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Jazz in the Public Domain
Retro
Wolverines: When My Sugar Walks Down the Street, Goofus Five: Everybody Loves My Baby, King Oliver: Canal St. Blues, California Ramblers: Tessie Stop Teasing Me, Cliff Edwards: Somebody Loves Me, Wolverines: Susie, Henderson: Shanghai Shuffle, Morton: Shreveport Stomp, King Oliver: The Southern Stomps, I Ain’t Gonna Tell Nobody, NORK: Weary Blues, Tiger Rag, Oliver: Chattanooga Stomp, Morton: The Pearls, The Little Ramblers (Moore, Davis, Rollini, Brodsky, Fellini, King): Deep Blue Sea Blues, I’m Satisfied Beside That Sweetie of Mine, Those Panama Mamas.
The sophistication of Ira Gershwin sung by Cliff Edwards who introduced Fascinatin’ Rhythm on Broadway. Compare to Jobim’s version a la bossa nova. Then the young Wolverines with Jimmy McP. The Goofus Five with Bill Moore-Bobby Davis-Adrian Rollini in a novelty groove. Then Henderson/Redman gravitas with an Armstrong solo. Oliver stomps from the year before with Armstrong. Morton and NORK provide interludes and then Rollini’s ramblers go novelty. The way it was in 1923 and 1924. What a difference a year makes.
Syncopation primed earlier generations, George Walker and Bert Williams create a jazz singing tradition. Amidst Souza marches, Joplin ragtime, Creamer and Layton hit tunes, vaudeville, banjo ragtime, etc. all circulating as a national music on the theater and tent circuits. Thereupon emerging everywhere as in Carter Family and Opry, bluegrass, honky tonk, Western, r’n b, rockabilly. But New York hosted the Blues record craze with Bessie Smith recording star for Columbia among 40 or more such recording divas.
Ira Gershwin catches the infectious rhythm from his brother. Compare to Hart’s later I’ll Take Manhattan and Staten Island Too as an antidote to the rampant rhythmic invasion that was invading NY. For the local poet Hart, NY is a romantic haven. If you’re going to NYC, from anywhere in the world and you stay you may become a naturalized New Yorker, if not American.
NYC used to be Dutch, not a source of Americana, but keeper of professional traditions as in James P. Johnson and T. Waller, Carnegie Hall aspirants. Marion Harris the superstar participated in jazz integration, moving to Columbia Records to sing WC Handy.
If you make it in NY not necessarily true you make it anywhere. Take Al Smith. If you make it in America you don’t necessarily make it in NY. Oliver and Morton did some of their best work there but were not greeted with the adoration later generations would confer.
NYC did not adopt jazz in its New Orleans form as had Chicago. It has a virtuoso boutique status detached from its Southern and American functions like dances, compare this to polka which is purely a dance music. Or marching bands. From America came C&W, blues, rock, soul, spirituals, gospel, etc. all defined for audiences as distinct from jazz. But for example Fats Domino an inventor of rhythm and blues would be welcome at any jazz festival. NY sounds have also diffused into America, Puente, hip hop, stride, Monk, bebop, Tin Pan Alley, doo wop, salsa. Jazz survives better than ragtime did and It may be that its living popularity in New Orleans will have another impact in the future on America.
