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January 15, 2005

Listen with Real Audio

The evening opened with "Uproar Shout," an early title by Erskine Hawkins and his 'Bama. Dating from April 1937, the selection is on Classics 653. From December of 1927, we heard the Jack Hylton Rhythmagicians; it's included on Retrieval 79024. "I Want A New Romance" was a November 1937 transcription by Isham Jones and his Orchestra on Viper's Nest VN-156. Bessie Smith had the "Worn Out Papa Blues," from the definitive Bessie reissue completed on the Frog label not long before Frog's producer, David French, died suddenly. This track is from the seventh of the eight volumes, Frog DGF46. On the air from November 1936, Benny Goodman presented "Mean To Me," issued on Jazz Unlimited JUCD 2087. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra closed the evening's first set with an exceptional treatment of "Tea For Two," recorded in March 1939 and reissued on Classics 1237.

A few years or so ago, I received a communication and some recordings from Andrew Brown, a talented musician, bassist and sousaphonist from this area. Andrew had studied at Catholic University, and went over to Europe to study with Ludwig Streicher, who was one of the first champions of solo repertoire for the double bass. After a few years, Andrew fell into the company of an extraordinary repertory orchestra, the Salonorchester Alhambra, led by Roman Gottwald. Andrew sent along some samples, and we played several on the program one evening .

A couple of months ago, I was out at the AFI Silver Theater to introduce a film, and Andrew came up afterwards to say hello, mentioned that he'd moved back to Maryland and said he'd send me more of the Salon Orchester Alhambra's published recordings. Andrew feels that this orchestra represented "the cream of the crop of cross-over classical and jazz players coming out of the fantastically funded and appreciated public music education system" in Austria.

From a 2002 release, "Oh, Play Dat Thing," we heard five selections, Walter Donaldson's and Gus Kahn's "Let's Talk About My Sweetie," and a tune by Alex Hyde titled "Jelly Fish." One of Duke Ellington's most obscure number is the "Gold Digger Stomp," which we first heard from an unissued 1927 Edison recording by Joe Herlihy and his Orchestra, first released on Biograph BCD 129. The Salonorchester Alhambra followed with its own version and the set closed with Spencer Williams' "Bring 'Em Back Alive."

For a number of decades, beginning in the 1940s, enterprising individuals saw to it that many of the local New Orleans musicians were recorded. The decade of the 1960s may have been the busiest in this regard, with recordings made by Barry Martyn, Ken Mills ââ ¬â€ï¿1 2 and Tom Bethell, a biographer of clarinetist George Lewis. Bethell released some sessions on his own short-lived label, San Jacinto. George Buck later acquired the catalogue, and has reissued the San Jacinto sessions during the last few years on CD. The sessions recorded in San Jacinto Hall are among the best of this body of recordings. On New Year's Eve Day in 1965, Bethell recorded trumpeter Kid Thomas Valentine, trombonist Louis Nelson, bassist Joseph Butler and drummer Sammy Penn with a group that included musicians Bethell had brought down from Minneapolis, Mike Polad on banjo, Butch Thompson to play clarinet. We heard a truncated "Milenberg Joys," followed by "Over There," "My Life Will Be Sweeter Someday," and the "Pagan Love Song." The entire session, including some new takes, is on GHB BCD-118.

The first hour closed with Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra and Billie Holiday from January 1938 with "If Dreams Come True," available on Hep 1035.

A column in the New York Times of January 9th by Ben Ratliff sparked some E-mails from, and discussion with listeners during the week. Ratliff was writing about Artie Shaw's last real block of recordings, made in 1954 when Artie led a final edition of his Gramercy Five. The group included pianist Hank Jones, guitarist Tal Farlow or Joe Puma, bassist Tommy Potter, Joe Roland on vibes and Irv Kluger at the drums. These recordings were Shaw's last on clarinet, and they are regarded as a stunning valedictory. Ratliff wrote that "they are careful, clear, probing works of group effort, those magic confluences of talent and risk that are supposed to happen in jazz all the time, but don't, really."

However, until the release a few years ago of the "Self-Portrait" box on BMG, these recordings, issued on Musicmasters in the early 1990s, were essentially out-of-print. So, to satisfy many folks' curiosity, we devoted a few more hours with Artie with a survey of some of these 1954 recordings, and a few of the titles that Artie recorded with his last big band in 1949.

Titles released on Musicmasters that are also included in "Self-Portrait," BMG 63808, are noted with an "*" in the playlist below.

As always, if you've a strong interest in the music and life of Artie Shaw, Vladimir Simosko's bio-discography, Artie Shaw: Amusical Biography and Discography published by Scarecrow Press, is highly recommended.