The Blues And Dixie - Jack Teagarden

 

Basin Street Blues

The Blues And Dixie

Jack Teagarden and His Orchestra

Rondo-lette Longplay A18

From the back cover: Jack Teagarden, one of the greats in the history of jazz, was born in Vernon, Texas, August 20, 1905, son of a piano teacher (mother) and a cornetist (father). His mother started him on piano lessons when he was four years of age and he received a baritone horn and lessons when he was five. However, at seven, young Jack's future instrument came to him as a birthday present – a trombone. His family practically made up a band in itself – his father on trumpet and baritone horn, his sister Norma on the piano, Charlie, his brother, trumpeter, Clois on drums and Jack on the trombone. The boy was extremely good for his age, and was the star of the high school band while he was still in grammar school. By the time he was fifteen, young Teagarden was working in roadhouses and honkeytonks and at sixteen he joined Peck Kelly's band.

He led his own band in Kansas City, working with Doc Toss, Willard Robinson and others. In 1927 he came to New York City and made his first record dates with Sam Lanin, Roger Wolfe and his debut as a recording vocalist on Red Nichols' "After You've Gone," February, 1930. He played with the Ben Pollack Orchestra from 1928 to 1933 and then worked with Mal Hallett and freelanced in New York. He then played with Paul Whiteman from the middle of 1934 until late 1938.

From January, 1939 until 1947 Teagarden toured with his own band. This was never really a financial success, but the band produced some sensational music with some of its members including Charles Spivak, Lee Castle, Ernie Cacetes and Dave Tough. In 1947, bad business forced Teagarden to work with a small combo, until later that year when he joined Louis Armstrong's group remaining until 1951. He then formed his own small band, with which he has since toured successfully.

Teagarden's advent on the jazz scene in the late 1920s brought a new style to both jazz singing and to the trombone – this is a style which defies classification but has caused musicians of every school to give vent to unreserved enthusiasm. Teagarden is noted among musicians for his ability to play for long periods of time under the most taxing conditions with no let up in technique or inspiration. He has been termed the "best trombonist of the day" by Miff Mole and Bill Russo has declared that his is a "jazzman with the facility, range and flexibility of any trombonist of any medium or any time; his influence was essentially responsible for a mature approach to trombone jazz." Teagarden has appeared in several films, among them The Birth Of The Blues with Bing Crosby in 1941 and The Glass Wall.

The Blues

Aunt Hager's Blues 

Royal Garden Blues

Basin Street Blues

Shine

King Porter Stomp

Boogie Woogie

Mighty Lak A Rose

East Of The Sun

China Boy

Hindustan