Jazz Focus

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.  Great alto and tenor as well as clarinet!

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 and standards masquerading as originals.

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 alto, Teddy McRae and Lonnie Simmons on tenor, Wayman Carver on flute, Ram Ramirez and Tommy Fulford on piano, John Truehart on guitar, Beverly Peer on bass and Bill Beason on drums.

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)

The great Basie trumpeter Buck Clayton took a band to Europe in the fall of 1949 for about nine months  - those recordings are elsewhere on this station!  These are appearances by Clayton with two other groups led by pianists - Willie "The Lion" Smith and his Quartet (with Claude Luter and Wallace Bishop) and Earl Hines (with Barney Bigard, Arvell Shaw and Bishop).  Four tracks by Hines with just bass and drums recorded on the same date are also included . . .

Two sessions featuring the singer heading into her twilight years but still possessing great artistry and backed by great bands.  The first has her own group with Harry Edison on trumpet, Willie Smith on alto sax and Bobby Tucker on piano.  The second is the Tony Scott Orchestra with Scott on clarinet, Budd Johnson on tenor sax, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Carl Drinkard on piano and Billy Bauer on guitar. 

Companion to the other program featuring groups with Webster as the only horn, this one has larger groups, but with the spotlight still on the tenor!  Webster's group nominally led by Bill De Arrango recording for Haven with Leonard Hawkins (Idrees Sulieman) on trumpet, Tony Scott on clarinet, Argonne Thornton (Sadik Hakim) on piano, De Arrango on guitar, John Simmons on bass and Sid Catlett on drums; Webster's Wax Quintet with Bill Coleman on trumpet, Jimmy Jones on piano, Al Hall on bass and Denzil Best on drums; Al Hall's Wax Quintet with the same band with Dick Vance on trumpet; Tony Scott's Downbeat Club All Stars with Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Trummy Young on trombone, Scott on alto and clarinet, Jimmy Jones on piano, Gene Ramey on bass and Eddie Nicholson in drums.

Great West Coast/Swing/Mainstream sessions led by guitarist Kessel (who also arranged and composed some of the tunes) for Contemporary Records.  The To Swing or Not To Swing album from 1956 featured Harry Edison on trumpet and either Bill Perkins or Georgie Auld on tenor sax with Shelly Manne on drums and Jimmy Rowles on piano.  The 1959 Some Like It Hot album has Joe Gordon on trumpet, Art Pepper on alto, tenor and clarinet, Rowles and Manne.

Sides demonstrating the connection between trombonist Harris and tenor saxophonist Phillips recording for Clef/Mercury.  The first session also features Harry Edison, Hank Jones and Buddy Rich, the second Lou Levy, Gene Ramey and Jo Jones and the third is by the Nick Esposito Sextet with Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown JC Heard and Bennie Green replacing Harris on four tunes.

British drummer Tony Kinsey had a long career as a player, composer and arranger.  His mid-1950's groups played pretty uncompromising jazz but were commercially successful - a rarity!  This version of his group's records on Esquire and Decca features Jamaican alto sax player Joe Harriott, pianist/vibist Bill Le Sage (who composed half the tunes) and a variety of bass players.  Tenor player Don Rendell is heard in the live session and two tracks with the group backing singer Lita Roza.

More great bass clarinet performances by Don Byron, Eric Dolphy, Harry Carney, Joe Temperley, Hal McKusick, Gene Allen and Buddy De Franco!

Great period in the Calloway discography . . from June through December 1932 the band had a very stable personnel featuring Doc Cheatham, Ed Swayzee and Lammar Wright (tpt), DePriest Wheeler and Harry "Fatha" White (tbn), Eddie Barefield, Arville Harris, Andrew Brown and Walter Thomas (reeds), Benny Payne (p), Morris White (g), Al Morgan (sb) and Leroy Maxey (d) backing the leader's athletic vocals.  Arrangements by White, Benny Carter and Will Hudson really show off the ensemble and launch some excellent solos from this driving group.

