EDDIE LANG – 1927-1932 | The Chronogical Classics – 1357 (2004) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This delightful set collects the earliest sides released by jazz guitarist Eddie Lang under his own name (or as Blind Willie Dunn, but more on that in a moment), which means it doesn't include any of his famous duets with fellow guitarist Lonnie Johnson, since all of those were officially released under Johnson's name. Lang does play with Johnson here on two tracks, though, under the name Blind Willie Dunn as part of the Gin Bottle Four (which also included pianist J.C. Johnson and horn man King Oliver), and his two striking duets with guitarist Carl Kress ("Pickin' My Way" and "Feeling My Way") are also here. One can't help but wonder where Lang might have gone on his instrument as the era of the electric guitar dawned, but his early death leaves nothing but "what if" conjecture on that subject. Lang was a much sought-after session player during his short life, and the sides released under his own name aren't necessarily his most influential, but it's nice to have them all in one set like this. Steve Leggett
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RED NORVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1937-1938 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1157 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

In this segment of the Red Norvo story, the xylophonist's collaborations with his wife, Mildred Bailey, predominate. This was a fine jazz orchestra with excellent soloists. One great and glowing jewel in the band was clarinetist Hank D'Amico, and Norvo's sparkling percussive passages are always a delight. Each of the five instrumental tracks resound with that fascinating combination of xylophone and big band, tidy brass over solidly arranged reeds, and -- beginning in January of 1938 -- precision drumming by George Wettling, that mainstay of Eddie Condon and his Commodore jam bands. With 16 out of 24 tracks serving as features for Bailey's pleasant vocals, this package will satisfy anyone who has a taste for her style and personality. As always, most of her material deals with romance or heartbreak. She sounds quite pleasant during a handsome treatment of George Gershwin's "Love Is Here to Stay," but if you scratch beneath the surface of Tin Pan Alley, things don't always look so rosy. Johnny Mercer's catchy "Weekend of a Private Secretary" seems at first like a cute description of a naughty vacation, but the lyrics, penned by Nebraska native Bernie Hanighen, reveal the mottled underbelly of old-fashioned North American bigotry. As Bailey shrewdly pronounces the phrase "Cuban gent," the song quickly evolves into a flippant essay on Caucasian infatuation with The Exotic Other. Ultimately, she presents a crude list of social stereotypes that a working girl would be likely to encounter while seeking out male companionship. These include a slicker, a hick, a Reuben -- this was originally a carnival or circus term for a rustic rube -- and even that time-honored American racial epithet, "darky." The band is tight, maracas and all, and Norvo's xylophone sounds great surrounded by Caribbean rhythm effects, but rancid social undercurrents leave an odd taste in the mouth. Further ethical/ethnic discomfiture may be experienced while listening to "There's a Boy in Harlem," which must be the most racist opus ever contrived by the otherwise admirable songwriting team of Rodgers & Hart. While accurately admitting that "all the writers copy" an unidentified Afro-American composer, lyricist Larry Hart describes the "boy" as sloppily dressed (!) and even paraphrases a nasty figure of speech by referring to him as "this person in the woodpile." The fact that "Mr. and Mrs. Swing" elected to record these vulgar songs speaks volumes about the prevailing social climate during the 1930s and momentarily sheds an unseemly light on their respective careers. arwulf arwulf  
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RED NORVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1938-1939 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1192 (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This is the fourth volume in the chronologically reissued recordings of Red Norvo on Classics. Norvo was married to Mildred Bailey from 1933-1939, and they made a lot of records together. Every side that appeared under her own name has been brought out in a parallel series, while all those originally issued under the heading of the Red Norvo Orchestra are woven into the Norvo chronology. That is why there are several volumes in the Red Norvo story that feel a lot like chapters in the life and times of Mildred Bailey. This feisty little woman was at her best when singing wistful songs of love and