The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (39 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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situations he found himself in. Often those situations were cornet-trombone-clarinet Dixieland-oriented groups playing the Oliver/Beiderbecke/Armstrong/Spanier repertoire in hot but fairly predictable fashion. Typical of the approach are the performances on
The Eddie Condon All-Stars - Dixieland Jam
(Columbia CK 45145). Even better are a number of jammed performances on
Wild Bill Davison/George Brunis - Jazz A-Plenty
(Commodore CCD 7011). But Davison's high point on record probably came on the recordings he made with Sidney Bechet for Blue Note between 1945 and 1950, available on
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Sidney Bechet
(Mosaic MD4-110). For my taste, the best of these were recorded under the leadership of Chicago pianist Art Hodes; the interplay between the two horns on "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," "Shine," and "Darktown Strutter's Ball,'' especially, stings like Chinese mustard.
Two of the most inventive and lyrical voices of the 1930S were Frankie Newton and Bill Coleman, both of whom spent time with the big band of Teddy Hill in the mid-1930s. Hill's band was a sort of seed farm for great trumpeters; at some point, Bill Dillard, Shad Collins, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie also passed through its ranks. Neither Newton nor Coleman became as famous as their talents warranted; Coleman settled in Europe in the mid-1930s, came back to the U.S. for most of the 1940s, then moved to France for good in 1948. Newton stayed around New York, made some topflight jazz recordings, and seems to have performed rather steadily, but he never became a headliner.
You can hear Newton's melodically inventive playing on five tracks on
Swing Is Here: Small Band Swing 1935-1939
(RCA/Bluebird 2180-2-RB). Three were recorded under clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow's leadership; of these, "The Panic Is On" is the best. Listen to the way Newton begins his first eight bars with held notes that lay across the beat and finishes the eight with punching, on-the-beat notes. On "Rosetta," recorded under the trumpeter's leadership, Newton's exuberant lead work pilots the ensemble through two wonderful out choruses in which the three front-line instruments simultaneously improvise at full tilt without getting in each other's way.
Newton makes cameo appearances on a number of collections of music from the 1930s. His opening and closing choruses on "There's No Two Ways About It" (on
The 1930s: Small Combos
[Columbia CK 40833]) are full of the best kinds of surprises and fresh ideas (check out the ascending chromatic break leading into his last solo). His four muted slow blues choruses on 1939's "The Blues My Baby Gave to Me" (on
Great Trumpets: Classic Jazz to Swing
[RCA/Bluebird 6753-2-RB]) create a fine, sustained mood; Newton plays the blues on three standout tracks on
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Sidney
 
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Bechet
(Mosaic MD4-110) and is featured throughout Mosaic's
The Complete Recordings of the Port of Harlem Jazzmen
(MR1-108). Newton takes a great up-tempo muted solo on "Dizzy Debutante" (on
John Kirby: The Biggest Little Band 1937-1941
[Smithsonian Collection R013]), but one of his best moments is the trumpet obbligato to Clarence Palmer's vocal on the 1937 "You Showed Me the Way" by Frank Newton and His Uptown Serenaders (available on the four-LP boxed set
Swing Street
[Columbia Special Products JSN 6042]), on which his trumpet forms a perfect counterpoint, weaving in and out of the vocal lines, never getting in the way, always clear and surprising.
Bill Coleman's lilting, spry playing is heard at its best on six sides recorded in Europe in 1937 under the leadership of trombonist Dicky Wells, and including guitarist Django Reinhardt, available on
Djangologie/USA, Volume 1
(DRG/Swing CDSW 8421/3, blue cover). On "Bugle Call Rag," "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," and "I Got Rhythm," Coleman is joined by two other trumpeters from the Teddy Hill band, Bill Dillard and Shad Collins. Coleman takes the second solo on "Bugle Call'' and "Rhythm" and the open-horn solo on "Devil"; all three tunes are exciting. But the real knockouts here are the three Wells-Coleman performances without the other trumpets, classics of intimate, conversational improvisation - "Sweet Sue," "Japanese Sandman," and "Hangin' Around Boudon." His blues playing on "Boudon" is fine, clear-toned, and absolutely cogent; check out his closing dialogue with Wells. "Sandman" has a perfect Coleman solo, each idea flowing logically out of the previous one, and an out chorus in which Coleman and Wells improvise together beautifully. But my favorite is the chugging, relaxed, medium-tempo workout on "Sweet Sue." The format couldn't be much simpler: a chorus from Wells, followed by one from Coleman, then another chorus apiece. After Coleman's second chorus, the two horns trade four-bar ideas for twenty-four bars in which inspiration runs high - they set up each other's shots perfectly - and then riff the last eight bars together, closing out an absolutely perfect jazz record.
Coleman also gets his innings on
Djangologie/USA, Volume 2
(DRG/Swing CDSW 8424/6, yellow cover), especially on five more 1937 Paris sides with Django Reinhardt, the standout of which is his unaccompanied duet with Reinhardt, "Bill Coleman Blues," on which Coleman plays chorus after chorus of muted trumpet blues with completely characteristic chords and accents from Reinhardt. A feast for Coleman fans is
Willie Lewis and His Entertainers
(DRG/Swing SW8400/01), a collection of sides recorded between 1935 and 1937, most of which feature Coleman in fine form among mostly black American expatriate musicians in Paris. Coleman also sits in with a Lester Young small group in 1944 on
Lester "Prez" Young and Friends - Giants of the Tenor Sax
 