Great recordings for the French Vogue label featuring both Hines and Smith playing solo and a date (largely of his own originals) with Smith joined by Wallace Bishop . . stride and post-stride at its best!

Almost forgotten tenor sax player of the late swing and early bop periods in England, Tommy Whittle played with Ted Heath, Harry Hayes and other mainstream groups from his early teens.  By the late 1940's he was clearly influenced by bebop and these recordings demonstrate this.  With the Jack Parnell Quartet and Quintet (from Heath's band), Tony Kinsey's group (with Dill Jones on piano) and two sessions under his own name (with Derek Humble and other nascent British stars), Whittle established himself as an important solo voice on the European Jazz scene.

Kessel and his Charlie Christian-derived guitar playing was the focus of all these quintet sessions for Contemporary in the middle 1950's, but he gives good innings to Buddy Collette, Bud Shank and Bob Cooper on saxophones and flute, Claude Williamson, Arnold Ross and Hampton Hawes on piano, Red Mitchell on bass, Shelley Manne on drums and several others . . standards as well as original compositions and arrangements by the leader.

Recorded for Down Home at Hambone Kelly's . . Watters on trumpet, either Don Noakes or Warren Smith on trombone, Bob Helm on clarinet, Wally Rose on piano, Clancy Hayes on vocals and banjo, Pat Patton on banjo, Dick Lammi on tuba and Bill Dart on drums.   A program of Watters' originals, blues and 1920's Jazz tunes.

Three sessions for Vogue and Swing in Paris, 1949 by two great Swing Era trumpets.  Buck Clayton's Sextet with Don Byas and Wallace Bishop, the Buck Clayton and Bill Coleman Orchestra with Alix Combelle, George Kennedy and Andre Persiany, and Bill Coleman with the Jack Dieval Quartet with Paul Vernon

Survey of the 1920's Hot Dance Band scene with all sides featuring a solo bass clarinet!  Paul Whiteman, Gus Arnheim, Jelly Roll Morton, Cab Calloway, Doc Cooke, The Harlem Trio, Eddie South, Ben Selvin, Jesse Stafford and Mal Hallett, among others . . . 

Big band formed at exactly the wrong time - Buddy Rich had a superb group he put together in the fall of 1945 . . .players like George Berg, Bitsy Mullins, Earl Swope, Allan Eager, Harvey Leonard and Tommy Allison played great arrangements by Ed Finkel, Tadd Dameron and Neal Hefti with vocals and drum features by the leader.  These recordings are from V-Disc sessions and three sessions for Mercury.

The great if unheralded pianist Mel Powell was better known after he left the jazz world as a classical composer and teacher, but in his late teens through his thirties he was a terrific piano player and an even better arranger.  These sides (for Vanguard and Capitol in 1947 and 55) show him playing solo in and in small chamber jazz groups featuring Ruby Braff, Bumps Myers, Oscar Pettiford, Skeeter Best, Tommy Kay, Arnold Fishkin and Bobby Donaldson.

Virtually forgotten Jamaican player who dominated the London jazz scene in the 1950's and 60's with a style that encompassed trad, swing and free - although his primary sound was bebop.  Here he is featured with three different quartets in the mid 1950's and as a soloist with the Kurt Edelhagen radio band in Germany in 1959.   Dill Jones on piano, Phil Seamen on drums and many others are also featured.

Several classic Vanguard albums from 1955 featuring the duo of trumpeter Ruby Braff and pianist Ellis Larkins doing a series of duets.  Songs associated with Bing Crosby and composed by Rodgers and Hart are the feature . . .

From Sept 1933 through the end of January 1934 (when the band left for a European tour), the Calloway Orchestra recorded for RCA Victor, redoing some earlier hits (like "Minnie" and "Scat Song") and premiering some great jazz numbers by trombonist and arranger Harry "Father" White ("Fatha's Got His Glasses On," "Harlem Camp Meetin'," "Evening" etc).  Featuring Ed Swayzee, Lammar Wright and Doc Cheatham on trumpet, White and DePriest Wheeler on trombones, Eddie Barefield on alto, Arville Harris on clarinet, Andrew Brown on bass clarinet, Walter Thomas on tenor and bari sax, Bennie Payne on piano, Morris "Fruit" White on guitar, Al Morgan on bass and Leroy Maxey on drums - all with Calloway singing!