longing in her rather small, warmly pleasant voice. She would also dig right into a hot swing number and could occasionally be heard encouraging the band with little energetic exclamations, slightly off-mike. With one exception, all of her performances on this disc have merit. Unable to shake an apparent penchant for topical inanities caricaturing ethnic minorities, Norvo and Bailey opted for something called "Wigwammin'." Recorded in June 1938, this trite piece of rubbish trivializes life on an Indian reservation with stupid lyrics and periodic choruses of Hollywood-style "Indian" war whoops from the band. Bailey sings on 11 out of 23 tracks, and thankfully the rest of her thematic choices were more dignified. "Put Your Heart in a Song" and "The Sunny Side of Things" constitute a pair of optimistic essays brimming with good advice. "Jump Jump's Here" is a smart strut, sounding like one of Lil Hardin Armstrong's enthusiastic routines. "Cuckoo in the Clock" and "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" typify Bailey's approach to the silly novelty genre. Fats Waller's version of Ella Fitzgerald's "Tasket" tune, recorded in London exactly one month to the day after Mildred's, would out-swing everybody else's renditions, including Ella's original. Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer's "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," introduced in the 1938 motion picture Jezebel, comes across like a charmingly antiquated piece of vaudeville, maybe even a throwback to the Paul Whiteman orchestra where Norvo and Bailey first met. This apparently deliberate spoof of older-styled entertainment features a rather funny, stilted vocal by "the Three Ickkies" -- Norvo, Bailey, and a guy by the name of Terry Allen. An ickkey, of course, was the official hep-talk tag for an un-hip individual. Speaking of ickkies, Norvo chose to sacrifice six entire tunes to Terry Allen, a morbidly tepid vocalist when left to his own designs. Only the band and the leader's xylophone solos redeem those ill-starred selections. Each of the five instrumental tracks are solidly swung, with the two Charlie Shavers compositions -- "Undecided" and "Rehearsin' for a Nervous Breakdown" -- sounding exceptionally fine. [Note that the enclosed discography contains a factual error, something relatively uncommon for the Classics label. Although personnel on the session dated September 29, 1938, lists essentially the John Kirby Sextet plus Red Norvo, this cannot be the case, as the Norvo big band is clearly audible, trombones and all.] The Norvo orchestra's personnel began to change, and irreversible damage was sustained when clarinetist Hank D'Amico left during the spring of 1939 to join Richard Himber. By June of that year, Norvo's orchestra would dissolve, paving the way for an entirely new phase of his career. arwulf arwulf  
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RED NORVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1939-1943 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1232 (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The first ten tracks of this fifth volume of Red Norvo's complete recordings document the gradual demise of Norvo's big band, a unit he'd fronted since January of 1936. Only one of these -- a jumpin' arrangement of "Some Like It Hot" -- is instrumental. Seven tracks are burdened with the vapid vocalizing of Terry Allen. Mildred Bailey sings "There'll Never Be Another You," not to be confused with the more famous song with a similar title, introduced in 1942 by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. She also performs the weirdly infantile "Three Little Fishes," a goofy number that gooses her into sounding almost as silly as Mae Questal. Norvo disbanded the group in June of 1939, and briefly reassembled a different 15-piece ensemble to record four sides for Columbia in March of 1942. Mildred Bailey, who had recorded with Harry Sosnik's orchestra one month earlier, sat in to sing on what would number among the last records she would ever make with her ex-husband Red Norvo. "I'll Be Around" is gorgeous, not as stylized as Cab Calloway's marvelously polished version, but beautifully rendered with dramatic tenderness. The lively, humorous "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry" is one of her very best performances on record, fortified with a snappy infusion of rhumba rhythm and full-blown big-band swing. The next leg of Norvo's journey involved concentrated work for the war effort. He was one of the first to make lightweight 12" 78-rpm records for V-Disc, providing musical entertainment for armed forces personnel during the Second World War. As usual, spoken introductions were grafted onto some of the selections, first by vocalist Carol Bruce and even Norvo himself, who greets the troops before launching into what is apparently the first recording ever made of "1-2-3-4 Jump." This kickin' jam tune, which would serve him well in the years to come, is followed by three similarly exciting instrumentals, including an expanded five-minute treatment of Duke Ellington's "In a Mellow Tone." With these magnificent performances, Red Norvo attained artistic maturity as he prepared to accelerate his own stylistic evolution in a manner commensurate with the progressive jazz scene of the 1940s. arwulf arwulf    Tracklist + Credits :

