Sweethearts On Parade
Mainstream
Vic Dickenson & Joe Thomas & Their The All-Star Jazz Groups
Recording engineer: Tom Dowd
Cover illustration: Phil Featheringill
Cover design: Marvin Israel
Supervision: Nebi Erlegun
Atlantic Records STEREO SD-1303
1959
The musicians who appear on this LP were selected by the English jazz critic and historian Albert J. McCarthy. – Buck Clayton appears by arrangement with Columbia Records.
PERSONNELVic Dickenson & Joe Thomas & Their The All-Star Jazz Groups
Recording engineer: Tom Dowd
Cover illustration: Phil Featheringill
Cover design: Marvin Israel
Supervision: Nebi Erlegun
Atlantic Records STEREO SD-1303
1959
The musicians who appear on this LP were selected by the English jazz critic and historian Albert J. McCarthy. – Buck Clayton appears by arrangement with Columbia Records.
On Sweethearts On Parade, I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me, Crazy Rhythm & Blues For Baby, the personnel is: Joe Thomas, trumpet; Johnny Letman, trumpet; Dickie Wells, trombone; Buddy Tate, tenor sax; Buster Bailey, clarinet; Herbie Nichols, piano; Everett Barksdale, guitar; Bill Pemberton, bass; Jimmie Crawford, drums.
Sweethearts On Parade, I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me & Crazy Rhythm were arranged by Dick Vance.
On Sweethearts On Parade, Joe Thomas plays lead in the ensembles at the beginning and end, as well as the 8-bar solo before the concluding ensemble. The trumpet solo in the middle is by Johnny Letman. On I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me, the first trumpet solo is by Joe Thomas; the second trumpet solo (muted) is by Johnny Letman; the trumpet solo following Buddy Tate's tenor sax solo is by Joe Thomas; both trumpets are beard in the concluding ensemble. On Crazy Rhythm, the trumpet solo which follows Dickie Wells' trombone solo is by Johnny Letman; Joe Thomas' trumpet leads the ensemble. On Blues For Baby, the first and last solos are by Joe Thomas; the trumpet solo following Herbie Nichols' piano solo is by Johnny Letman.
On Undecided & The Lamp Is Low, the personnel is: Vic Dickenson, trombone; Buck Clayton, trumpet; Hal Singer, tenor sax; Herbie Hall, clarinet; Al Williams, piano; Danny Barker, guitar; Gene Ramey, bass; Marquis Foster, drums.
From the back cover: The term "mainstream jazz" was coined by the British critic Stanley Dance. In his own words it is:"Primarily, a reference term for a vast body of jazz that was at one time in danger of losing its identity. Practically, it is applied to the jazz idiom which developed between the heyday of King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton on the one hand, and that of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie on the other".
"The tag originated during the recent period when jazz seemed to be entirely divided between Traditional (alias Dixieland, alias New Orleans, alias Two-Beat) and Modern (alias Bop, alias Cool, alias Progressive). Among those this division left out in the cold were musicians like Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins and Buck Clayton. Since all good jazz, of whatever kind and era, theoretically swings, 'Swing' was hardly an adequate label for them. Hence Mainstream for jazz of a 'central' kind, a music not inhibited by any particular instrumental combination, but emphasizing the twin virtue of communicable emotional expression and swing."
In the winter of 1958 I spent three months in the United States, mostly in the New York area, interviewing musicians of the swing period in connection with a forthcoming book. I was disappointed at the lack of opportunities many of these musicians have for regular playing and felt that very few received adequate attention from the recording companies. I approached Nesuhi Ertegun, of Atlantic Records, with the suggestion that I be allowed to select the musicians for two sessions to make up an LP and he was good enough to give me complete freedom in the project. In discussions with each leader the personnel was agreed upon and the choice of material and musical details were left to the participants. I was particularly keen to record Joe Thomas, a trumpeter whose work I have admired for many years, and one who has been poorly represented on record during the past decade. Four of the six tracks are by a group led by Thomas and a few notes on some of the musicians taking part may be helpful to newer enthusiasts.
Joe Thomas was born at Webster Groves, near St. Louis, Missouri, on July 24, 1912. He was featured with numerous big bands during the thirties, including those led by Cecil Scott, Willie Bryant, Benny Carter, Fletcher Henderson and Teddy Wilson. During the first recording boom of the early forties he made dozens of records, both as a leader and side. man. He won praise from collectors principally on the strength of solos with Fletcher Henderson, an Art Tatum session with vocalist Joe Turner in 1941, and a 1946 date at which he made a fine version of the Duke Ellington number Black Butterfly. He claims to be greatly indebted in his playing to the St. Louis trumpeter Charlie Creath, but the main in- fluence is obviously that of Louis Armstrong.
