| 1. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | Tiger Rag -- Bix Beiderbecke with The Wolverines
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| 2. | Mississippi Mud -- Bix Beiderbecke with Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
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| 3. | Sweet Georgia Brown -- Jimmie Noone & His New Orleans Band
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| 4. | Clambake In B Flat -- The Capitol Jazz Band
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| 5. | Sugarfoot Stomp -- Kid Ory & His Creole Jazz Band
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| 6. | Yes! I'm In The Barrel -- Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
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| 7. | Gatemouth -- The New Orleans Wanderers
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| 8. | When Erastus Plays His Old Kazoo -- Johnny Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers
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| 9. | Moten Swing -- Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
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| 10. | Skull Duggery -- Hot Lips Page & His Band
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| 11. | Gone With The Gin -- Hot Lips Page & His Band
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| 12. | Blues In The Night -- Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
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| 13. | The Sheik Of Araby -- The &
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| 14. | They Raided The Joint -- Hot Lips Page & His Orchestra
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| 15. | Canal Street Blues -- King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
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| 16. | Dippermouth Blues -- King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
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| 17. | Riverside Blues -- King Oliver's Jazz Band
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| 18. | Showboat Suffle -- King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopaters
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| 19. | Willie The Weeper -- King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopaters
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| 20. | Farewell Blues -- King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopaters
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| 2. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | Way Down Yonder In New Orleans -- Jimmie Noone & His New Orleans Band
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| 2. | Deep Henderson -- Dixie Syncopaters
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| 3. | Black Bottom Stomp -- Jelly Roll Morton
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| 4. | Wolverine Blues -- Jelly Roll Morton
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| 5. | Mint Julep -- Jelly Roll Morton
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| 6. | Toddlin' Blues -- Bix Beiderbecke with His Rhythm Jugglers
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| 7. | I Know That You Know -- Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra
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| 8. | Deep Down South -- Bix Beiderbecke & His Orchestra
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| 9. | Apex Blues -- Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra
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| 10. | Mixed Salad -- The New Orleans Bootblacks
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| 11. | Wild Man Blues -- Johnny Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers
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| 12. | Ballin' A Jack -- The Chicago Footwarmers
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| 13. | Good Old Bosom Bread -- Hot Lips Page & His Band
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| 14. | Lafayette -- Hot Lips Page & His Band
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| 15. | Snake Rag -- King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
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| 16. | Chattanooga Stomp -- King Oliver's Jazz Band
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| 17. | West End Blues -- King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopaters
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| 18. | New Orleans Shout -- King Oliver & His Orchestra
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| 19. | Oh! Sister, Ain't That Hot -- Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra
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| 20. | Riverboat Shuffle -- Bix Beiderbecke with Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra
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| 3. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | St. James Infirmary -- Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
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| 2. | Muskrat Ramble -- Kid Ory & His Creole Jazz Band
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| 3. | Jazz Me Blues -- Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang
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| 4. | Singin' The Blues -- Bix Beiderbecke with Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra
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| 5. | Shreveport Stomp -- Jelly Roll Morton
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| 6. | Ostrich Walk -- Bix Beiderbecke with Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra
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| 7. | Play That Thing -- Ollie Powers & His Harmony Syncopators
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| 8. | I Lost My Gal From Memphis -- Jimmie Noone's Apex Jazz Orchestra
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| 9. | Flat Foot -- The New Orleans Bootblacks
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| 10. | Too Tight -- The New Orleans Wanderers
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| 11. | Bucktown Stomp -- Johnny Dodds' Washboard Band
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| 12. | Melancholy -- Johnny Dodds & His Chicago Boys
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| 13. | Blues With Lips -- Count Basie & His Orchestra
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| 14. | Uncle Sam Blues -- Hop Lips Page & His Hot Swing Seven
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| 15. | Chimes Blues -- King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
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| 16. | Black Snake Blues -- King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopaters
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| 17. | Rhythm Club Stomp -- King Oliver & His Orchestra
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| 18. | New Orleans Hop Scop Blues -- Jimmie Noone & His Orchestra
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| 19. | Since My Best Girl Turned Me Down -- Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang
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| 20. | At The Jazz Band Ball -- Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang
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Jazz
New Orleans, in America's 'Deep South' was a hotbed of exciting new jazz styles back in the 1930s and '40s, and this collection features the greatest legends of the day performing their all-time classic tracks.
New Orleans is the generally accepted birthplace of jazz. Yet although the infant music's most significant practitioners plied their trade in the city, many deserted their home to make their finest recordings elsewhere in the United States.