MILDRED BAILEY – 1929-1932 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1061 (1999) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This is the first volume in the Classics label's chronological profile of vocalist Mildred Bailey. It documents the beginning of her recording career with 24 titles she waxed for the Parlophone, Okeh, Brunswick and Victor labels between October 5, 1929 and August 11, 1932. She was born Mildred Rinker on a wheat farm inside of an Indian reservation near the Idaho panhandle in Tekoa WA on February 27, 1907. Mildred and her family were members of the First Nation Coeur d'Alene or Schitsu'umsh tribe. Mildred's mother Josie Rinker was an accomplished pianist who specialized in ragtime. In 1913, the family moved to Spokane, where Mildred and her brothers befriended a boy named Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby. By the age of 17, Mildred was living with relatives in Seattle and working as a singer demonstrating songs in a sheet music store. She entered showbiz using the surname of her first husband, Ted Bailey. After developing her skills by singing in speakeasies and over the radio in the Northwest, Mildred Bailey married a bootlegger named Benny Stafford and moved to Los Angeles where she began attracting a lot of attention by singing in nightclubs on the Sunset Strip. (Legend has it she also operated her own highly acclaimed illicit microbrewery.) In 1925, Bing Crosby and Al Rinker dropped out of college, hopped in a Model T and drove from Spokane to Hollywood where Mildred Bailey showed them around and hooked them up with her best showbiz contacts. By October 1926 Crosby and Rinker were working for society bandleader Paul Whiteman. Teamed with Harry Barris in a trio nationally recognized as The Rhythm Boys, they eventually expressed their gratitude by introducing Mildred Bailey to Whiteman in 1929. Whiteman hired her at once; her voice was soon heard on national radio broadcasts and by 1930 she was his highest-paid performer. (The ethical nadir of her discography occurred on November 30, 1931 when Whiteman had her sing "That's Why Darkies Were Born.") Apart from four attractive sides cut with the Casa Loma Orchestra in September 1931, most of the recordings making up this segment of Mildred Bailey's chronology involve either the Paul Whiteman Orchestra or smaller ensembles largely composed of musicians who were affiliated with the self-styled "King of Jazz." Mildred's first two session bands were led by guitarist Eddie Lang and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer, with cornet passages by Andy Secrest that were carefully patterned after the style of Bix Beiderbecke, who had made his last recording with the Whiteman orchestra only weeks earlier on September 13, 1929. Beiderbecke's combined absence and presence are eerily evident. It's obvious why Mildred Bailey caught on so quickly as a vocalist; all of her best traits -- sweetness, charm, passion and poise -- were evident from the very beginning. Tougher than Annette Hanshaw and gutsier than Ruth Etting, sometimes Mildred let loose like a sassy American girl; on "I Like to Do Things for You" she even sounds like Helen Kane. At her best, Mildred Bailey was a gifted interpreter of ballads and topical amusements; her superb abilities as a jazz and pop vocalist are well represented by this first volume of her complete recorded works. arwulf arwulf  
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1932-1936 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1080 (1999) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Two dozen recordings made by Bailey between 1932 and 1936 form this important chapter in the chronological review of her best work. This is right at the time she left Paul Whiteman's band and started recording on her own, often in the company of top-notch jazz artists like the Dorsey Brothers, Bunny Berigan, Teddy Wilson, Johnny Hodges, Artie Shaw, and future husband Red Norvo. As always, Bailey's timing is impeccable, her intonation nigh perfect, and the songs -- even the poppier offerings -- all swing like crazy. Cub Koda