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49. Blue
01:01:18||Season 2, Ep. 49Whiteman (Gershwin p.): Rhapsody in Blue (side 1). Bix, Bessie Smith, Moten, OTO, Arcadian Serenaders {Wingy Manone), Oliver, ODJB, Henderson, The New Jersey Dance Orch, Williams and Walker, Clara Smith, Coon-Sanders, Arcadia Peacock Orch. of St.Louis, Vincent Lopez, Gershwin (side 2).The Gershwin recording with Grofe’s orchestration emphasizes the 1924 jazz style in Whiteman’s Orch fused with Gershwin’s classical keyboard. This is Third Stream of which Whiteman was the King. The Gorman opening clarinet solo is spiced with Don Redman-style laughing tricks and is apparently never played with these 1924-isms anymore in favor of more modern jazz phrasing. This episode ends with side two of the Whiteman/Gershwin rhapsody. Marcus Roberts did a modern update on piano worth watching changing some of Gershwin’s notes.George Walker sings lead on Pretty Desdemona from 1906. Oliver in 1923 does Southern Stomps. Bix in 1924 and the Wolverines play Tia Juana. Oriole Terrace Orch (OTO) plays Back Where The Daffodils Grow. Clara Smith sings WC Handy’s Basement Blues. Moten plays Vine St. Blues. Vincent Lopez plays Palesteena. ODJB provides Satanic Blues. Bessie Smith sings Frankie. The Arcadia Peacock Orch. from the Arcadia Ballroom in St. Louis does 4 numbers: Tripping Along, Ain’t You Ashamed, She Wouldn’t Do What I Want Her To ( vocal deleted), Dream Boat. The Arcadian Serenaders apparently also from the Arcadia in St. Louis play Bobbed Hair Bobbie. Coon-Sanders from KC play Show Me The Way. The New Jersey Dance Orchestra plays Last Night on the Back Porch. Henderson with Redman on goofus and Hawkins on bass sax (sound familiar?) plays You’ll Never Go To Heaven With Those Eyes. 1924 and prior public domain tunes, this is a sampler. Previous programs have gone deeper with individuals and here the Arcadian Peacock Orchestra gets some deeper attention along with Whiteman/Gershwin.48. Red
45:56||Season 2, Ep. 48Red McKenzie (Mound City Blue Blowers): When My Sugar Walks Down The Street, Charles H. Booker: Pencil Papa Blues, Ford and Ford: Skeeg-A-Lee Blues, Varsity Eight: Last Night on the Back Porch, Fletcher Henderson Orch.: Swanee River Blues, It Won’t Be Long, War Horse Mama, Steppin’ Out, Mama’s Goin’ to Slow You Down, Those Broken Busted Blues, You’ll Never Go to Heaven With Those Eyes, Forsaken Blues, Strutter’s Drag, I Don’t Know and I Don’t Care, Dixie Moon.One assumes it was Redman who took the Rollini pill adding a bass sax and goofus with Chambers in the Bill Moore role. Unlike the small Rambler groups, Henderson had Hawkins on tenor in duets with Redman and soloing, giving the unique full Hawkins sound. And Hawkins could play bass sax as in several here. Chambers is also inspired. This period of 1924 was prolific and innovative before the expansion to a big band sound.The Varsity 8 deliver an over the top version of the Whiteman hit Last Night on the Back Porch. Ford and Ford in front of Lovie Austin, Tommy Ladnier and Johnny Dodds have a frank blues conversation. Booker demonstrates blues saxophone lead. Red McKenzie isn’t the only star named Red, but in 1924 he made hit records with a comb, a kazoo backing him up and the great Eddie Lang, so Red it is.47. ODJB3
41:24||Season 2, Ep. 47Original Dixieland Jazz Band: Palesteena, Tell Me, Skeleton Jungle, Dixie Jazz One-Step, Mournin', Dangerous Blues (Al Bernard Voc.), Bow Wow My Mama Treats Me Like a Dog, Jazz Me Blues, Home Again, St. Louis Blues (Al Bernard voc.), Alice Blue Gown, The Sphinx, Look at 'em Doin' It.This is the third compilation after the Season 1 episode 8 tribute and Season 2 episode 46. Here is a mix that does not duplicate the last episode and is delivered without interruption. Some hits omitted in these twin episodes are found in the first show.46. ODJB plus
