Jazz Focus

Live broadcasts of the roaring Calloway band from the Meadowbrook in 1940 (featuring Chu Berry, Dizzy Gillespie, Tyree Glenn, Cozy Cole and Jerry Blake) and the Club Zanzibar in 1944 and 45 (with Jonah Jones, Shad Collins, Tyree Glenn, Hilton Jefferson, Ike Quebeck and J.C. Heard).  Several vocals by the leader, but the focus is definitely on the instrumentals, some of which have extended solos!

Airshots from radio broadcasts and remotes featuring Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra in several different incarnations - with Bob Jenney (tbn), Joe Dixon and Andy Fitzgerald (clt), Georgie Auld, Larry Walsh and Johnny Castaldi (ts), Joe Lippman and Buddy Koss (p), Gail Reese and Danny Richards (v), but the focus is rightly on the leader's majestic trumpet

The Hangover was a popular jazz club in San Francisco in the middle 1950's, specializing in Dixieland and New Orleans Jazz . . the weekly broadcast from the club featured resident bands as well as a solo (intermission) pianist  . . here is a selection of the best!  Fats Pichon, Meade Lux Lewis, Lil Armstrong, Don Ewell and Joe Sullivan accompanied by Smokey Stover (drums) and Truck Parham on bass

The Saturday Night Swing Club was a regular radio show from the middle of 1936 through 1939 and featured a shifting cast of great musicians - the house band which included players like Mannie Klein, Bunny Berigan, Will Bradley, Pete Pumiglio, Dave Harris, Claude Thornhill, Lou Shoobe and Johnny Williams.  Also featured here are Red Allen, Roy Eldridge, Chick Webb, Adrian Rollini, Billy Kyle, Dick...

Great sides for Blue Note and Commodore made in NYC when Bechet was visiting from France - with Jimmy Archey, Ray Diehl and Wilbur DeParis (tbn), Joe Sullivan, Art Hodes and Ralph Sutton (p), Pops Foster, Walter Page and Jack Lesberg (sb), Slick Jones and George Wettling (d)

Some of the first recordings by the well-known pianist, here in trio form with Ron Crotty on bass and Carl Tjader on drums/vibes/percussion.  Mostly standards, these tunes feature highly sophisticated arrangements using humor and extensive classical techniques!

Ivy Anderson was one of the most overlooked singers of the era - great with jazz, novelty, blues and ballads and was one of Ellington's prime tone colors during her decade-long tenure with his band.  Here she sings a mix of Ellington tunes as well as older standards and songs composed for various Cotton Club reviews during the middle 1930's - with the expected excellence from Cootie Williams, Rex...

Great band sides led by the great tenor player early in his career - some while on tour in Europe, some in New York.  With Conte Candoli, Frank Rossolino, Lars Gullin, Lee Konitz, Al Cohn, Art Blakey, Dick Hyman, Jimmy Gourly, Henri Renaud and many others.

Martin Block usually just spun records on his WNEW show, but for a while he was hosting thirty minute jam sessions, several of which have been preserved . . here featuring Charlie Shavers, Charlie Teagarden and Bobby Hackett (trumpet and cornet), Jack Teagarden and Vernon Brown (trombone), Joe Marsala and Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Dave Matthews (alto sax), Herschel Evans, Kenneth Hollon and Bud...

Thomas led several sessions featuring great jazz contemporaries playing his compositions and arrangements (see previous show) but he also participated in several at the same time led by drummer Cozy Cole and featuring an array of talent - Don Byas, Coleman Hawkins, Hank D'Amico, Emmett Berry, Eddie Barefield, Clyde Hart, Billy Taylor, Budd Johnson and others.

Interesting band led by the great pianist Hines for the first eight or nine months of 1954 - including Gene Redd (trumpet and vibes), Dickie Wells (trombone), Morris Lane and Jerome Richardson (tenor sax), Leroy Harris (clarinet/alto/bari), Carl Pruitt and Paul Binnings (sb), Eddie Burns, Hank Milo (d).  Studio sessions and live dates from the Club Hangover in San Francisco

Saxophonist Walter "Foots" Thomas was never known as a great jazz player (he recorded numerous solos in his early days) but by the 1940's was highly regarded as a composer and arranger.  He also was associated with the publisher and entrepreneur Joe Davis, for whom he assembled recording bands.  Here are four sessions by these Thomas-led groups including Emmett Berry, Doc Cheatham and Charlie Shav...

