Sweet And Hot - Wild Bill Davison

Sweet And Hot
Wild Bill Davison
With Ralph Sutton, Albert Nicholas, Baby Dodds
Produced by Bill Grauer
Notes by Robert Parent
Re-Mastering by Reeves Sound Studios
Contemporary Series
Riverside RLP 12-211

Available from online vendors so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the original cover art and jacket notes excerpt.

From the back cover: Bill Davison was born in January, 1906. This simple statistic takes on significance when you start adding on your fingers and note that he was therefore in his forties when these recordings were made and is at this writing (1956) at the mid-century mark. Nevertheless, there is more than enough fire and strength in his horn to arouse considerable envy in even the most spirited performer half his age. Davison's birthplace was Defiance, Ohio (a place name that can lead searchers after symbolic coincidence and/or puns to draw all sorts of parallels with the usually wild sound of his horn).

His first instrument was the banjo; as a banjoist and when he first switched to cornet, he was a member of assorted undistinguished bands in Cincinnati and thereabouts. According to some accounts, Bill was at first no better than his surroundings called for, but by the mid-'20s he had (like a good many other young horn men) heard Armstrong and Beiderbecke, and had fallen under the spell of honest creative jazz. He has been playing, ever since then, in much the same full and aggressive style he displays here.

But it took Davison a while to make his presence really felt on the jazz scene. Later in the '20s he played with such midwestern bands of those of Chubb Steinberg and Benny Meroff, which have been described as "genuinely corny." His earliest recordings were with these groups, and a couple of them do manage to testify rather clearly that Bill deserved to be in better company. He did work briefly with the Chicago jazz crowd, but did not record with them. (It might as well be set down here, as it is in most accounts of Davison's career, that for quite some time he was identifiable to jazz fans only as their driver of the car at the time the brilliant clarinest Frank Teschebacher met his death in an auto accident).

Bill led groups in Milwaukee throughout the '30s and it was not until 1942 that he first struck New York. "Struck" is no exaggeration. A long stand at Nick's established his reputation with local fans; he recorded with George Brunis, Eddie Condon and others; and when Condon's own club was opened just after the end of World War II, Davison became just about a staple item there and – along with Condon – just about a living symbol of latter-day Dixieland.

During 1947, Wild Bill was a mainstay of the series of weekly Mutual Broadcasting System programs, produced by Rudi Blesh under the overall title of "This Is Jazz," that marked the only serious inroads made by unadulterated jazz into commercial (even though unsponsored) network radio. The personnel consistently represented the best available talent of its kind, and the lineups on the selections issued here are typical: Albert Nicholas, Edmond Hall, and on occasion their great New Orleans colleague, Sidney Bechet; Harlem trombonist Jimmy Archey; pianists like Ralph Sutton and Jimmy Johnson; and usually a solidly traditional Danny Barker-Pops Foster-Baby Dodds rhythm section. Quite often, as here, the group was lifted and driven by the fierce Davison horn. The Side 2 selections are from the following 1947 broadcasts #1 - July 26; #3 - June 21; # and 4 - September 27; #5 - July 5; #6 - August 2.

The more unusual examples of the richly romantic potentials of the Davison horn are from a recording session that also featured Sutton, Archey and Garvin Bushell, a skilled and versatile reed-man whose credits range from playing with Jelly Roll Morton to playing with symphony groups. All twelve of these selections originally appear on the Circle label.

Why Was I Born?
Just A Gigolo
Yesterdays
A Ghost Of A Chance
She's Funny That Way
When Your Lover Has Gone
Hotter Than That
St. Louis Blues
Swinging Down The Lane
Avalon
Shimmeshawabble
As Long As I Live

Hi Fi-ing Herd - Woody Herman

Dandy Lion

Hi Fi-ing Herd
Woody Herman And His Orchestra
M-G-M Records E3385
1955

From the back cover: There are even a pair of cool tributes to the M-G-M mascot in Leo The Lion and Dandy Lion.

New Golden Wedding
East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
Blue Flame
Prelude To A Kiss
Love Is Here To Stay
In A Little Spanish Town ('Twas On A Night Like This)
Hollywood Blues
I Would Do Anything For You
Dandy Lion
Cuban Holiday
By George
Leo The Lion

Stan Rubin And His Tiger Town Five

Tin Roof Blues

Stan Rubin And His Tiger Town Five
Jubilee Records
JGM 1016

From the back cover: This is the first in a series of 12" albums by one of America's youngest, most spirited and talented Dixieland jazz bands. During the past two years, the boys have won national and international acclaim; the former made possible by prize-winning appearances on Paul Whiteman's radio and television shows aides by disc jockey programs which have featured Volume 1 on numerous occasions. The international acclaim was achieved during the summer of '53, when the group made its first tour throughout Europe.