53:05||Season 2, Ep. 46The Original Dixieland Jazz Band with intermittent piano by Clarence Williams. Royal Garden Blues (Al Bernard voc.), Darktown Strutters Ball, At the Jazz Band Ball, Clarinet Marmalade, Some of These Days. C. Williams: My Own Blues. OJDB: Soudan, Toddlin’ Blues, Sensation Rag, Lazy Daddy, Fidgety Feet, Indiana, Lasses Candy. C. Williams: Gravier St. Blues. ODJB:Tiger Rag, Satanic Blues. C. Williams: Weary Blues.Tony Sbarbaro’s percussion is evident particularly in Sensation Rag. LaRocca apparently taught younger people like Bix indirectly by phonograph, who had a worn out ODJB collection of otherwise durable shellac and covered the tunes on his own recordings. Armstrong in one of his books lavishes praise on the Dixieland. Edwards on trombone, Larry Shields clarinet, Henry Ragas and later J. Russel Robinson on piano. A quintet with sometimes the addition of a saxophone like Benny Krueger. Included for intermission is the gifted Clarence Williams.45. After Hours
42:12||Season 2, Ep. 45Clara Smith: Freight Train Blues, Cold Weather Papa, The Basement Blues, The Clearing House Blues. Clarence Williams: Gravier St. Blues. Clara Smith: War Horse Mama (Pig Meat Sweetie), 31st St. Blues. Clarence Williams: My Own Blues. C. Williams Blue Five (Armstrong and Bechet): Texas Moaner Blues. C. Williams: Weary Blues, C. Williams Blue Five (Thomas Morris with Bechet): House Rent Blues. Atlantic Dance Orchestra: Lime House Blues, Henderson (Billy Fowler bass sax): Doo Doodle Oom, C. Williams: Mixing the Blues.Clarence Williams composed Texas Moaner Blues with Fay Barnes, and Charlie Irvis is on trombone. Don Redman is on Clearing House Blues, War Horse Mama and Cold Weather Papa. Charlie Dixon is on banjo and Don Redman plays the goofus on Freight Train Blues. Fletcher Henderson played on several tunes including Freight Train Blues, War Horse Mama and Cold Weather Papa, on which he also plays the whistle. Smith’s vocal with Ernest Elliott and Charles Mattson in WC Handy’s Basement Blues is among the higher points of 1924.Comparable high points were reached by Clarence Williams on his solo piano records and with the Blue Five and also by Henderson’s Orchestra who are included here. Limehouse Blues fits in as one of the hits of 1924 bringing more orientalism or chinoiserie to the fox trot.Henderson played a big role in some of these recordings of Clara and gave her a modicum of the special production support Bessie Smith received in 1924. Clara was at home anywhere but particularly in Henderson’s special world of Redman, goofus and whistle and she makes brrrr noises of her own on Cold Weather Papa. “My razor and your neck are going to connect” in War Horse Mama delivered without losing her usual smoothness, illustrates Clara’s brand: transcendent beauty and calm in the face of anything life deals out. There is much more to her 1924 catalogue and these are some favorites.44. Clara
38:34||Season 2, Ep. 44Clara Smith, vocals with varied artists: Waitin’ for the Evenin’ Mail, I Never Miss the Sunshine, I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down, You Don’t Know My Mind. Clarence Williams with Bechet: Mean Blues. Clara Smith: Don’t Advertise Your Man, Good Lookin’ Papa Blues, I Don’t Love Nobody Blues. Clarence Williams: My Own Blues. Clara Smith with Coleman Hawkins: Texas Moaner Blues, Deep Blue Sea Blues.Clara Smith is popular in any era. It is not a stretch to imagine her singing jazz in the 1950s if she had lived that long. Which came first: her perfect voice or the lengthy performance career that developed that perfection? C. Williams and Bechet are included for support alongside the ubiquitous Fletcher Henderson.43. Hawk
43:06||Season 2, Ep. 43Coleman Hawkins with Clara Smith: Texas Moaner Blues, Deep Blue Sea Blues. Fletcher Henderson Orchestra: Sudbustin’ Blues, He’s the Hottest Man in Town, Doo Doodle Oom, West Indian Blues, You’ve Got to Get Hot, Old Black Joe’s Blues, Charleston Crazy, Houston Blues, Jealous, I Can’t Get The One I Want, My Papa Doesn’t Two-Time No Time, 31st St. Blues.Listening for Hawkins you also hear Redman, Fowler, Chambers. In 1924 Hawkins was still nineteen, in 1944 he was 39 playing bop, in 1964 he charted popular jazz albums. With Clara Smith here he solos at length in his blues style and also with Henderson