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1939 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1187 (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This is volume five in the Classics Mildred Bailey chronology. It contains all of the Vocalion records she made between January 18 and June 14, 1939. For all of her concessions to mainstream pop culture, Mildred Bailey was a blues-inflected jazz singer with traditional roots reaching back into the early '20s. Each of the ensembles featured on this particular compilation are decidedly hipper than most of her previous backup bands. Bailey's March 16, 1939 session with pianist Mary Lou Williams, guitarist Floyd Smith, bassist John Williams and drummer Eddie Dougherty resulted in a series of fine and soulful renderings of old time melodies like the "Arkansas Blues," "Gulf Coast Blues," "You Don't Know My Mind Blues" and Russ Columbo's "Prisoner of Love." Sixteen of this compilation's 22 tracks feature the John Kirby Sextet. This brilliant and creatively concise group had a frontline of trumpeter Charlie Shavers, clarinetist Buster Bailey and alto saxophonist Russell Procope; its well-oiled rhythm section contained pianist Billy Kyle, bassist John Kirby and drummer O'Neill Spencer. This little band was capable of handling material from the jazz, pop and European classical traditions; the Bailey/Kirby magic is most evident on Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine," Ziggy Elman's "And the Angels Sing," Lovie Austin and Alberta Hunter's "Down Hearted Blues" and the "Tit Willow" aria from Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado. On most of the Kirby sides, xylophonist Red Norvo can be heard obviously enjoying the opportunity to collaborate with exceptionally gifted improvisers. Premonitions of things to come! Norvo dissolved his big band in June 1939, not long after the recording of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," and began working with smaller, more modern-sounding ensembles. While Red Norvo would become an integral participant in the bop revolution of the '40s and '50s, Mildred Bailey's career gradually decelerated during the '40s, particularly after her health began to deteriorate. The records she cut during the first half of 1939 add up to some of the best music she ever made. For that reason, this particular installment in Mildred Bailey's Classics chronology is most highly recommended. arwulf arwulf  
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1937-1938 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1114 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Volume three in Mildred Bailey's Classics chronology revives 24 excellent recordings she made for the Vocalion label between January 19, 1937 and March 14, 1938. During this period, Bailey sang on quite a number of recordings issued (and subsequently reissued) under the name of her third husband, xylophonist Red Norvo. Everything on this compilation came out under the name of Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra. A glance at the enclosed discography substantiates a claim made by producer Anatol Schenker in his liner notes: "The small band recordings made by Mildred Bailey in the late thirties certainly bear comparison with those made by Billie Holiday." Alternating throughout the discography with sessions featuring Red Norvo's big band, the septets heard backing Mildred Bailey are populated with accomplished improvisers like Roy Eldridge, Chu Berry, Buck Clayton, Scoops Carey, Herschel Evans, Hank D'Amico and Edmond Hall. The rhythm sections were driven by such master musicians as Teddy Wilson, Zutty Singleton, Freddie Green, Walter Page and Dave Tough. Anyone seeking particularly wonderful examples of Tough's marvelously controlled percussion artistry needs to listen to "I See Your Face Before Me," "Thanks for the Memory," "From the Land of Sky Blue Water" and "Lover Come Back to Me." Mildred Bailey was among the very first people in showbiz to recognize Billie Holiday's unique abilities as a jazz vocalist. This compilation demonstrates some of the songs, moods and instrumentalists that the two singers had in common. A more far-reaching assessment of their parallel careers is sobering; Billie Holiday struggled against racism, patriarchal oppression, entrenched conventions that made her feel like her own voice was "not legitimate," and a swarm of pernicious addictions that ultimately slew her. Mildred Bailey pioneered the feminine art of jazz singing and enjoyed enormous popularity for a while during the '30s; then, obese and diabetic, she found herself marginalized as an insufficiently svelte anomaly and was ultimately discarded by an entertainment industry that has always valued physical glamour over artistic ability. arwulf arwulf  