Third Stream before it was called that - several students of Darius Milhaud including Brubeck, Dave Van Kriedt (ts), Dick Collins (tpt), Bill Smith (clarinet), and Jack Weeks contribute arrangements of originals and standards using counterpoint, fugue and other classical techniques.  With Paul Desmond (as), Bob Cummings (bars), Ron Crotty (sb), Carl Tjader (d) and Bob Collins (tbn)

Recordings by the Frank Trumbauer Orchestra without Bix!  Mostly members of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra - Andy Secrest, Harry Goldfield, Charlie Margulies, Bill Rank, Charles Strickfadden, Izzy Friedman, Roy Bargy, Lennie Hayton, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, George Marsh, Min Leibrook . .also with Stan King, Fud Livingston, Snoozer Quinn and Smith Ballew

Great swing tenor at the beginning of his bandleading career, featured with both late swing and bebop musicians including John Lewis, Gerald Wiggins, Art Blakey, Curly Russell, Kenny Clarke, Don Lamond, Pierre Michelot, Clyde Lombardi and others.

Great pre-Blanton/Webster band, this Ellington Orchestra has Rex Stewart, Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, Ellington, Fred Guy, Billy Taylor and Sonny Greer doing all Ellington compositions and arrangements (with one Strayhorn tune).  Some retreads of 1920's hits but mostly new tunes and arrangements!

Great performances of well known and unknown tunes of the period with (almost) all featuring Smith Ballew singing.  The personnel is very murky, but various tracks feature J.D. Wade and Jack Purvis on trumpet, Glenn Miller on trombone, Pete Pumiglio and Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet, Babe Russin on tenor sax, Bobby Van Eps on piano, George Van Eps on guitar, Bruce Yantis on violin and many others!

Three different groups all featuring the trumpet player Candoli recording between August 15 and 22 of 1955 . . a primer of West Coast Jazz, the West Coast Wailers feature him with Bill Holman on tenor, Lou Levy on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Lawrence Marable on drums.  The Herb Geller sextet has the leader on alto with Candoli, Ziggy Vines on tenor, Lorraine Geller on piano, Red Mitchell or...

The legendary violinist Grappelli was in his late 60's when these recordings were made, but he had another twenty years of extreme productivity ahead of him and his playing here is certainly on par with his classic recordings of the 1930's and 40's.  The Canadian/British guitarist Disley had a particular affinity for those records with Django Reinhardt and his trio (with Burmese guitarist Ike Isaa...

Some of the first recordings made by the great Afro-Canadian pianist.  Done for Victor in Montreal, the groups feature local guitar, bass and drums but the focus is on the already developed virtuosity of Peterson in a program of Tin Pan Alley standards and American Pop Songbook tunes.

Great small group sessions recorded for Keynote, Guild and Savoy by the drummer and bandleader Cozy Cole . . .featuring Shorty Rogers, Shad Collins and Frankie Newton on trumpet, Tyree Glenn and Vernon Brown on trombone, Aaron Sachs on clarinet, Earl Bostic on alto sax, Don Byas on tenor sax, Ernie Caceres on baritone sax, Billy Taylor, Bill Rowland and Teddy Wilson on piano, Remo Palmieri and Tin...

Almost Avant-Garde group led by clarinetist Russell and valve trombonist Marshall Brown in their two albums.  Bass player Russell George and drummers Ronnie Bedford or Ron Lundberg negotiate tunes by Coltrane, Monk, Ornette Coleman and Tadd Dameron as well as a few standards, giving Pee Wee wide scope to develop his ideas and show off his tone.

Live recordings by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and three small groups from the Cotton Club (and one from a Saturday Night Swing Club broadcast) - all in 1938 and featuring Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Wallace Jones, Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, Duke Ellington, Fred Guy, Hayes Alvis, Billy Taylor, Sonny Greer and Ivy Anderson

The 1970's was a fallow decade for classic jazz, but Grappelli made quite a few excellent recordings - including duets with Earl Hines and Alan Clare, a quintet with George Shearing and a tribute to Django album with Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine and Niels Henning Orsted-Pederson.

Basically a studio band made up of the best white jazz players in New York, this version of the Dorsey Brothers band is heard backing Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby and Mildred Bailey in addition to doing several great pre-swing instrumentals.  Featuring Bunny Berigan, Mannie Klein, Benny Goodman, Larry Binyon, Fulton McGrath, Eddie Lang, Dick McDonough, Artie Bernstein and Stan King in addition to To...