The forty-one year old Chicagoan Johnny Letman is not too well known. He has had a varied career, including spells with the big bands of Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Earl Hines; more recently working as a pianist-entertainer in small clubs. I heard him at the "Metropole" deputising for Roy Eldridge with the Coleman Hawkins band and immediately decided to use two trumpeters on this date. His fiery playing makes a good contrast to the more sober style of Joe Thomas. Dickie Wells is recognized as one of the great trombone stylists of jazz. Born at Centerville, Tennessee, on June 10, 1907, he has worked with many of the big bands but is best known for his solos on numerous Count Basie records made between 1938 and 1946. In 1937 he toured England and France with Teddy Hill's orchestra and while in Paris recorded a number of titles with the late Django Reinhardt that have become classics of their kind. During the past few years his playing has become notable for its sardonic quality. William "Buster" Bailey, born in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 19, 1902, was one of the first academically trained musicians to enter jazz, and has now been active in the jazz world for four decades. A mainstay of the Fletcher Henderson band for many years, he gained considerable public acclaim as a result of his stay with the John Kirby band from 1938 to 1947.
Buddy Tate now leads what is virtually the only regular mainstream group playing in the New York area, appearing at the Celebrity Club on 125th Street most week-ends. The forty-five year old tenor star came up with numerous Mid- western bands and at one time, when with Troy Floyd, his partner was the late Herschel Evans. He gained recognition as a member of the Count Basie orchestra and in recent years has recorded frequently with Buck Clayton.
Everett Barksdale worked regularly with the late Art Tatum between 1949 and 1954. A regular member of Buddy Tate's band, he is also greatly in demand at recording sessions these days and has appeared on a number of dates with Louis Armstrong. He normally plays an electric guitar but for this date reverted to an unamplified instrument.
The rhythm section is rounded out with Bill Pemberton and Jimmie Crawford. The former is not as well known as he should be, but his unobtrusive yet solid work is slowly gaining him acclaim. Jimmie Crawford, one of the great drummers of the swing era, became famous as a member of the superb Jimmy Lunceford orchestra, but in recent years has done a great Ideal of work as a member of theatrical pit bands.
The arrangements for this session are by Dick Vance, an excellent trumpeter in his own right, who was a fellow mem. ber of the Fletcher Henderson section along with Joe Thomas and Roy Eldridge. Sweethearts On Parade and I Can't Believe are numbers associated with Louis Armstrong, the former having notable solos by Bailey and Letman, while the latter includes a witty solo by Bailey, excellent Wells, two powerful choruses by Tate, and a good contribution by Thomas. Crazy Rhythm has very good solos from the horn men, particularly Wells and Letman. The fourteen minute Blues For Baby (dedicated to Baby Matthews, vocalist wife of Joe Thomas) has two choruses each by Barksdale, Wells, Nichols, Letman, Bailey, Tate and Thomas. The mood is sustained remarkably well and Thomas's playing here is as fine as anything he has done on record.
The other two tracks are by a band led by Vic Dickenson and were recorded on October 28, 1958 (the Thomas tracks were recorded the previous day); Little new remains to be said about the leader, whose witty and entirely individual playing has gained him the admiration of musicians and fans alike. Equally well known is the astonishingly consistent Buck Clayton, whose superbly controlled and imaginative trumpet playing has been particularly admired in Europe. In an era when so many trumpet players have adopted a deadpan tone, Clayton has remained true to the great tradition of his instrument. Herbie Hall, Edmond's brother, has had a long career stretching from early days with Texas bands to his present job with Eddie Condon. Hal Singer has played with Jay McShann and Duke Ellington, among others, but for a decade was lost to jazz as a result of his great success as a rhythm and blues performer.
The rhythm section consists of Al Williams, Danny Barker, Gene Ramey and Marquis Foster. Barker is a New Orleans musician whose career includes appearances with many traditional groups and a long spell with Cab Calloway's band. Marquis Foster is a Boston musician who is now working in the New York area after a spell with the George Shearing Quintet. Al Williams is another versatile musician who has recorded with artists as stylistically diverse as Sonny Stitt, Jimmy Rushing, Buck Clayton, and numerous rock 'n' roll groups. Ramey is another Jay McShann veteran, but in recent years has appeared frequently with modernists. The two tracks by this group are a medium tempo Undecided and a medium slow The Lamp Is Low. Clayton's theme chorus on the latter is a sensitive and moving statement, and it is significant that the solos that follow are in no sense an anticlimax.
I believe that this LP gives an accurate reflection of the abilities of just a few of the mainstream musicians working in the New York area today. The success of an LP of this nature depends on the inventiveness of the solos in the main and I believe that a high level was maintained through- out. The music on this LP swings all the way, it is frequently exciting, and now and then attains an exceptional level of creativity. – ALBERT J. McCARTHY
SIDE ONE
1. Sweethearts On Parade
(By Carmen Lombardo & Charles Newman; Mayfair, ASCAP. Time: 4:50)
2. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
(By Clarence Gaskill & Jimmy McHugh; Mills, ASCAP. Time: 5:54)
3. Undecided
(By Charlie Shavers & Sid Robin; Leeds, ASCAP. Time: 4:32)
4. Crazy Rhythm
(By Joseph Meyer, Roger Wolfe Kahn & Irving Caesar; Harms Inc., ASCAP. Time: 3:38)
SIDE TWO
1. The Lamp Is Low
(By Mitchell Parish, Maurice Ravel, Peter DeRose & Bert Shefter; Robbins, ASCAP. Time: 6:08)
2. Blues For My Baby
(By Joe Thomas; Progressive, BMI. Time: 12:50)
