Caldwell, Bob Fuller, Hilton Jefferson, Charlie Holmes, Clarence Grimes, Cliff Jackson, Joe Turner, Perry Bradford and Walter Johnson among others

The Mills Brothers in the 1930's - Four Boys and A Guitar in 1932-37 by themselves and with Duke Ellington, Don Redman, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald

Have It Ready - Fletcher Henderson's Dixie Stompers recordings.  Done from 1925-1928, these were a parallel recording band to the full Henderson group . .featuring a smaller band using mostly stock arrangements but with great jazz . . Joe Smith, Tommy Ladnier, Rex Stewart,Bobby Stark, Charlie Green, Jimmy Harrison, Buster Bailey, Don Redman, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Dixon, Ralph Escudero, June Cole and Kaiser Marshall

Wilbur De Paris' New New Orleans Jazz Band - Original compositions in Trad Jazz style from the 1950's.  This innovative yet traditional band combined older players (Sidney DeParis, Doc Cheatham, Omer Simeon, Garvin Bushell, Sonny White, Don Kirkpatrick, Freddie Moore, Wilbert Kirk) with the leader's interesting compositions and arrangements .

WPA Rag . .Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red in the 1930's with the Chicago Five and others . . This style is often called the "Bluebird Blues" because of the sound being associated with hundreds of records on Bluebird in the 1930's and early 40's.  Broonzy and Tampa Red were seasoned recording stars from the 1920's on and here adapt nicely to swing, with great contributions from Punch Miller, Bill Owsley and Buster Bennett.

Joe Thomas!  Another podcast by the criminally underrated trumpet player Joe Thomas.  Known for playing with Fletcher Henderson, Benny Carter, Barney Bigard and a host of others . .these mid 1940's sides feature him at his peak - his own band recording for HRS (featuring his wife Babe Matthews on vocals with Lem Davis, Ted Nash and Jimmy Jones), with the Don Byas All Star Quintet with Johnny Guarnieri and the Joe Marsala Sextet in a wild amalgam of dixie, swing and bop featuring Adele Girard on harp, Chuck Wayne on guitar and Charlie Queener on piano (guest appearance by Leonard Feather on piano and Linda Keene on vocals)