Great mid 1940's sides featuring the tenor sax player soon after his tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.  All these recordings feature Webster as the only horn with stellar rhythm accompaniment under his own name (with John Simmons, Al Haig, Johnny Guarnieri, Oscar Pettiford, Bill De Arrango and David Booth) and with Sid Catlett (with Marlowe Morris and Simmons).

Live airshots, mostly from the Dawn Club in San Francisco of Lu Watter's first Yerba Buena band, featuring himself and Bob Scobey on trumpet, Turk Murphy on trombone, Ellis Horne on clarinet, Forrest Brown and Wally Rose on piano, Clancy Hayes and Russell Bennett on banjos, Dick Lammi on tuba and Bill Dart on drums . . .a bonus wartime date during the summer of 42 without Watters, but with Benny Strickler on trumpet, Bill Bardin on trombone, Horne or Bob Helm on clarinet, Burt Bales on piano, Bennett and Clancy Hayes on drums

Three great (and vastly different) mainstream sessions featuring the alto of Hilton Jefferson, who was known more popularly as a lead alto player for Calloway, Henderson and Ellington.  Here he is featured with Rex Stewart on a Feltsted album with Garvin Bushell on clarinet and bassoon and Everett Barksdale on guitar; the Swingville All Stars with Al Sears, Taft Jordan and Don Abney and a different Swingville All Stars date with Joe Newman, J.C. Higginbotham, Jimmy Hamilton, Coleman Hawkins, Claude Hopkins and Tiny Grimes.

A wide ranging survey of 1920's, Trad and Swing recordings featuring bass clarinet - with the Cotton Club Orchestra, PIccadilly Players, Monette Moore, Wilbur Sweatman, Anglo-American Alliance, Hoosier Hotshots and bands led by Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ray Noble, Marty Grosz, Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, Jean Morel, Humphrey Lyttleton and Ted Weems!

Selections taken from two lps featuring Taft Jordan playing Ellington tunes with a quintet including Kenny Burrell and Richard Wyands and the Swingville All Stars with Al Sears, Hilton Jefferson and Don Abney.

Two great sessions from August, 1955 with Billie Holiday backed by the same band - Harry "Sweets" Edison, Benny Carter, Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Larry Bunker.  Holiday was at the tail end of her career, but the top-shelf accompaniment inspired her to some of her best singing - rerecording tunes for Clef in 1955 that she had done twenty years earlier for ARC and Brunswick.

Out and out jazz sessions led by the New Orleans pianist and entrepreneur Williams featuring mostly his own compositions/publications.  Ed Allen and King Oliver play cornet, Buster Bailey, Arville Harris, Russell Procope, Benny Moten and Carmelo Jejo play reeds, Cyrus St. Clair on tuba and Floyd Casey on washboard, giving the group its name!

Some of the first feature recordings made by Norman Granz on his various labels.  This represents three sessions led by Ben Webster (the last two of which were issued on LP as "King of the Tenors").  The first is 1951 with Maynard Ferguson on trumpet, Benny Carter on alto, Gerald Wiggins on piano, John Kirby on bass and George Jenkins on drums.  The others are from 1953 and feature Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and J.C. Heard on drums on the first, with the second substituting Herb Ellis on guitar and Alvin Stoller on drums, with Harry "Sweets Edison and Benny Carter added on trumpet and alto.

