FRANKIE TRUMBAUER AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1928-1929 | The Chronogical Classics – 1216 (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracks one through 19 of this second volume in the complete works of Frankie Trumbauer represent the last recordings that "Tram" made in the company of his friend Bix Beiderbecke. For generations each of these performances has been studied and savored primarily for the cornet passages (check that intro to "Borneo"!) and for Trumbauer's gentle handling of the C melody saxophone. During this period, most of Trumbauer's records were decorated with vocal passages of sometimes laughably puerile quality, as heard here on "Lila" and "Our Bungalow of Dreams." This anonymous vocalist, a staunch advocate of the "gee-whiz" style of singing, hid behind the pseudonym of Noel Taylor, used by the OKeh company to camouflage their sometimes questionable talent. Other singers include Scrappy Lambert, a cottony specimen by the name of Charles Gaylord, Smith Ballew, and Trumbauer himself. Be advised that "Bless You! Sister," "Dusky Stevedore," and "Take Your Tomorrow" are each thickly larded with Jim Crow racial stereotyping, as white men in audio-blackface carry on in minstrel show fashion. Ethically speaking, together with Lambert's assessment of "bamboo babies" on "Borneo," this is a low point in the Trumbauer story, even if "Take Your Tomorrow" does contain some measure of humorous theatrical timing. What endears lovers of early jazz to this spotty body of works is the presence of Bix Beiderbecke and guitarist Eddie Lang. Recorded on April 30, 1929, "I Like That," Bix and Tram's last recorded collaboration, is rosy and uplifting. Despite the absence of Bix on the remaining tracks, the positive vibrations continue and before you know it violinist Matty Malneck has been replaced by the inventive Joe Venuti. "What a Day!," "Alabamy Snow," and the zany "Shivery Stomp" are tasty instrumental foxtrots that bear repeated listening. arwulf arwulf  
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JOE VENUTI – 1928-1930 | The Chronogical Classics – 1246 (2002) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Even as the Joe Venuti/Eddie Lang instrumentals from the late '20s are worth their weight in gold, more than half of the fun in listening to an overview of this section of their complete recorded works is derivable from the often silly vocalists. Pianist Rube Bloom had a charmingly wobbly voice, preferable perhaps to the too-perfect, painfully innocent, but nevertheless endearing efforts of Smith Ballew. "Sensation," in addition to proving that Jimmy Dorsey could play the hell out of the baritone sax, contains Bloom's wildest vocal, consisting of bursts of scat singing mingled with dramatic moans and pleas for medical/musical assistance in what was apparently intended as a steamy sequel to "Hello Central Give Me Doctor Jazz." The delightful wordless vocal on the marvelous "I Must Have That Man" has often been attributed to Venuti himself. This CD's discography assigns it to drummer Chauncey Morehouse. Everyone agrees that the tuba solo is by the mighty Joe Tarto. Scrappy Lambert squeezes out two hilariously enigmatic love songs, "I Am Only Human After All" and "Out of Breath and Scared to Death of You." The last three tracks on this volume of the Classics Joe Venuti chronology are not so well known, probably because of the comparatively glib vocalists. Back to the instrumentals -- there are only five, but each one is a masterpiece. A 1928 remake of "Doin' Things," recorded with a smaller group the previous year, is refreshing. "Runnin' Ragged," recorded in October of 1929, features Frankie Trumbauer on bassoon. The idyllic "Apple Blossoms," a collectively composed serenade, is a study in perfect peace. Adrian Rollini, armed with bass sax, goofus, and hot fountain pen, enlivened the next Blue Four session, which took place during the spring of the following year. The musicianship on this collection is often astonishing, and the effect upon the central nervous system is known to be beneficial. Everything heard here is priceless for the fact that it is possible to derive from each performance a completely unfounded sense of well-being. In a jaded, postmodern world, that is a precious thing. arwulf arwulf  
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BIX BEIDERBECKE WITH PAUL WHITEMAN – 1927-1928 | The Chronogical Classics – 1208 (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Although this is technically the third volume in the Classics Bix Beiderbecke chronology, close examination reveals that volumes three and four retrace a timeline already traversed by the earlier installments, resulting in a reshuffled, non-linear progression that is atypical of the Classics Chronological Series yet seems oddly appropriate for an authentically surreal character like Beiderbecke. This volume follows a timeline from November 18, 1927 to April 22, 1928. Because the producers of this series ladled most of the "Bix & Tram" collaborations into the Frankie Trumbauer portion of their label's catalog, the entire Classics "Bixology" initially fit into two volumes (issued in 1996) with two additional volumes (issued in 2002) documenting Beiderbecke's tenure as a sideman