Jazz Focus

Pell made two albums in 1959 and 1960 in tribute to the John Kirby Sextet and some other small groups of the Swing and Cool eras . . featuring Cappy Lewis, Ray Linn, Jack Sheldon (tpt), Hoyt Bohannon, Bob Enevoldsen (tbn), Abe Most and Dave Pell (clarinet), Benny Carter and Art Pepper (alto), Pell (tenor and baritone), Ronnie Lang, Marty Berman and Pell (baritone), John Williams (p), Tony Rizzi (g...

Live recordings from the Bing Crosby radio show on CBS between 1949 and 51 - mostly Louis' pop records of the time with a few surprises thrown in!

Classic blues recordings featuring the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith accompanied by a very young Louis Armstrong.

Former trumpet soloist with Ben Pollack, Bob Crosby and Tommy Dorsey, Lawson was a powerful player devoted to the New Orleans/Chicago style of Dixieland.  Here, his groups recording for Signature (Ward Silloway, Brad Gowans, Lou McGarity, Miff Mole, Pee Wee Russell, Rod Cless, Bill Stegmeyer, Joe Marsala, Dave Bowman, James P. Johnson, Eddie Condon, Bob Haggart, Johnny Blowers and George Wettling)...

One day (February 11th) in 1954, Stitt played a gig at the HI Hat in Boston with a local rhythm section (Dean Earl, Bernie Griggs, Marquis Foster) and Roulette recorded the whole thing . . Two cds include the entirety of the date with Stitt featured equally on alto and tenor with several baritone sax tracks (about his last on that instrument) thrown in for good measure.

Louis made records with everyone - here are some Decca sides with Ella, Billie and Louis Jordan and a bonus - one track from a Bing Crosby radio show featuring Louis, Bing and Ella doing "Memphis Blues"

Recreation of Louis 1928-34 big band sides with an orchestra directed by Sy Oliver along with the All-Stars - Trummy Young, Billy Kyle, Edmond Hall, Squire Girshback, Barrett Deems . .done for the Louis Armstrong Autobiography project on Deccca.

Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans were the house band at the legendary Savoy Ballroom in New York City from 1937-1946 and so must have pleased the pickiest dancers in the world!  While their music (between a combo and a big band) was not subtle or sophisticated, it swung hard and was the bane of many better known groups who came up against it.  Here are most of their Decca sides from the period, featuring...

Extended recordings made for the V Disc program during WWII (1944 and 45) by Herman's First Herd - features for Sonny Berman, Ray Wetzl, Neal Hefti and Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bill Harris (trombone), Flip Phillips (tenor), Ralph Burns and Tony Aless (piano), Billy Bauer (guitar), Chubby Jackson (bass), Dave Tough (drums), Frances Wayne (vocals) and the leader Woody Herman playing some outstanding...

Jamaican alto saxophonist Joe Harriott had a fascinating career in London during the 1950's and 60's - he recorded with big bands, trad bands, vocalists and others, but perhaps his greatest contribution was with his "Abstract Jazz" - much like the Free Jazz experiments Ornette Coleman was making at the same time.  Here is his quintet on a series of albums in the early 1960's with Shake Keane on tr...

1927 sides featuring the Hot Seven (Louis Armstrong, John Thomas, Johnny Dodds, Lil Armstrong, Johnny St. Cyr, Pete Briggs and Baby Dodds) and Johnny Dodd's Black Bottom Stompers (Armstrong, both Dodds, Earl Hines, Barney Bigard, Bud Scott and Roy Palmer)

Louis Armstrong featured with three legendary pianists in the 1920's (Earl Hines), 50's (Oscar Peterson), and 60's (Duke Ellington)

The mostly forgotten tenor sax of Lucky Thompson was very prominent in the 1940's with Count Basie, Charlie Parker and on his own.  By 1956 he was becoming disillusioned with the music business and was shortly to move to Paris for several years.  Just before that he worked with the Milt Jackson Quintet (on Savoy) and Sextet (on Atlantic) to produce several exceptional recording sessions featuring...