plays more of a blues attack than of the orthodox straight melodic tone. Billy Fowler is on bass sax on several tunes.Although Prez represented a new direction from the Hawkins style, the opposite is also true. Hawkins developed a unique rhythm-based style distinct from the customary tenor leads of Pettis and Krueger or lead c melody. Prez developed the c melody lead style taken from Tram. Possibly for the reason that a dance band tenor lead didn’t give as much excitement at that time. Hawk’s explosive approach led to Rollins and Roland Kirk.No sax section had better trained musicians than Redman and Hawkins. But neither messed with the fox trot orthodoxy at this point. Together they created a parade of hits. The Redman/Hawkins reed section -supplemented by Billy Fowler - by the results obtained, was among the most successful in highly competitive 1924.Prez from the Tram c melody approach started with the free floating popular dance band alto lead melodic line style heard early in Loren McMurray. But he drenched this high melodic line in rhythm with the band riffing behind him polyphonically. We are left rocking and rolling. Hawkins started from within the rhythm section as a basso foundation bouncing the beat but shaped by melody, like a bassist soloing. He brought a bass sax style to the tenor. Hawk and Prez both went off the beaten track, Hawk went low and Prez went high.42. Mac
45:57||Season 2, Ep. 42Loren McMurray (saxophone) with the orchestras of Eddie Kuhn (1920): You’re Just Like a Rose. Mike Markel (1921): I Wonder If You Still Care For Me, I Wonder Who You’re Calling Sweetheart, Say Persianna Say!, Idola, Blue Eyes Blues, Alabama Blues, Two Wooden Shoes. The Virginians (1922): I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate. Bailey’s Lucky Seven: Homesick. Lanin’s Southern Serenaders: Doo Dah Blues, Shake It and Break It, Eddie Leonard Blues. Eddie Davis: Hot Lips. Mike Markel (1922): Lonesome Mama Blues.This starts in 1920 with a KC band where Mac got his launch. Seven tunes from Markel is maybe a slog but this music is interesting and well recorded for 1921 from a talented society orchestra, McMurray being featured. In the second half the jazz tunes from 1922 pick up the pace. That’s Cliff Edwards eefing on Doo Dah Blues, a sample of what would become widespread two years later. McMurray helped expand the paradigm for the alto as the dominant melodic instrument (as did Bechet for soprano) plus low register slap tongue in rhythm support. McMurray had a busy recording career for about three years 1920-1922 and then he was gone at age 25, leaving the legacy of the alto as a star lead instrument.41. Off And Gone
45:23||Season 2, Ep. 41Henderson: Somebody Stole My Gal. Nick Lucas: My Best Girl. Gene Rodemich: Shanghai Shuffle. Oriole Terrace Orch.: Off and Gone. Bennie Krueger: Charley My Boy (Voc. Billy Jones). James Blythe: Armour Avenue Struggle. Marion Harris: Jealous. Armstrong (Henderson Orch.): Everybody Loves My Baby. Loren McMurray: Haunting Blues, Charlie Creath: Pleasure Mad. M. Harris: I Can’t Get The One I Want (lyrics by Billy Rose). Arcadia Peacock Orch. (Jules Schneider ts, Chick Harvey voc.): Where's My Sweetie Hiding. Rosa Henderson (with Fletcher Henderson): Papa Will be Gone. M. Harris: ‘Tain't Nuthin' Else. The Texas Blues Destroyers (Bubber Miley, Alvin Ray): Lennox Avenue Shuffle.Jealous is a dream reverie that Harris could deliver as in I’ll See You In My Dreams and Tea for Two. Another Harris tune Haunting Blues is here from Loren McMurray in 1922 his final year. Coleman Hawkins is identified as the bass sax on Somebody Stole My Gal. James Blythe played early boogie out of Chicago.The Arcadia Peacock Orch. was from St. Louis as was Charles Creath. Here also is the original Shanghai Shuffle by its composer, borrowing from Limehouse Blues which swept the US in 1924 with Gertrude Lawrence, whose career crossed with Harris who started in the US and then went to England. The OTO provide our title, led by Ted Fiorito. Nick Lucas is also on the guitar. Jules Schneider plays slap tongue tenor sax.