Roy's Got Rhythm - Roy Eldridge

 

School Days

Roy's Got Rhythm

Featuring Roy Eldridge

EmArcy MG 36084

1956

From the back cover: It would be hard to find a more fitting title for this set than Roy's Got Rhythm; for if there is a jazzman with whom the word rhythm is virtually synonymous, this would be David Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge.

Roy is regarded by many jazz students as the middle-era link between the basic trumpet jazz style established by Louis Armstrong in the 1920s and the new era instituted in the '40s by Dizzie Gillespie. Born in 1911 in Pittsburgh, Roy was only a teen-ager when he worked with such early middle-west jazz stars as Horace Henderson, Speed Webb, Zack Whyte, Cecil Scott and Elmer Snowden. Remaning with Snowden from 1928-31, later led a combo with his brother, the late Joe Eldridge, an alto saxophonist. Later in the '30s, Roy was an important part of the Chicago and New York jazz scenes, playing with McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Teddy Hill, Fletcher Henderson; leading his own small combo at the Three Deuces in Chicago, and later a larger band in New York City. The 1940s saw him leap to national fame as a member of the Gene Krupa band in 1941. He had various gourds of his own off and on during the next few years, as well as working with Artie Shaw in 1944-5 and again with Krupa in '49.

In 1950, Benny Goodman signed Roy for a tour of Continental Europe. After the tour was over, Roy stayed on, playing night clubs and making records in various countries until his return here in summer of 1951. It was during that period that he recorded the sides heard here.

All but two of the tunes were recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, January 20, 1951, with Lennart Sundewall on trombone and second trumpet; Carl Henrik Norin, one of Sweden's foremost modern jazzmen, on tenor sax; Charles Norman, piano; Thore Jederby, bass; Andrew Burman, drums.

Noppin' John and Scottie were recorded January 29, 1951, with Ove Lind, clarinet; Charles Norman, harpsichord; Rolf Berg, guitar; Gunnar Almstedt, bass; Andrew Burman, drums.

The presence of the harpsichord recalls the use of this instrument in Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five; in fact, these two numbers were released in Sweden under the imprint of "Roy Eldridge and His Gramercy Five."

Noppin' John is a minor-key riff theme; Scottie is a simple and attractive little opus credited to the noted American bassist, George Duvivier.

The blues, always an important part of Roy's repertoire, is strongly represented here. On No Rolling Blues, Roy sings the traditional story of feminine infidelity, then picks up his horn and wails as if the whole world begins and ends with the blues. They Raided The Joint and Saturday Night Fish Fry originated respectively in the bands of Hot Lips Page and Louis Jordan. Both tell a basically similar story of an evening that began as a ball and ended in the patrol wagon. Roy handles the lengthy narrative of the fish fry with his inimitable vocal charm. A fourth number with a blues foundation is School Days, realigned here into a format Gus Edwards would scarcely recognize.

On the remaining titles, Roy keeps the arrangements to a minimum and the improvisations at a maximum, both in intensity and inspiration. Echoes Of Harlem stems back to the 1930s when Duke Ellington introduced it as a solo specialty for Cootie Williams.

It is not difficult to discern, in listening to these sides, that he appreciated the high level of musicianship of the native jazzmen, as well as their good fellowship and hospitality. As a result, it is abundantly evident throughout both sides that Roy's got rhythm – and who could ask for more?

Scotty

No Rolling Blues

The Heat's On

Saturday Night Fish Fry (1)

Saturday Night Fish Fry (2)

Noppin' John

They Raided The Joint

School Days

Echos Of Harlem

Roy's Got Rhythm