Ted Husing, well-known WMGM disc jockey, recently termed the group one of the finest college jazz bands in the land. After the Tigertown Five's highly successful European trip, Elsa Maxwell wrote in her Journal American column, "I know they added enormously to as perfect a bit of Americana as you could ever get in France."

Stan Rubin '55 of New Rochelle, N.Y., organized the group on the Princeton campus during his freshmen year. Since that time his band has been booked constantly to give jazz concerts throughout the East. Appearances at the Dartmouth Winter Carnival, the University of Vermont's Kakewalk, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania have made the boys favorites among the college set.

The success of the band is illustrated by the warm welcome it received in Europe last summer, after it had played its way over on the S. S. Groote Beer. While in Paris, they caused a sensation on Bastille Day by playing on the Boulevard Saint Germain during the evening celebrations. The group was heard at such outstanding night spots as the Vieux Columbia, the Academie du Vin, and to be sure, Harry's New York Bar. After renting a car, the boys headed for the Mediterranean, where they were featured at MAXIM'S the largest night club on the French Riviera. This was where Elsa Maxwell saw them, and invited the boys to play at one of her gay parties. Celebrities including, Hedy Lamar, Claudette Colbert, Lady Ashley, Prince Bernadotte of Sweden and Aly Khan's two sons, were truly thrilled with the performance at the Tigertown Five on the porch of the Carlton Hotel in Cannes.

After an appearance in Sorrento, the group played at the famous Exselsior Palace at Lido Beach, Venice. A great tribute to their success was an appearance at the Taboris in Lausanne, Switzerland. Here they followed such name bands as Stan Kenton and Dizzy Gillespie. The group made a lasting impression on thousands of newly acquired European fans with their expert musicianship and great enthusiasm.

Back in the states the boys are still playing the college circuit, adding such schools as Colgate, Swarthmore, Rutgers, Vassar, Sarah Lawrence, and Smith to their growing list. Stan and company often find themselves with three or four engagements on a weekend, involving over a thousand miles of traveling in banjo player Dick Shallberg's '41 Chevy coupe.

Spring vacations find them in Bermuda at the Elbow Beach Surf Club, and Princeton grads always find the group playing at the biggest Reunions each June. Palisades Amusement Park recently featured the group in its opening day festivities. The boys have also planned a return trip to Europe for another gala organized tour, playing their way over in the S.S. Waterman. Newest addition to the group is sophomore Ed White playing bass in this album. – James L. Schisgall

Royal Garden Blues
Mississippi Mud
Panama
Tiger Rag
Muskrat Ramble
The Saints
Tin Roof Blues
Dixieland One-Step
Yes Sir, That's My Baby
Dixie
Basin St. Blues
The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise

The Dixieland Dandies On Bourbon Street

Cornpone

The Dixieland Dandies On Bourbon Street
Photo: Stephen P. Haas
Treasure Productions, Inc.
TLP 855

Suanee River
Bourbon Street
Way Down South
Just Thinkin'
High Off The Hog
Cornpone
Man Bites Dog
Forgetful
No Blues Allowed

The Piano Artistry Of Jonathan Edwards

Autumn In New York

The Piano Artistry Of Jonathan Edwards
With Darlene Edwards
Columbia CL 1024
1957

From the back cover: This album was originally conceived as a piano album, but the careful listener will detect a voice amidst the twinkling arpeggios. It is, of course, that of Mrs. Edwards, or, as she is known to her many friends and admires, Darlene. Mrs. Edwards, who is now a prominent clubwoman and a driving force in her community, returned from private life to take part in this album, selecting her own repertoire of sophisticated songs, several of which she originally introduced in Trenton, New Jersey. Once Mre. Edwards had forcefully expressed her willingness to participate in this album, Jonathan, always the devoted husband in spite of the many demands on his time and energy, accepted graciously.

It Might As Well Be Spring
Poor Butterfly
Autumn In New York
Nola
Stardust
It's Magic
Sunday, Monday or Always
Jealousy
Cocktails For Two
Dizzy Fingers
Three Coins In The Fountain
You're Blasé

The Original Salty Dogs

The Original Salty Dogs
G.H.B. Records
GHB-44

Available from online vendors so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the original cover art and jacket note excerpt.