At this stage, the rewards to be found in the north outweighed those to be had in the relatively impoverished south of the country. Hence New Orleans jazz spread its wings when still in development and, in the 1920s, major figures such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton could all be found working in Chicago.
Those early records by the aforementioned giants and their bands - Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sixes, Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and Morton's Red Hot Peppers - were the finest examples of the genre and set the standards for others to aspire to. Of course, none of the musicians involved would ever have dreamed of their efforts being accorded classic status as the decades progressed; these were simply a group of men trying to make a living in the only way they knew how.
These innovators from either the black or Creole communities inspired their white counterparts to embrace the music; indeed the first 'jazz' recording ever made, in 1917, is credited to a white outfit, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The leader of the ODJB even claimed that black musicians had taken their ideas from whites - a complete reversal of the accepted truth.
All those fledgling recordings were played in the New Orleans manner with virtually the same instrumentation, the front line typically sporting cornet/trumpet, clarinet and trombone.
The cornet was not only the chosen instrument of King Oliver and, initially, Louis Armstrong, but also Leon 'Bix' Beiderbecke, the most significant white musician of the period. The story of this great jazzman's tragic, alcohol-accelerated demise has been frequently told but should never be allowed to cloud his outstanding, if short-lived, contribution to the music's development.
Coming from Iowa, he founded his style totally independently of those from down South. Bix's approach cultivated the lyrical aspects of the music and his near inability to read music was offset by perfect pitch. Here, indeed, was the alternative to the fiery Armstrong.
A number of his recordings must be regarded as far from perfect, frequently because of Bix's superiority over his fellow musicians, but he cut through it all with that magnificent tone. Stylistically, the sounds that emanated from his recordings, both with the famous Wolverines and His Gang, owed a great debt to the New Orleans men, although certain nuances gave them a stamp of originality. Taking up a seat in the ranks of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra gave him little chance to showcase his talent and must have led to frustration. Working for the self-styled 'King Of Jazz' may have been remunerative but did little to stimulate a troubled mind.
There are fine examples from the work of all the aforementioned artists on this collection, but they were only part of a music style which would eventually be described as 'the only truly American art form'. Louisiana-born trombonist Edward 'Kid' Ory put his stamp on history in 1922 when he was the leader of the first black jazz band to record. By this juncture he had already employed Armstrong, Oliver and the budding genius that was Sidney Bechet.
Never the greatest of technicians (he was self-taught, as were many of his contemporaries), Ory nonetheless epitomised the spirit of New Orleans music and lived to see the revival of interest in the form long after it was regarded as passe. He came out of retirement in the mid-1940s to become a respected bandleader again, also appearing in a number of films.
The instrument which fell out of favour with the modernist movement in the forties was the clarinet, de rigueur for any New Orleans ensemble. Two of its finest exponents were Johnny Dodds and Jimmy Noone: the former was a member of Armstrong's 'Hot' groups in the 1920s, the latter credited with being a major influence on Benny Goodman.
Dodds worked with Kid Ory, Fate Marable and, most famously, King Oliver before taking to the studio with Armstrong for those classic studio dates. He is generally accepted as the musician who gave his instrument a pertinent voice in jazz, for it had often been used for novelty effect rather than serious music-making. Dodds brought a purity of tone and much-needed fresh ideas to complement his distinguished front-line associates.
Despite matching Dodds with his glorious tone and elegantly flowing style, Noone was sadly under-recorded. The evidence we have is proof enough, however, of an accomplished talent who worked with cornet-man Freddie Keppard, Oliver and Morton. His first recordings as a leader came in 1928 when he fronted the Apex Club Orchestra, whose line-up also included mercurial pianist Earl Hines.
Also included on this compilation are a number of tracks from Texan trumpeter Oran 'Hot Lips' Page who performed behind blues singers Bessie Smith and Ida Cox while honing a style mirroring much of what was emerging from the Crescent City. In the mid-1930s he found himself in the Count Basie band, a short-lived experience due to the insistence of manager Joe Glaser that he could turn him into a big name like Armstrong if he went out on his own. Needless to say Page never did match Louis' success but forged a career which did garner a couple of hits, not to mention an affection from a public who embraced his mix of musical expertise and showmanship.
New Orleans jazz has never really left us, in the same way that the big bands never died. In the 1950s, much to the horror of the purists, it re-emerged in the form of the British Trad Jazz movement, and Messrs Ball, Barber and Bilk were soon vying for position in the popular music charts. The majority of people who bought the records knew little and cared less about their antecedents who had invented and nurtured the style some 30 to 40 years earlier. Here we have the real thing and nothing can beat the genuine article!
Peter Gamble |