with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra during the years 1927-1929. Shunned for years by jazz purists unwilling to stoop so low as to listen to Whiteman's string-infested ensemble, these are the great, marginalized and misunderstood works of Bix Beiderbecke. With arrangements by Bill Challis and quaint vocals by Hoagy Carmichael, Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys (among others), the listener is advised to enjoy the antiquated charm of late-'20s pop music while listening carefully for Beiderbecke's hot cornet passages in and among the more conventional (but also Beiderbecke-informed) trumpet breaks by Henry Busse. Beiderbecke's tallies vary; eight bars during "Mary," 16 bars muted during "Changes" and an entire chorus of 32 bars in "Dardanella." Naturally, there's never enough Bix to fully satisfy, but there never was to begin with. And he wasn't acting alone. Some of Beiderbecke's running buddies show up in the Whiteman flock; reedmen Frankie Trumbauer, Min Leibrook and Jimmy Dorsey, trombonist Bill Rank and bassist Steve Brown were responsible for helping Beiderbecke to conjure most of the jazz that wormed its way into these harmless, pleasantly dated performances. The singers are fun and the instrumentals are fascinating, especially the excerpt from Ferde Grofé's "Metropolis." Repeated listening allows truly devout Bixologists to identify his wonderful contributions and savor each solo, nuance for nuance and note by note. arwulf arwulf
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BIX BEIDERBECKE WITH PAUL WHITEMAN – 1928-1929 | The Chronogical Classics – 1235 (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This is the fourth volume in the Classics Bix Beiderbecke chronology, and the second volume documenting the recordings he made with society bandleader Paul Whiteman. It traces a timeline from April 23, 1928 to September 13, 1929. Because all of Beiderbecke's "legitimated" jazz recordings as a leader and with Frankie Trumbauer's orchestra were reissued by Classics years prior to the Beiderbecke/Whiteman volumes, this is a highly unusual example of a non-linear progression in the more or less tidily sequential Classics Chronological Series. (Stray tracks have been known to appear out of order in other artists' Classics chronologies, but a deviation of this magnitude is unprecedented). What you get here is a Beiderbecke retrospective that picks up where the old '60s Columbia compilation LP Whiteman Days left off. Beiderbecke didn't exist long enough to leave more than meager recorded evidence of his remarkable artistry, and there's no escaping the fact that some of his oeuvre involves a large pop orchestra sugared over with keening violins and peppered with pretentious pop vocals. Then again, the Whiteman/Beiderbecke recordings sound better than generations of jazz critics have ever cared to admit in public. This charmingly dated popular music is well worth experiencing because of the jazz musicians -- in this case Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke -- who made a living for a little while by signing on with this established bandleader. Then again, Whiteman was well known as an arrogant, egotistical, bigoted boor whose reputation among jazz musicians was permanently tarnished following his notorious brawl in the men's room at the Club Whiteman with percussionist Vic Berton and saxophonist Paul Cartwright, during which Whiteman coldly instructed one of his waiters to bust out Cartwright's teeth with a blackjack. Although this information makes Whiteman appear more repulsive than ever, those who are truly smitten by the cornet artistry of Leon Bix Beiderbecke are encouraged to listen to what he was capable of accomplishing even as a sideman in an artificially sweetened pop orchestra fronted by a bloated, tuxedoed anti-Semite. And now that the Whiteman/Beiderbecke records have been compiled and made available to the public, the only remaining portion of Bix's legacy still waiting to be reissued by the producers of the Classics Chronological Series are the recordings he made with the Jean Goldkette orchestra. arwulf arwulf
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ARTIE SHAW AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1939-1940 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1087 (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Artie Shaw reached the pinnacle of stardom in 1939, becoming a celebrity and having his band rated at the top of the swing world, at least in popularity. But Shaw did not enjoy the experience much, was under constant pressure, and in late November he left the bandstand and fled to Mexico. His band (which struggled on briefly under Georgie Auld's leadership) broke up a few months later. Running out of money, on March 3, 1940, Shaw gathered together a large studio orchestra (with a full string orchestra) and recorded six songs, including one ("Frenesi") that became a giant hit. This CD concludes with part of a second date (from May 13) with a different studio band. It would be a few months before Artie Shaw formed his third orchestra. Despite the turmoil, there are fine performances to be heard on this intriguing disc, the seventh Shaw CD put out by Classics. Scott Yanow
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