The Bebop Shop : Artistry In Rhythm: Early Jazz, Big Bands & Swing : Back Beat Boogie: More Swing Bands
Price: £8.99
"Jimmy Rushing And The Smith Girls"…………..Blues singer and shouter Jimmy Rushing opens our tribute set to him with his own tribute to four famous lady Smiths!! Bessie, Clara, Mamie and Trixie. "The Jazz Odyssey Of Jimmy Rushing Esq"…………On this 1956 recording with the Buck Clayton Orchestra, Mr. Rushing gives us some of the songs which he associates with four great American cities namely New Orleans, Kansas City, Chicago and New York. "Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass………..this hard to find album sees Jimmy back in the Columbia studios for a session of swing with a carefully chosen band around him and a dozen songs that swing and three arrangers who all know what the big man likes! As you will hear and as Jimmy himself knew only too well- only with a big band he is really at his best! "Brubeck & Rushing"……….. "everybody swings as Dave and Jimmy bring out the best in each other". This unusual and surprising collaboration instigated in the main by Jimmy himself works amazingly well because Jimmy told Dave it would! Take a listen and we think he was right! Joined by Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello this is a truly spontaneous explosion of jazz!
All four albums plus have been digitally re-mastered for probably the finest ever sound quality! (AVID Entertainment) Price: £8.99
This 93-track set comprises recordings which were released on Brunswick under the name of Red Nichols & The Five Pennies during the band’s classic era, along with other recordings done by similar line-ups led by Nichols under the name of The Charleston Chasers for Columbia, presented in chronological order of their recording.
The varying line-ups of The Five Pennies helped provide early opportunities for some of the genre’s future big names, including Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Miff Mole, Adrian Rollini, Jack Teagarden and Gene Krupa. It’s a substantial overview of the output of the Five Pennies which captures the vibrant and innovative spirit of the early jazz era. (Trapeze Music) Price: £19.99
There is nothing complicated about the music on this album, it is straightforward, sincere blowing". Recorded live in 1952 at George Wein’s Storyville, musicians are primarily Ruby Braff on trumpet accompanied by Red Richards-piano, John Field-bass, Ephy Resnick-trombone and Kenny John on drums. "Portrait of PeeWee"……………Joined again by old pals Ruby Braff, Bud Freeman, Vic Dickenson alongside Karl Kiffe and Charles Potter with Nat Pierce on piano and arrangements. "Pee Wee Russell Plays"………….Pee Wee is joined by Bud Freeman, George Wettling, Eddie Condon, Dick Carey, Vic Dickenson, Buck Clayton and Bill Takas. Recorded in 1959 the title is extremely apt, for the session finds Pee Wee moving away from playing the well worn Dixieland standards and playing a dozen brand new selections all composed by the great man himself! There is some first rate solo work here, Braff shines on trumpet while Dickenson is always exciting and daring!
Vic Dickenson was a jazz man from the old school, a trombonist born in 1906 he had come up playing with the big bands including Count Basie. Hooking up with legendary producer John Hammond the two went on to produce a series of recordings that firmly set Dickenson in the "mainstream" category of jazz, somewhere between old school and bebop (a movement he had yet to embrace). We feature a host of Vic Dickenson music including Volumes 1-4 featuring the Vic Dickenson Septet, the album "Mainstream Jazz" with Vic playing in the Andy Gibson Orchestra, 2 tracks from "Mainstream" featuring the Vic Dickenson All Star Group, 4 tracks with Louis Armstrong?s Hot Seven and finally 3 tracks with Scatman Crothers. Among the fine musicians accompanying Dickenson on his musical journey are Ruby Braff, Shad Collins, Jo Jones, Milt Hinton, Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Jones, Buck Clayton and Edmund Hall. All five albums plus have been digitally re-mastered. (AVID Entertainment) Price: £8.99
More old school, old style classic jazz in the shape of tenor sax man Bud Freeman. In the case of our first selection, "Chicago/Austin High School Jazz In Hi-Fi" quite literally jazz from the old school! Chicago?s Austin High was where men like Freeman, Red McKenzie and Eddie Condon had all met in the 1920?s to play music inspired by the New Orleans jazz of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong that would go on to become the Chicago jazz sound. Musicians on the set include such Chicago influenced players as Pee Wee Russell, Jimmy McPartland, George Wettling and Jack Teagarden (Eddie Condon himself could not play having injured an arm playing badminton with his daughter)!! Another reunion in 1961 for "Chicago And All That Jazz" featuring the remnants of the Chicagoans including Bud on tenor, Eddie Condon on guitar, Gene Krupa on drums, Jack Teagarden on trombone with vocalists Lil Armstrong and Blossom Seeley. For the "Bud Freeman Group" and "Bud Freeman" selections we hear Bud in a smaller group setting featuring such musicians as Ruby Braff, Kenny Kersey, Al Hall and George Wettling. All four albums plus have been digitally re-mastered. (AVID Entertainment) Price: £8.99
Maxwell Davis' writing is as fresh in these sessions as it was when it inspired the work of the early arrangers. Thanks to his efforts, each of these albums retains the lush, individual sound of those notable bands. Listening to these performances brings us joy and memories from the golden age of big bands, which up to this day illuminate the music scene every time that a good band charges and swings through timeless material. (Fresh Sound Records) Price: £17.99
