KING OLIVER AND HIS CREOLE JAZZ BAND – 1923 | The Chronogical Classics – 650 (1992) FLAC (tracks), lossless

There are more than a handful of undiluted jazz records that predate King Oliver's sessions of 1923, but few had managed to put it together in a recording studio quite so powerfully or, as it turned out, so very influentially. These primordial artifacts, now digitally remastered and chronologically assembled, form a substantial chunk of the bedrock of early recorded jazz. They're also remarkably liberating if, for just a few minutes, you make yourself into a fly on the wall of the Gennett studios. Note that young Louis Armstrong had to pretty well stand outside of the room so that he wouldn't overpower the rest of the players. Johnny Dodds interacted wonderfully with the brass, weaving wreaths of wooded filigree around the exhortations of Honore Dutrey's deep-voiced trombone. Lil Hardin, when you can hear her, is quite the majestic pianist, especially on "Chimes Blues." Baby Dodds couldn't use a full set of drums, as Gennett's Neolithic microphones couldn't handle anything beyond wood block or muffled snare and a small cymbal. Most previous issues of the 1923 Oliver Gennetts didn't include the OKeh sessions from June of that same year. These help to fill out the rest of the picture. The general recording ambience is less muddled, the clarinet seems to have been given greater opportunities for expressing itself in the lower register, and Lil's piano is more audible. Hardin and Armstrong's collaborative "Where Did You Stay Last Night?" sounds like a clear premonition of what Armstrong's Hot Five would be accomplishing by 1925. For years, jazz critics and historians have whined about the presence of Stump Evans, who blew C-melody saxophone on the session of October 5, 1923. As if being nicknamed "Stump" wasn't demeaning enough, Evans has been posthumously reviled for not sounding like Coleman Hawkins, although in 1923 young Hawk was hardly more facile than Stump, who sounds just fine on "Krooked Blues," slap tongue and all. Everything here bears repeated listening. Savor the wonderment of experiencing most of the best recordings King Oliver managed to make before pyorrhea forced him off the scene. Hearing those two cornets flying around the room together is an essential part of any classic jazz appreciation. A special treat lies within the melodic structure of "Camp Meeting Blues," which is clearly recognizable as the basis for Duke Ellington's "Creole Love Call." The inclusion of this and three other Columbia sides makes Classics 650 the ultimate early King Oliver survey, second to none. arwulf arwulf  
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KING OLIVER's JAZZ BAND – 1923-1926 | The Chronogical Classics – 639 (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