Great records featuring the iconoclastic trumpeter playing with other groups, including Charlie Johnson's Paradise Orchestra (with Charlie Irvis, Benny Waters, Ben Whitted and Monette Moore), Duke Ellington (with Joe Nanton, Rudy Jackson, Otto Hardwick and Harry Carney), Charles Lavere and His Orchestra (Joe Marsala, Preston Jackson, Zutty Singleton, Boyce Brown), Banjo Ikey Robinson (Omer Simeon, Lawson Buford), the Louisiana Sugar Babes (with James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and Garvin Bushell), and Eva Taylor (Clarence Williams, Charlie Irvis).

These recordings from a septet through a full band feature the arrangements and some compositions by the great Mel Powell.  After he left jazz in the late 1950's he became well known as a serious composer and educator, but his arrangements for jazz groups demonstrate his earlier abilities as applied to more commercial ensembles.  The 1946 orchestra features Bernie Privin, Johnny Carisi, Lou McGarity, Cutty Cutshall, Bill Shine, Cliff Strickland and even Mitch Miller on oboe!  The septet from 1955 has Al Mattoliano on trumpet, Peanuts Hucko on clarinet, Nick Caiazza on tenor sax, Tommy Kay on guitar, Arnold Fishkin on bass and Bobby Donaldson on drums.  The quintet and sextet from 1947 has either Jake Porter or Frank Beach on trumpet, Bumps Myers on tenor, Red Callendar on bass and Lee Young.  All with the immaculate piano of Mel Powell!

Two of the stalwarts of Count Basie's band of the early 1940's, Clayton and Tate recorded many times in the 1950's and 60's, but these dates for Swingville really highlight their chemistry and affinity for the blues - with Sir Charles Thompson, Gene Ramey, Mousie Alexander and Gus Johnson.

Early sessions produced by Norman Granz for his Clef label featuring great Swing Era Stars - the Gene Krupa Sextet has Charlie Shavers, Bill Harris, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and the leader while the various Hodges groups have Emmett Berry, Lawrence Brown, Hodges, Webster, Leroy Lovett, Cal Cobbs, Osie Johnson and others all playing standards and originals!

The original wild man of jazz - Purvis was an extraordinarily gifted trumpet player who spent time with most of the great white players of the pre-swing era and led several dates.  Here he is with his own groups (with J.C. Higginbotham, Coleman Hawkins, Frank Froeba and Adrian Rollini among others), Hal Kemp and His Orchestra, Ben Selvin and His Orchestra, Rube Bloom's Bayou Boys (with Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman) and Frank Froeba's Orchestra (with Slats Long and Herbie Haymer)

Three sessions all featuring Art Hodes, with Bechet on two . . the Art Hodes Blue Five with Max Kaminsky (tpt), Mezz Mezzrow (clt), Pops Foster (sb) and Danny Alvin (drums), the Hodes Hot Five with Wild Bill Davison (c), Sidney Bechet (clarinet and soprano sax), Foster and Freddie Moore (d) and the Sidney Bechet Blue Note Jazz Men with Davison, Hodes, Walter Page (sb) and Moore.  Terrific New Orleans-Chicago-New York dixieland!

Uncharacteristic sessions from two musicians unfairly pigeon-holed as dixielanders . . here playing superb mainstream Jazz with much more modern-sounding rhythm sections . .Russell's clarinet is heard with Buck Clayton (trumpet), Tommy Flanagan (piano), Wendell Marshall (bass), J.C. Heard (drums) and Freeman is on tenor with Shorty Baker (trumpet), Claude Hopkins (piano), George Duvivier (bass) and Heard.

Rex Stewart and His Orchestra - a septet of fine musicians touring France, Sweden and Germany in late 1947 through 1948.  Great arrangments fo swing tunes, novelties, some dixieland and even some bebop with Stewart, Sandy Williams (tbn), John Harris (clt and alto), Vernon Story (tenor), Don Gais (p), Fred Emelin and Ladislas Czabanyck (bass), Ted Curry (drums) and Stewart and Honey Johnson on vocals

