Jazz Focus

God Is In The Band - Art Tatum in the rhythm section of several different bands from the 1930's and 40's - Art Tatum and His Band/Swingsters (Joe Thomas on trumpet, Edmond Hall, Oscar Moore, John Collins, Billy Taylor, Marshall Royal, Guy Kelly and Big Joe Turner), Barney Bigard and His Sextet (Joe Thomas on trumpet and another Joe Thomas on tenor sax), Coleman Hawkins and the Esquire All Stars (with Cootie Williams and Big Sid Catlett)

New Orleans - 1927 . . some of the "road trip" sessions made by Victor and Columbia to record local bands, in this case in the spring of 1927 with Louis Dumaine, Wingy Manone, Papa Celestin, Sam Morgan and others - great NO dance music and jazz

Ellington was an influence on other musicians as early as the late 1920's - here are bands from 1927-1938 playing his tunes (Creole Love Call, Black and Tan Fantasy, Mood Indigo, It Don't Mean A Thing, Old Man Blues, Solitude, Sophisticated Lady, etc.) and sometimes his arrangements as well . .Cab Calloway, Don Redman, Benny Goodman, the Washboard Rhythm Kings, Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Clyde McCoy, Red Nichols, Jimmie Lunceford (playing two tunes composed but unrecorded by Ellington), Bert Firman, McKinney's Cotton Pickers and several territory bands

When the big band era went bust, Count Basie held on longer than most - not disbanding until late 1949, at which point he tried out several combos playing a mix of swing, bebop and R&B before finally settling on this Octet with arrangements by Neal Hefti and others.  Featuring among others Clark Terry, either Buddy De Franco or Marshall Royal on clarinet, Wardell Gray on tenor, either Serge Chaloff or Rudy Rutherford on bari sax, Basie, Freddie Green and Buddy Rich!

Edmund Hall was one of the most distinctive and accomplished clarinetists in the Trad Jazz style from 1940 until he passed away in 1967.  This podcast focuses on the recordings he made for Blue Note in the 1940's under his own name and with James P. Johnson, Art Hodes and Sidney DeParis.  The Hall sessions feature more swing-oriented groups with Charlie Christian (playing acoustic guitar!), Meade Lux Lewis (on celeste!), Red Norvo and Teddy Wilson while the others utilize the talents of Sidney DeParis, Max Kaminsky, Vic Dickenson, James P. Johnson, Art Hodes, Carl Kress, Jimmy Shirley, Everett Barksdale, John Simmons and Sid Catlett, among others.

Live sessions featuring an otherwise unrecorded version of Turk Murphy's band in May, 1968 at the Concord Armory and the Muskataquid Club with Ed Johnson, Turk, Jack Crook, Pete Clute, Bob Carroll, Smokey Stover and Pat Yankee

Pete Brown - the legendary alto sax (and occasional trumpet) player in countless bands of the 1930's and 40's had a fantastically humorous and bouncy style evident on sessions with Buster Bailey, Midge Williams and Leonard Feather featuring players like Charlie Shavers, Bill Coleman, Joe Marsala, Benny Carter, Bobby Hackett, Billy Kyle and O'Neil Spencer.

Recordings by the house band at Nick's in 1945 featuring Muggsy Spanier, Pee Wee Russell, Miff Mole, Ernie Caceres and Lou McGarity among others . .Good straight ahead Dixieland/Traditional Jazz by a band that was doing it every night!.

One of the best (and most underrated) Jazz singers of the 1930's was Mildred Bailey - a member of the Coeur D'Alene native American tribe, she grew up in Seattle where, with her brother Al Rinker, began performing in the Jazz style of the 1920's.  After being hired by Paul Whiteman, she began singing on recording sessions in New York in the early 30's.  She married Red Norvo in 1933 and was featured with his band, being billed as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing" until the early 40's.  During that time she made many recording sessions with Jazz players who appreciated her style.  The three sessions on this show feature Bunny Berigan, Johnny Hodges, Chris Griffin, Chu Berry, Mary Lou Williams, Teddy Wilson, Floyd Smith and others as well as first rate singing.

These are some of the fruits of Ralph Peer's first "Road Trip" for OKeh records . . he brought the recording studio on the road to New Orleans in March, 1924 and then again in January 1925 and recorded some local dance bands and Jazz groups.  Here we will be listening to groups led by Johnny DeDroit, Tony Parenti, Norman Brownlee, Oscar Celestin and Armand Piron as well as the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, The Halfway House Orchestra and the Original Crescent City Jazzers.  These groups featured musicians as well known as Tony Parenti, Leon Roppolo, Paul Mares, Santo Pecora, Sharkey Bonano, Sterling Bose, Kid Shots Madison, Lorenzo Tio, Jr. and Harry Shields as well as a host of other lesser known players.