Personnel:

Lew Green, Jr. - Cornet
Jim Snyder - Trombone
Kim Cusack - Clarinet
Johnny Cooper - Piano
Bob Sundstrom - Tuba
Way Jones - Drums

From the back cover: Since 1947, the members of The Original Salty Dogs have been leading traditional jazz crusaders in the Midwest. Countless numbers of jazz enthusiasts have enjoyed the music of this unique group. It is unique in that to its fans, the band's brand of authentic, complete arrangements sound to be the well-rehearesed, polished work of full-time musicians; in reality, the band is composed of part-time musicians, each member pursing a full-time career in the business world.

Over the years, some of the faces have changed; during collegiate days at Purdue, often-times in a one-year period, half of the band would graduate (or drop out) only to be replaced by waiting, novice jazzmen. Since 1962, the personnel has remained constant in that after college, the present members of the band settled in the Chicago area playing numerous weekend club dates and jazz concerts. The tradition set down in 1947 has withstood all of these changes and today, The Original Salty Dogs Jazz Band continues to approach jazz with the same vigor and dedication as those members who have gone before.

Panama
You've Been A Good Old Wagon
Emperor Norton's Hunch
All The Wrongs You've Done To Me
Come Back Sweet Papa
Cornet Chop Suey
Tia Juana
The Chant
Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider
Flat Foot
Annie Street Rock

Joe Williams With Songs About That Kind Of Woman

Why Can't You Behave

Joe Williams With Songs About
That Kind Of Woman
Arranged and Conducted by Jimmy Jones
Photo: Bob Ritta
Forum SF 9033 & F 9033
A Division Of Roulette
1960

That Kind Of Woman
Candy
You Think Of Everything
Stella By Starlight
Louise
It's Easy To Remember
I Only Want To Love You
Cherry (Arranged by Frank Foster)
Why Can't You Behave
Here's To My Lady
When A Woman Loves A Man
Have You Met Miss Jones

Flautista! - Herbie Mann

Flautista
Herbie Mann Plays Afro-Cuban Jazz
Cover Photo: Garrett/Howard
Art Direction: Sheldon Marks
Verve Records MG V-8336
1959

Personnel:
Herbie Mann, Flute and Bass Clarinet
Johnny Rae, Vibraphone and Marimba
Carlos Valdés, Conga Drum
Jose Luis Mangual, Bongos
Santos Miranda, Drums and Timbales
Knobby Totah, Bass

Available from online vendors so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the cover art and jacket notes excerpt.

From the back cover: The wedding of jazz melodies and harmony with Afro-Cuban rhythms is a process that has evolved during the past decade as a result of concerted efforts on both sides of the since-removed musical fence. While Machito, Tito Puente, Joe Loco and others found a new stimulus in the incorporation of jazz concepts, simultaneously jazz-men from Kenton and Rogers and Rugolo to Charlie Parker were becoming increasingly fascinated by the rhythmic challenges of Latin and Afro-Cuban music. (The terminology remains a little haphazard: many musicians use "Latin American" and "Afro-Cuban" as a virtual synonym but prefer the latter term.)


The advent of Herbie Mann on this scene is of more recent origin and has evolved from an occasional flirtation into a full-time romance. Born in April 1930 in Brooklyn, Mann studied clarinet, later developing a reputation as a jazz tenor saxophonist. He had dabbled with the flute, but had no idea of playing jazz on it when he was asked to team up with Mat Mathews, the Dutch accordionist whose quintet he joined in January 1953.

At that time Herbie had heard Jungle Fantasy, a strange and enchanting record featuring the flute of the last Esy Morales. For two or three years, after working with Mathews during most of 1954, he tried to develop the jazz ideas he had previously confined to the saxophone and the seemingly irreconcilable values of the Morales approach.

Gradually he became aware that of the various recorded efforts he was dedicating to the flute, those with the exotic rhythmic undercurrent invariably became the most popular. Among then was the much-requested Evolution of Mann in his pervious Verve LP, the MAGIC FLUTE set (Verve MG V-8247). As a direct result of the plugging of these items by Symphony Sid and other disc jockeys, he assembled an Afro-Cuban combo for a one-night stand at Birdland. Before long he found himself in demand for dates of this type, as well as for recording sessions of which his composing and arranging talents were required to be slanted in the Afro-Cuban direction.

The outcome of these developments, naturally, was Herbie's decision to form his own Latin-type band on a permanent basis. "I realized what had been staring me in the face all along," he said recently. "The flute, in the mind of the average layman, has more direct association and logical place when it's linked with this type of music. When I played straight four-four jazz on flute, they couldn't quite see that the instrument and the music belonged to each other. But this new approach was a way of appealing to the jazz audience and at the same time bringing in a large fringe element of people who normally wouldn't have been receptive to jazz."