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1938 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1160 (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This fourth volume in the Classics Mildred Bailey chronology presents all of her Vocalion recordings made between April 19 and December 8, 1938. This was the big time for Bailey and her xylophonist husband Red Norvo; of the many records they made together, those issued under Norvo's name appear in his own Classics chronology, and everything that came out under the heading of Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra has been assigned to her own portion of this label's historical reissue series. Most of Mildred's 1938 recordings found her comfortably backed by Red Norvo's big band; two important names in this well-knit ensemble were clarinetist Hank D'Amico and drummer George Wettling. On September 29, 1938, Red Norvo and Mildred Bailey made an excellent pair of recordings with the John Kirby Sextet. Certainly this little group's rendering of W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" belongs with some of Mildred Bailey's all-time greatest recorded performances. Human error presents collectors with a potentially confusing conundrum: according to a footnote amended to Classics 1225 [Mildred Bailey 1939-1940], the version of "St. Louis Blues" heard here was actually recorded on January 18, 1939, which means it should have appeared on Classics 1187 [Mildred Bailey 1939]. Initially rejected by the folks at Vocalion, the "St. Louis Blues" recorded on September 29, 1938 has been grafted onto Classics 1225. Both versions are excellent. Got that? arwulf arwulf  
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1939-1940 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1225 (2002) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Volume Six in Mildred Bailey's Classics chronology is truly a mixed bag of recordings cut for Vocalion and Columbia between June 27, 1939 and January 25, 1940, with two initially rejected items from September 1938 tacked on like a couple of lost cabooses. The first four tracks feature the John Kirby Sextet-plus-Red Norvo combination that worked so well earlier in the year (see Mildred Bailey's previous volume on Classics). The first three in a series of titles associated with the tradition of American Negro Spirituals find Mildred Bailey collaborating with a vocal group known as the Charioteers. This is one of several sessions heard on this compilation that took place under the direction of composer and arranger Alec Wilder, using 'chamber' instrumentalists like that master of the oboe and Cor anglais, Mitch Miller. This kind of production worked best when Bailey's voice was able to wrap itself around truly wonderful lyrics and melodies like "All the Things You Are," "Easy to Love" and "They Can't Take That Away from Me." Jazz-wise, in addition to the aforementioned John Kirby tracks, the hippest recordings here are "Blue Rain" and "I Shoulda Stood In Bed" waxed on November 3, 1939 in the company of saxophonist Ben Webster and pianist Teddy Wilson. Although Mildred Bailey's duet with Roy Eldridge on "Wham" sounds a bit self-conscious, she manages quite well with that famous exercise in Yiddish hep talk, "A Bee Gezindt." arwulf arwulf  
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1940-1942 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1279 (2003) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Volume seven in the Classics Chronological survey of recordings originally released under the name of Mildred Bailey compiles what appear to be all of the titles produced between April 2, 1940 and February 12, 1942. During this period the singer performed with bands led by Alec Wilder and Harry Sosnick, and may be heard harmonizing with the Delta Rhythm Boys on "Jenny" and "When That Man Is Dead and Gone." Even as she spent part of her time bobbing around on the surface of Wilder's chamber pop ensemble (fortified with a flute, no less than three bass clarinets and Mitch Miller's oboe, and English horn), Mildred Bailey continued to interact with the some of the top jazz musicians on the scene at that time. This album's enclosed session discography indicates the presence of drummer Kenny Clarke, pianists Herman Chittison, Billy Kyle, and Teddy Wilson, and trumpeters Billy Butterfield and Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge. The hipper arrangements were scored by Eddie Sauter, famous for his work with Benny Goodman and Mildred Bailey's ex-husband Red Norvo. arwulf arwulf  