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(Commodore CCD 7002) and with both Young and Coleman Hawkins on
Coleman Hawkins/Lester Young - Classic Tenors
(Signature/CBS AK 38446).
Basie Trumpets
Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison were the gin and bitters of the late-1930s Count Basie trumpet section. Clayton was an extremely lyrical player, an expert with cup mutes, a great blues and ballad man who could also take care of business on up-tempo numbers. Edison was a swaggering blues- and riff-based player whose sound was strong enough to be heard over the whole Basie band. His emotional range is not as broad as Clayton's, but he always swings hard, and his sound is instantly identifiable.
Clayton can be heard soloing throughout
Count Basie: The Complete Decca Recordings
(Decca/GRP GRD-3-611), Edison on the cuts made after he joined the band in 1938. Both men are featured throughout
The Essential Count Basie, Volume 1
(Columbia CK 40608),
Volume 2
(Columbia CK 40835), and
Volume 3
(Columbia CK 44150); Stanley Dance's notes guide you to the high points.
Clayton's lyricism put him in much demand for small-band recordings; some of the best of these may be found on
Lester "Prez" Young and Friends - Giants of the Tenor Sax
(Commodore CCD 7002), on which Clayton and Lester Young front the Basie rhythm section (with Eddie Durham on electric guitar in place of Basie) in 1938 for classic performances of "I Want a Little Girl" (a beautiful cup-muted melody statement from Clayton here), "Countless Blues," ''Pagin' the Devil," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," and "Them There Eyes." This small band, called the Kansas City Six, reaches a height of ensemble coherence that has rarely been equaled and never surpassed; Clayton's solos, mostly muted, are little gems of storytelling.
The same might be said for his many perfect short solos on
The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 3
(Columbia CK 44048),
Volume 4
(Columbia CK 44252), and
Volume 5
(Columbia CK 44423), in the company of the cream of the era's musicians. He gets a chance to stretch out on open horn on four 1943 titles with Lester Young, available on
The Complete Lester Young
(Mercury 830 920-2); the small band, called the Kansas City Seven, also features Dicky Wells on trombone and Count Basie's rhythm section. Clayton did the arrangements and composed three of the four tunes as well. For an interesting glimpse of Clayton shoulder-to-shoulder with Charlie Parker, listen to the four sides they recorded with Sir Charles Thompson, available on
Charlie Parker: Every Bit of It
(Spotlite SPJ150D, LP only), especially the way Clayton tears through "The Street Beat."
Clayton continued to play well and recorded some of his very best work in the 1950s. A fine example of his work from 1955 and 1956 is
Buck Clayton - Jam
 
