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June 25, 2005

Fats Waller opened the evening with "'Tain't Good (Like A Nickel Made of Wood), recorded in late November 1936 and reissued on BMG 66747. Helen Forrest was Artie Shaw's vocalist for his November 1939 recording of Cole Porter's "When Love Beckoned on 52nd Street." We played it from RCA Bluebird AXM2-5556 [LP], but it appears to be available on the CD, Jasmine 2559. "Hot and Anxious" is one of the precursors to "In the Mood." Don Redman played it in a late June 1932 recording reissued on Hep 1001. Bunny Berigan's "Downstream," with a vocal from Gail Reese, dates from March 1938 and was available on Bluebird 5567 [LP]. Isham Jones and Charles Newman wrote the lovely, "You've Got Me Crying Again," played by Jack Hylton and reissued on Past 9775. "I'm So Afraid Of You" was a January 1931 performance by Isham Jones and his Orchestra, available on Park Lane PL101.

A new release from Stomp Off introduced us to the Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra who present, as they characterize it, "Radical Pop Music from the Ragtime Era." The CD is titled "Euphonic Sounds." We heard three titles, "La Pas Ma La," an 1895 rag with Spanish tinge, written by a black composer and vaudevillian, Ernest Hogan. Will Tyers' "Maori (A Samoan Dance)" followed, and then A.J. Piron's "Kiss Me Sweet" concluded the set. Look for Stomp Off SOS CD1402.

Ethel Waters was accompanied by pianist J.C. Johnson and Will Marion Cook's Singing Orchestra on "We Don't Need Each Other More," reissued on Classics 688. Thelma Holmes recorded as Kansas City Kitty (she was not the first to use that nom-de-plume) in 1934 with "Mistreatin' Easy Rider," available on BMG 66719 [O/P]. Adelaide Hall joined Duke Ellington and his Orchestra to add a wordless vocal on 1927's "Chicago Stomp Down." Ellington recordings are reissued all over the place; we used the version included in a wonderful Adelaide Hall anthology on Avid AMSC-720. Sippie Wallace was joined by two members of Clifford Hayes' Louisville Stompers for "You Gonna' Need My Help." This track closes out a reissue of Louisville Stompers Victor recordings on Frog DGF10. Bessie Smith wound up this set of blues and vaudeville singers with her March 1927 recording of "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," from Frog DGF44.

Earl Hines was recruited to play piano with Clifford Hayes' Louisville Stompers in February 1929. He seemed to have been embarrassed about recording with what he called a "hillbilly group." We heard one title, the "Frog Hop," also reissued on Frog DGF10. The hour closed with a Hines solo from 1932 on "Love Me Tonight [-B]," one of the three surviving takes reissued on Collectors Classics COCD-11. [17]

The second hour opened with a title from Houston radio station KXYZ's Novelty Band, recorded for Victor in San Antonio in late January of 1935. "That's A-Plenty" was issued on Harrison LP-J [LP]. The Jazz Crusade label has reissued more of the Jazz Nocturne broadcasts featuring Sidney Bechet from the Savoy Cafe in Boston during the spring of 1945. The two most recent volumes feature young local trumpeter Johnny Windhurst playing with the band. "It's Only A Paper Moon" is on Jazz Crusade JCCD-3105. From a March 1944 Eddie Condon concert, cornetist Bobby hackett played "Nobody Knows (And Nobody Seems To Care)," available on Jazzology JCD-1024. Collectors' Choice Music reissue Alice Faye's Brunswick and ARC recordings from the 1930s is CCM-351; from 1935, we heard a tune from "George White's 1935 Scandals" titled "Oh, I Didn't Know (You'd Get That Way)." Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra played the appropriately named "So Sweet." Recorded in 1930, it was reissued on Classics 641. Roger Wolfe Kahn ended the set with "A Little Birdie Told Me So." Frankie Marvin was the vocalist on this January 1927 recording issued on Victor 20493 [78].

We pulled from the shelf Mosaic's set devoted to the Columbia and Okeh label recordings of violinist Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, Mosaic MD8-213 to explore two Venuti sessions from 1931.

We then turned to some music of Jelly Roll Morton, with an eye on four piano solos recorded in July 1929. As we noted, many Morton ensemble numbers originated as piano pieces. Morton's piano pieces are often described as orchestral-sounding. That is, it is not hard to imagine certain details and melodic lines in the piano solos being assigned to specific instruments or sections in an ensemble

In many instances, we have both Morton piano solos and ensemble recordings of individual numbers attributed to him - but not in every instance. What's striking about the four solos recorded in July of 1929 is that none of the four were recorded by a Morton band. The tunes are "Pep," "Seattle Hunch," "Freakish," and "Fat Frances." Even the repertory jazz movement has paid little attention to these pieces. I've turned up very, very few repertory treatments of these numbers, and none for one of them, "Frances."

We heard Morton piano solos of these selections, either from the 1929 Victor date or from the 1938 Library of Congress recordings, relying upon James Dapogny as our guide as to which of the available recordings - when there is any sort of choice - were the superior versions. We followed most of these with a repertory band treatment from the 1980s or 1990s.

The program closed with one of the orchestral titles Morton recorded in July 1929, "Sweet Aneta [sic] Mine," on JSP CD322.