SwingaBILLYty - Billy Maxted

 

Tiger Rag

"SwingaBILLYty"

The Versatile Music of Billy Maxted and His Manhattan Jazz Band

Cover Photography: William Richards Associates

Cover Design: Robert F. Littlehale

K&H Records, Inc. KS-301

1961

Cover Photo, left to right:

Billy Maxted - piano and leader

Danny Tracey - clarinet and tenor sax

Chuck Forsyth - trumpet

John Dengler - trumpet, tuba and bass sax

Ed Hubble - trombone

Don MacLena - drums

(Not pictured – Jack Lesberg, string bass – added to band for recording session only)

From the back cover: Billy Maxted, Versatility and Swing-BILLYty – these key words pinpoint the music of the Billy Maxted Manhattan Jazz Band not only in this album, but also in their personal appearances throughout the country.

Billy Maxted, himself, is well-known in jazz circles as an accomplished pianist, arrangers, composer and band leader. His natural ability in these areas and his continued drive of himself and his band members certainly is the key to this success but it is interesting to not the rich musical background to which Maxted's many talents have been exposed. At the age of 18 he joined Red Nichols as a piano player and/or arranger and since that time has played and/or arranged for the Ben Pollack, Benny Goodman, Will Bradley, Bob Crosby, Claude Thornhill and Phil Napolean bands.

Maxted started his own band in September of 1955 at Nick's in Greenwich Village in New York. For three years the band entertained the Nick's crowd with a fine swinging Dixie or Dixieland Manhattan Style, as Billy prefers to call it. In the fall of 1958 the band left New York and began to play at other spots around the country. At this time, Johnny Dengler and Danny Tracey joined the band and, in effect, six men became a nine piece band (Dengler: trumpet, tuba and bass sax – Tracey: clarinet and tenor sax). While this nine instrument band did have one important limitation – only six could be played at one time – the added instruments further intrigued Maxted's arranging talents and imagination. Slowly at first, he began to experiment with different sounds. The momentum of his work increased however, with the enthusiastic reception the public gave his new arrangements. The climax, of course, is in the music of this album – a tribute to his arranging ability and the musical talents of himself and the other members of the band.

Ole Miss

Satin Doll

Runnin' Wild

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Tiger Rag

Come Back Sweet Papa

Gin Mill Blues

Milenberg Joys

How Long Has This Been Going On

Song Of The Wanderer