Some of the New Orleans trumpet player's first recordings after being rediscovered . . with Kid Ory's band (Mutt Carey on cornet, Kid Ory on trombone, Wade Whaley on clarinet, Buster Wilson on piano, Frank Pasley on guitar), Ed Garland on bass, Everett Walsh on drums), Lu Watters Yerba Buena band (Watters on trumpet, Turk Murphy on trombone, Ellis Horne on clarinet Burt Bales on piano, Pat Patton on banjo, Squire Girsback on bass, Clancy Hayes on drums and vocal, Sister Lottie Peavey on vocals) and his own group recording for World Transcriptions (Floyd O'Brien on trombone, Whaley, Fred Washington on piano, Pasley, Red Callender on bass and Lee Young on drums)

Clarence Williams records not released under his name . . The Dixie Washboard Band, Bluegrass Feet Warmers and Seven Gallon Jug Band.  .featuring Ed Allen, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Buster Bailey, Carmelo Jari, Cyrus St. Clair, Floyd Casey, Benny Moten, Jasper Taylor, Arville Harris and others!

Three great mainstream sessions featuring the great Texas/Basie tenor sound of Buddy Tate (and clarinet on one number) with Claude Hopkins and Tommy Flanagan on piano, Emmett Berry, Joe Thomas and Clark Terry on trumpets, Wendell Marshall and Larry Gales on bass, J.C. Heard, Osie Johnson and Art Taylor on drums

Great small group sides made by the New Orleans pianist and entrepreneur Williams featuring many great black Jazz players of the day including Bubber Miley, Ed Allen, Tommy Ladnier and Louis Metcalf (trumpet), Joe Nanton and Charlie Irvis (trombone), Arville Harris, Ben Whitted, Don Redman, Buster Bailey and Coleman Hawkins (reeds), Leroy Harris and Buddy Christian (banjo), Cyrus St. Clair (tuba) and Floyd Casey (drums) with Eva Taylor and Kathleen Henderson on vocals

Drawn from three albums for Delmark and GHB, these records capture this classic trad band at its peak . . originating as a campus band at Purdue in the late 1940's, the Salty Dogs became the Original Salty Dogs by the mid 1950's and were one of the top two or three groups in the genre for decades.  Here, Lew Green (cornet), Jim Snyder (trombone), Kim Cusack (clarinet and alto), John Cooper (piano), Bob Sundstrom (banjo and vocals), Mike Walbridge (tuba) and Wayne Jones (drums) show how to reinterpret classic jazz.  On two tracks Clancy Hayes plays banjo!

Recordings by the Clarence Williams Blue Five and Red Onion Jazz Babies featuring Louis Armstrong during the year he spent in New York with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra.  Also involved are Charlie Irvis and Aaron Thompson (tbn), Sidney Bechet, Buster Bailey, Don Redman and Coleman Hawkins (reeds), Lil Armstrong (piano), Buddy Christian (banjo) and Eva Taylor, Alberta Hunter and Clarence Todd on vocals

Some of the early New Orleans Revival recordings by Kid Ory's band - for Exner and Decca in 1945 and Columbia in 1946.  Featuring Mutt Carey (c), Ory (tbn), Joe Darensbourg and Barney Bigard (clarinet), Buster Wilson (p), Bud Scott (bjo and guitar), Ed Garland (sb), Minor Hall or Alton Redd (d), vocals by Ory, Cecile Ory, Darensbourg and Helen Andrews.

Louis' regular band in Chicago recorded several dates in January and April of 1933 for Victor with tunes he had popularized as well as come new pop material.  In addition to his singing and playing (definitely at a peak, despite reputed chops trouble), we hear Keg Johnson on trombone, Scoville Brown on alto, Budd Johnson on tenor, Teddy Wilson and Charlie Beal on piano, Mike McKendrick on guitar and Yank Porter, Sid Catlett and Harry Dial on drums

Some sides for Hi-Lo and Dee Gee by the Milt Jackson Quartet at the beginning of the career of the Modern Jazz Quartet followed by the actual group in one of its first recording sessions for Prestige - with Milt Jackson on vibes, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath and Ray Brown on bass, and Kenny Clarke and Al Jones on drums, standards an originals!