We'd like to introduce the last 11 sides that Louis Armstrong made with Joe Oliver's Jazz Band. After listening through three or four of these, you'll have a pretty good idea why this group generated so much excitement in its heyday. Already the ensemble has begun to morph. Papa Charlie Jackson's bass saxophone adds an extra level of funk to "Buddy's Habit," a thrilling stomp gone slightly weird when Louis takes an entire chorus using a slippery "swanee whistle." Jackson played a worthy tuba but his bass sax was all prostate and peritoneum. This was a hot band and these are among the best records they ever managed to conjure. Two cornets harmonize in striking tandem during the breaks. Honore Dutrey's trombone is the perfect counterweight for Johnny Dodds' clarinet. We're experiencing authentic collective improvisation, eight people sharing one microphone. Each of these numbers will charm you if you give the music a chance. Go ahead. Spend more than a half-hour with this amazing band. Suddenly the chapter ends and we've entered a completely different phase of Oliver's life. The group has dissolved after a dispute over pay. Louis lingered longer than the rest but by December of 1924 he's off plowing his own turf. A full year has passed since the band's final session as a unit. King Oliver is heard in duet performance with Jelly Roll Morton, working up a gutsy "King Porter Stomp" and a "Tom Cat" which soon reveals itself as Morton's "Winin' Boy." Now we're wading into the year 1926. Oliver has put his name in front of a band, which is essentially Luis Russell & His Burning Eight. Suddenly there are a lot more reed players than have ever been heard on any of King Oliver's records. There's Albert Nicholas, Barney Bigard and an alto player from Detroit named Billy Paige. He wrote the arrangements for "Too Bad" and "Snag It." Vocals are by the venerably funky Richard M. Jones, the soulful Teddy Peters, the salty Georgia Taylor and the chronically blue Irene Scruggs. Albert Nicholas plays a mean soprano sax on "Home Town Blues." "Deep Henderson" kicks and shakes. "Jackass Blues" is a masterpiece of distorted reality. Gone is the precision of the Creole Jazz Band. The Dixie Syncopators blow hard and swing loose. "Sugar Foot Stomp" is a screamer. Conventional criticism is full of complaints about this band. Why compare it with the smaller, more disciplined ensembles of 1923? These big bumbling bands of 1926 are about feeling good. The records don't exist to authenticate some expert's theories of refined excellence. If Barney Bigard wants to slap his tongue against the reed and Stump Evans tries his luck with a soprano saxophone, well, good for them. It's all about having a good time. And this is good time music. arwulf arwulf  
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JOHNNY DODDS – 1927-1928 | The Chronogical Classics – 617 (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Cut around the time Dodds was wrapping up his association with Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens, this Classics disc finds the venerable New Orleans clarinetist mixing it up nice and rambunctious with his Chicago Footwarmers. Along with brother Baby Dodds on washboard and vocals, the quartet featured a revolving cast that included cornet player Natty Dominque, trumpeter George Mitchell, trombonists Kid Ory and Honore Dutrey, pianist Jimmy Blythe, and bassist Bill Johnson. Their sound was ragged and irrepressible, with enough in the way of top-notch solo work by Dodds and Ory to keep things truly exciting. And while these sides don't match the quality of Dodds' earlier recordings with his New Orleans Footwarmers and Bootblacks, they still qualify as some of the best work of his career. After checking out Classics' stellar 1926 disc of No Foot and Boot sides, don't forget to give these tight gems a whirl. Stephen Cook
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JOHNNY DODDS – 1928-1940 | The Chronogical Classics – 635 (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

By 1928 and '29 jazz was beginning to mature and recording technology was growing up along with it. Even taking into account his remarkable accomplishments on phonograph records from 1923 through early 1928, the exciting material gathered together on this disc represents -- without question -- some of the very best jazz ever recorded by New Orleans/Chicago clarinet archetype Johnny Dodds. On the first 11 selections, Natty Dominique blows one tough little cornet, and Bill Johnson's bull fiddle comes across more clearly and dramatically than ever before. Throughout the 1920s, many bands relied on the tuba to provide the bassline on their recordings. Bolstered by the Victor Record company's superior equipment, Johnson's pulsing, visceral viol carries everyone along on a tonal current of unforgettable intensity. Anybody interested in trombonist Honore Dutrey should listen closely as this has got to be some of his best work on record. There's nothing quite like hearing Baby Dodds using the washboard as a neat, precise percussion tool. All the same it's refreshing when he switches to the drum kit and Lil Hardin Armstrong presides at the ivories. "Heah Me Talkin'" is a triumph, "Goober Dance" is pleasantly weird, and "Indigo Stomp" a wonderful ritual for piano, clarinet and bass fiddle. At that same session Johnny's group backed blueswoman Sippie Wallace on one song. This would be the only time Sippie and Johnny would collaborate in the studio. "I'm a Mighty Tight Woman" is a remarkable document, one of the strongest performances that this singer ever put across. The Paramount Pickers and Beale Street Washboard Band sessions are a delight, the sort of music you can go back and revisit regularly. The crowning glory of this collection is the inclusion of eight Decca recordings from 1938 and '40 that constitute the phonographic last will and testament of Johnny Dodds. Hearing his noble clarinet resounding in the same company as Charlie Shavers, John Kirby, Lonnie Johnson, Teddy Bunn, and the mighty Richard M. Jones brings out all of the best qualities in each musician. With O'Neill Spencer singing, drumming and rubbing on a washboard, we're faced with fully half of the John Kirby Sextet, a decidedly modern contingent mingling perfectly with players whose experience reached back towards the very beginnings of recorded jazz. arwulf arwulf  
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