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1943-1945 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1316 (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Most of Mildred Bailey's recordings have been reissued, but this CD is particularly special. With the exception of the final four songs, all of the music was originally out on fairly rare V-discs, making this a strong addition to swing and vocal jazz fans' collections. Bailey was one of the most distinctive singers of the 1930s and '40s and she was at the peak of her powers during the World War II years. Particularly worthy are the first four selections (including an extended version of "Rockin' Chair") in which she is accompanied by pianist Teddy Wilson. "Squeeze Me" is taken from the Esquire All-American concert of 1944. There are three songs in which Bailey is joined by a sextet led by her husband vibraphonist Red Norvo (clarinetist Aaron Sachs is in good form), ten songs on which Bailey is accompanied by Paul Baron's orchestra, a heated version of "Dinah" with Wilson and trumpeter Charlie Shavers, and the final studio date with a nonet. In addition to the first version of "Rockin' Chair," other highlights include "Sunday, Monday or Always," "More Than You Know," "Downhearted Blues," "From the Land of the Sky Blue Water," and "I'm Glad There Is You." Recommended. Scott Yanow  
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MILDRED BAILEY – 1945-1947 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1337 (2003) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

As she neared the end of her recording career, Mildred Bailey suffered from a steadily shrinking voice, but her interpretive powers were undiminished. The Classics volume 1945-1947 proves that point with a program of 25 performances backed by orchestras including Eddie Sauter's and Ted Dale's, and sidemen including vibraphonist Red Norvo (Mr. Swing to her Mrs. Swing), pianist Ellis Larkins, clarinetist Hank d'Amico, and trumpeter Dick Vance. Bailey reflects on her long professional life with a raft of melancholy standards -- "Lover, Come Back to Me," "These Foolish Things," and a tender "Can't We Be Friends?" John Bush  
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BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1934-1935 | The Classics Chronological Series – 744 (1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 With the exception of the final two titles, all of the music on this CD is from 1934, a period when Benny Goodman first formed his big band and appeared regularly on the Let's Dance radio series. Still virtually unknown to the general public, Goodman at 25 was ready for stardom, but the world was not quite yet ready for swing. The first four selections are from a fascinating combo date with the great tenor Coleman Hawkins and Mildred Bailey (who has vocals on three songs, including "Ol' Pappy" and "Emaline"). Another small-group session that features trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden and pianist Teddy Wilson precedes the Goodman Music Hall Orchestra's recordings for Columbia. The band is heard gradually developing their musical identity despite the lack of any major soloists other than the leader and (starting in November 1934) trumpeter Pee Wee Erwin. Helen Ward takes three vocals, and with "The Dixieland Band" in January 1935, the Goodman sound was almost together. Scott Yanow
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BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1939, Vol. 2 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1064 (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

1939 was most significant in Benny Goodman's history for the discovery of electric guitarist Charlie Christian, who became a part of the clarinetist's new sextet with Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Artie Bernstein, and Nick Fatool. On this CD, Christian is featured on such numbers as the earliest version of "Flying Home," "Rose Room," "Stardust," "Memories of You," "Soft Winds," and "Seven Come Eleven," plus the big band version of "Honeysuckle Rose." The Goodman orchestra (which still featured trumpeter Ziggy Elman) is heard on the majority of the selections, including the earliest full-length recording of Goodman's theme "Let's Dance" and a few numbers with singer Mildred Bailey. These Columbia sessions have not often been reissued in full, so this disc makes for a fine acquisition for listeners not already owning the Christian sextet tracks. Scott Yanow  