Red Norvo and His Orchestra was one of the most innovative and tasteful groups of the Swing Era - which accounts for its lack of commercial appeal and memory!  These are most of the instrumental recordings done by the group between 1936 and 1942 and feature great arrangements by Eddie Sauter and possibly the leader with Norvo taking the bulk of the solos on xylophone.  Also featured are Hank D'Ami...

Great sides for Atlantic in the middle 1950's featuring the trumpet player/arranger/composer Shorty Rogers leading two groups - one, a quintet featuring Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet, baritone and tenor saxes, Lou Levy or Pete Jolly on piano, Curtis Counce or Ralph Pena on bass and Shelly Manne on drums.  The other is a larger group with the same quintet with added alto (Bud Shank), trombone (Bob Enev...

Charlie Parker was a frequent visitor to Boston in the early 1950's, often playing long engagements at the Hi-Hat club.  Here is a sampling of well-recorded radio broadcasts of his groups featuring Herb Pomeroy, Joe Gordon and Herbie Williams on trumpet, Dean Earls, Rollins Griffith and Dick Twardzick on piano, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Woode and Bernie Griggs on bass, Baggy Grant, Marquis Foster, Geo...

The trumpeter/composer/arranger Shorty Rogers did much work for Woody Herman and Stan Kenton in the 1940's - the 1950's found him working in the studios around Los Angeles, playing with the Lighthouse All-Stars on Hermosa Beach and leading record date.  These feature an eight or nine piece band in the style if not the sound of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool sessions.   With Rogers, Milt Bernhardt...

The ultra-musical jazz singer Bailey and her husband, xylophonist and bandleader Red Norvo recorded several sessions with the just-organized John Kirby Sextet in 1939 and the musical results were superb . . featuring Bailey and Norvo with Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Russell Procope, Billy Kyle, O'Neil Spencer and Cozy Cole

The versatile reedman (here playing alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxes) featured with A+ rhythm sections including Hank Jones, Dave McKenna, Marty Napoleon (piano), Chubby Jackson (sb) and Jo Jones and Buddy Rich on drums.  Well-arranged and played standards and a few originals!

The late, great Ken Peplowski is here remembered on some of his early recording sessions with an astonishing range of styles and personnel.  Trad with Marty Grosz, Peter Ecklund and Terry Waldo; swing with Howard Alden and Dan Barrett, a funny baseball themed session with Dick Miller's National Pass Time Orchestra and two bonuses - one with Leon Redbone and one with Benny Goodman's last big band. ...

Two tributes to Basie and his repertoire led by Rich in 1956 (with Harry Edison, Frank Rosolino, Bob Enevoldsen, Jimmy Rowles and Buddy Collette) and Rogers in 1954 (with Enevoldsen, Cooper, Zoot Sims, Jimmy Giuffre, Herb Geller, Bud Shank, Marty Paich, Curtis Counce and Shelly Manne).

Recordings made by the great New Orleans soprano saxophonist right before and after his permanent relocation to Paris.  Two sessions for Vogue and one for Blue Star feature Bill Coleman (trumpet), Frank "Big Boy" Goudie (tenor sax), Claude Luter (clarinet), Eddie Bernard and Christian Azzi (piano), Pierre Michelot (bass) and Kenny Clarke and Moustache Galipedes (drums).  Originals and standards an...

Three great sessions (two with Flip Phillips and one with Charlie Ventura) of tenor sax backed by well-arranged band performances!  Featuring arrangements by George Williams and Chico O'Farrell with contributions by Charlie Shavers, Al Porcino, Kai Winding, Lennie Hambro, Dave McKenna, Richard Wyands, Max Roach, Freddie Green, Cecil Payne and others . . .

Great live dates from the Savoy Ballroom in 1939 and 1940, featuring the band of the recently deceased Chick Webb, now fronted by Ella Fitzgerald. These are terrific recordings - both musically and in sound quality - and feature great solos by Taft Jordan and Bobby Stark on trumpet, Sandy Williams and George Matthews on trombone, Garvin Bushell and Eddie Barefield on clarinet, Hilton Jefferson on...

Two great record sessions and one live concert featuring the great expat American trumpet and tenor sax player . . with George Daly (vib), Michel de Villers (alto sax), Bernard Peiffer (piano), Jean Bouchety (bass) and Roger Paraboschi (drums)