Herbie's group opened early in June 1959 at Ralph Watkins' Basin Street East, a plush club off Lexington Avenue in Manhattan that had only recently been converted from an earlier existence as Casa Cugat. Presumably able to hang on to some of the crowd who had frequented it during the Cugat era, and at the same time bring across many of those who had dug him at Birdland, Herbie was an immediate hit at the club and has since returned there several times. By now he is also firmly associated with the Afro-Cuban groove that his career as a jazz tenor player seems like something in another, long forgotten world. – Leonard Feather (Author of The Encyclopedia of Jazz)

From Billboard - November 30, 1959: Flautist Herbie Mann and a group of Afro-Cuban rhythm men get together for an occasionally interesting album of Afro-Cuban music featuring Mann's flute work. But mostly it is rather uninspiring. Tunes are almost all originals, except for the oldie, Duke Ellignton's and Juan Tizol's "Caravan".

Todos Locos
Cuban Potato Chips
Come On Mule
The Amazon River
Caravan

Unrestrained! - Jo Ann Miller

Unrestrained!
Jo Ann Miller
Benn Arden & His Palmer House Orchestra
Musical Arrangements & Piano by Dick Marx
Photography: Bob Witt
Audio Fidelity AFLP 1864
1958

From the back cover: Jo Ann Miller has the good fortune to be endowed with not only good looks and intelligence, but the kind of creative instinct that would probably succeed at anything. Her rise in show business has been nothing short of meteoric, having gathered in the space of three short years a list of professional credits that would do an old timer proud.

Born in Texas, Jo Ann attended Texas Woman's University, where she majored in art. Having no eyes for show business at the time, she decided to study archaeology, and came to New York City's Columbia University for post graduate work in this subject. During her first summer in the city, some friends invited her to help out in various chores in a summer stock theater they ran. One night, when bandleader Tommy Dorsey caught her in a show, he invited her to join his band. Jo Ann started with a series of one-night stands. She interspersed her singing with more summer stock work, and eventually landed engagements at some of the country's top hotels and night clubs. She has appeared at the Fontainbleau and Americana Hotels and Night Clubs in Miami Beach, the Empire Room at Chicago's famous Palmer House, at the Black Orchid in Chicago, the Statler Hilton Hotels in Dallas, Cleveland and Detroit, and the Monteleone in New Orleans.

Good Little Girls
Woe Is Me
Gimme A Pigfoot
St. Louis Blues
When The World Was Young
Baubles, Bangles, Beads
Look To The Rainbow
Nobody's Sweetheart Now
New Orleans
House Of The Rising Sun
Am I Blue
None Of My Jelly Roll
There'll Be Some Changes Made

Bobcats On Parade - Bob Crosby

Bobcats On Parade

Bobcats On Parade
Bob Crosby And His Orchestra
Marches In Dixieland Style
Cover Photo by Jerry Tiffany
Notes by Burt Korall
Tiger on Cover Photo - Courtesy of Bankograph Co., Importers
Musical Instruments on Cover Photo - Courtesy of Emenee Industries
Coral Records CRL 57061
1957

From Billboard - May 27, 1957: All 12 of these Crosby bands are on a Dixie marching kick. Four were cut this year with some of the big sidemen of the late '30s reassembled. The others feature the smaller Bobcats' crew and were waxed more than seven years ago. Contrast in fidelity is very marked. Cover, showing toy tigers blowing band instruments is good for the impulse trade, and this, with the prominent display display of Crosby's name, should pull a share of sales. Worth a try.

From the back cover: Four of the selections were recorded on the West Coast recently, January 24, 1957, with a band of full complement: four trumpets – Conrad Gozzo, Frank Beach, Johnny Best and Charlie Teagarden; trombones – Sy Zentner, Elmer Schneider and Eddie Kusby, four saxes – Eddie Miller, Babe Russin, Jack Dumont and Dean Eckels; Matty Matlock, clarinet; Clarence Karella, tuba; Al Pellegrini, piano; Morty Corb, bass; Nappy LaMare, guitar and Jack Sterling on drums... The tunes: Memphis March, Skipping' John, Bobcats On Parade and Happy Valley Trek. Look for solos by Charlie Teagarden, Matlock and Eddie Miller, the power-house strength of the band and some wonderful drumming by Jack Sperling. In spite of the size of the band, it is to be noted that the music retains the vigor and many of the accouterments of the small band... Take note of the typical dixie ensembles...

Bobcats On Parade
King Cotton
Hands Across The Sea
High School Cadets
The Thunderer
Skippin' John
Memphis March
Washington Post March
The Stars And Strips Forever
El Captain
Semper Fidelis March
Happy Valley Trek