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Sessions from the Vault
(Columbia CK 44291), on which he is heard with such peers as Coleman Hawkins, Buddy Tate, Jo Jones, and trumpeter Ruby Braff in loose but controlled versions of "Out of Nowhere," "Blue Lou," and more. He was in the studio with Coleman Hawkins again in 1958 for a quintet date with the brilliant Hank Jones on piano; the results can be found under Hawkins's name on
The High and Mighty Hawk
(London 820 600-2), which is very highly recommended. A date pairing Clayton with his ex-Basie bandmate tenorist Buddy Tate produced the beautiful set
Buck and Buddy
(Swingville/OJC-757), an example of so-called mainstream jazz at its relaxed peak. Also worthwhile is
The Classic Swing of Buck Clayton
(Riverside/OJC-1709).
Trumpeter Ruby Braff is one of the most undersung players in the music, a strong lyric stylist with a luscious sound in all registers and plenty of facility that he doesn't allow to get in the way of fiery, direct musical expression.
Braff!
(Portrait RK 44393), recorded in three small-group sessions in 1956, showcases Braff's gorgeous tone and ideas on solid standards like "Stardust," "Moon-glow," and "Indian Summer." Four of the tracks feature Coleman Hawkins; all of them have nice, spare arrangements, probably by pianist Nat Pierce.
This Is My Lucky Day
(RCA/Bluebird 6456-2-RB) is also very good and shows Braff's impeccable ear for excellent, neglected pop tunes. Here he plays "It's Been So Long," "Did I Remember?," "Marie" (these three from a 1957 album tribute to Bunny Berigan, with trombonist Bennie Morton and clarinetist Pee Wee Russell), as well as, in duets with Roy Eldridge, ''This Is My Lucky Day," Armstrong's "Someday You'll Be Sorry," and "The Song Is Ended." Braff is featured as a sideman throughout
The Essential Vic Dickenson
(Vanguard), a collection of extended small-group performances from 1953 and 1954 under the leadership of one of jazz's great trombonists. The trumpeter has his say on the pop standards "Russian Lullaby" and "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me," on Fats Waller's "Keeping Out of Mischief Now," and on an impromptu up-tempo blues, "Sir Charles at Home," named for the sessions' pianist, Sir Charles Thompson. This set is also worth having for generous helpings of Edmond Hall's astringent clarinet playing.
Buck Clayton's Basie sectionmate Harry Edison is a thoroughly distinctive stylist and has been much recorded, especially by Norman Granz in the 1970s for his Pablo label, often in very unstructured blowing situations in which not a whole lot happens. One album on which a whole lot definitely does happen is the 1962
Ben Webster and "Sweets" Edison: Ben and "Sweets"
(Columbia CK 40853). Edison's extended muted solo on the extremely hard-swinging, medium-tempo blues "Better Go" is a virtual anthology of his favorite phrases and devices. Very few can match Sweets at this tempo on the blues; he has a certain dry way of phrasing and signifying on the horn that is his alone. Other
 
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good reasons to buy this album are the rhythm section, which includes pianist Hank Jones and bassist George Duvivier, among the finest on their respective instruments, the presence of Ben Webster's tenor saxophone (which is the main reason to buy it), and the cover photo, which tells a lot about the men involved. Another place to hear Edison in an interesting setting is
Nat "King" Cole and His Trio - The Complete After Midnight Sessions
(Capitol CDP 7 48328), on which the pianist and singer is joined, variously, by Edison, altoist Willie Smith, violinist Stuff Smith, or trombonist Juan Tizol in a program of good standards. Edison is on board for "Sweet Lorraine," "It's Only a Paper Moon," and three others. This is a very mellow set, and Cole sounds wonderful singing and playing; Sweets sets him off perfectly.
Roy Eldridge
Roy Eldridge was one of the most exciting players in the history of the music and a major stylist, representing the first true addition to Armstrong's vocabulary on trumpet. He was one of a handful of swing musicians who began to play longer lines of eighth notes and find ways to accent individual notes within those lines. In fact, he often phrased more like a saxophonist than a trumpeter.
A fiery, competitive player who sparked every situation he was in, Eldridge swung differently than any trumpeter before him; his lines of legato eighth notes, staggered with punching, on-the-beat quarter notes, used the expectations set up by the 1930s even four-four swing to create new patterns of suspense and resolution in the music. His breath control was such that he could accent individual notes out of long, even lines; he had a brilliant sound and was strong in all ranges, and he could pepper notes in the horn's stratosphere to devastating effect.
Warmin' Up
To hear a capsule version of what I mean, listen to the title track on the collection
Swing Is Here: Small Band Swing 1935-1939
(RCA/Bluebird 2180-2-RB). Throughout his introduction and solo (recorded in 1936), Eldridge uses punched-out notes to play off the strong four-four that Gene Krupa lays down on the drums, but he alternates them with fast lines that turn and dart unexpectedly. Listen, too, to the way he leaps into the upper register at the beginning of the second eight bars of his solo - just, it seems, on the edge of control, like a car taking corners a little too fast but still staying on the road. His playing animates the entire performance. The same remarks apply to "I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music," perhaps even more so; his lines are longer and more

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