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BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1944-1945 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1345 (2004) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This segment of the Benny Goodman chronology documents the recordings he made with his trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, and "All Star Band" for V-Disc and Columbia from the end of June 1944 through the first week of February 1945. The disc opens with a magnificent instrumental version of "After You've Gone" played by a 16-piece ensemble featuring trumpeters Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, and Yank Lawson; baritone saxophonist Ernesto "Ernie" Caceres; Teddy Wilson at the piano; and Gordon "Specs" Powell behind the drums. As if to preface the recording industry's postwar infatuation with star vocalists, Goodman waxed a side with ex-Ted Weems crooner Perry Como and two additional titles with vocalist Mildred Bailey. Backed only by his rhythm section, Goodman concluded the day's work by frying up one of the hottest versions of Vincent Youmans' "Hallelujah" ever captured on record. The rest of this compilation is devoted to a wonderful series of small-group V-Disc and Columbia sessions, most of which feature Mildred Bailey's ex-husband Red Norvo on the vibraphone. Interspersed with occasional sweet vocals by Jane Harvey and Peggy Mann, the instrumental numbers are small-band swing of the highest order. The Goodman sextet in particular was greatly enhanced by the presence of bassist Slam Stewart. arwulf arwulf  
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JIMMIE NOONE – 1930-1934 | The Classics Chronological Series – 641 (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The fourth of five CDs that reissue all of clarinetist Jimmie Noone's recordings as a leader (but not all of his alternate takes) covers a four-year period with 13 numbers from 1930, six from 1931, four from 1933 and the final two dating from 1934. The performances generally find Noone backed by multireedist Eddie Pollack (who stuck mostly to the melody) and challenged by Zinky Cohn whose style sounds remarkably close to Earl Hines. There are a lot of vocals on these sides which are surprisingly rewarding including Georgia White's debut ("When You're Smiling"), Elmo Tanner (best-known for his later work with Ted Weems), Pollack (who is joined by Noone on "You Rascal You"), May Alix, Art Jarrett and two early numbers from Mildred Bailey. Earl Hines makes a surprise guest appearance on one of the 1931 sessions. Recommended to early jazz collectors. Scott Yanow  
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MILDRED BAILEY - Sings "Me and the Blues" (1957-2000) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Mildred Bailey was quite popular for a time, being married to vibraphonist Red Norvo; the couple was referred to as "Mr. & Mrs. Swing." After their divorce, the swinging vocalist continued to record until diabetes sidelined her not long before her premature death in 1951. This Savoy CD compilation gathers recordings that she made with the Eddie Sauter Orchestra and the Ellis Larkins Orchestra, along with a small group date with a rhythm section led by Larkins. Bailey's sweet voice and clear enunciation give her a little girl quality at times. Her moving take of Mel Tormé's "Born to be Blue" and softly swinging "Lover, Come Back to Me" are among the highlights. The first CD issued in 1992 had a miserly playing time of just over 31 minutes, though a 2000 reissue added four more tracks. by Ken Dryden
Tracklist:
1 In Love In Vain 3:05
Written-By – Jerome Kern, Leo Robin
2 It's A Woman's Prerogative 2:56
Written-By – Harold Arlen - Johnny Mercer
3 I'll Close My Eyes 3:03
Written-By – Billy Reid, Buddy Kaye
4 Me And The Blues 3:05
Written-By – Harry Warren, Ted Koehler
5 At Sundown 3:20
Written-By – Walter Donaldson
6 Lover, Come Back To Me 3:10
Written-By – Oscar Hammerstein II, Sigmund Romberg
7 Born To Be Blue 2:51
Written-By – Mel Tormé, Robert Wells  
8 You Started Something 3:00
Written-By – E.Y. Harburg, Jay Gorney
9 Can't We Be Friends 3:05
Written-By – Kay Swift, Paul James 
10 All That Glitters Is Not Gold 3:07
Written-By – A. Asherman, E. Asherman, L. Kuhn
Bonus Tracks Not On Original LP Or CD Release
11 Almost Like Being In Love 3:05
Written-By – Frederick Loewe - Alan Lerner
12 The Heather On The Hill 3:11
Written-By – Frederick Loewe - Alan Lerner
13 Gone On That Guy 3:16
Written-By – Unknown Artist
14 Don't Worry 'Bout Strangers 3:00
Written-By – P. Moore
Credits:
Arranged By, Conductor [Directing] – Eddie Sauter (tracks: 1, 2, 10)
Bass – Al Hall (tracks: 1, 2, 10), Beverley Peer (tracks: 7 to 9, 13, 14)
Bass, Arranged By [Musical] – Bob Haggert (tracks: 3 to 6)
Clarinet – Hank D'Amico (tracks: 3 to 6)
Drums – Gordon "Specs" Powell (tracks: 1, 2, 10), Jimmy Crawford (tracks: 3 to 6)
Guitar – Barry Galbraith (tracks: 3 to 9, 13, 14)
Orchestra – The Ted Dales Orchestra (tracks: 1, 2, 10), The Ellis Larkins Orchestra (tracks: 3 to 6), Ellis Larkins Trio (tracks: 7 to 9, 13, 14), The Julian C. Work Orchestra (tracks: 11, 12)
Piano – Ellis Larkins (tracks: 1 to 10, 13, 14)
Trombone – Henderson Chambers (tracks: 3 to 6)
Trumpet – Irving "Mouse" Randolph (tracks: 3 to 6)