HARLAN LEONARD AND HIS ROCKETS – 1940 | The Classics Chronological Series – 670 (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Harlan Leonard first showed up on traditional jazz radar as a member of Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra. He joined in 1923 and served as a vertebra in the backbone of the Moten reed section until 1931. Teaming up with another Moten veteran, Leonard worked with Thamon Hayes' Skyrockets, helping to steer this band until it too dissolved in 1937. Leonard formed his own Rockets in 1938. In 1940 they appeared at the Golden Gate Ballroom in New York, recorded about 23 sides for Bluebird, toured all over the continental United States, and finally disbanded in 1945 while working in California. This band contained a lot of young talent from Kansas City. Hearing all of their records in one package is a gas. Swing had matured. It was obviously ready to lunge forward into big-band modernity. Beginning with what is the only known recording of an electrically amplified guitar solo by Efferge Ware, "Rockin' With the Rockets" is as solid as its name, with a healthy dance tempo and hot solos from reeds and brass. "Hairy Joe Jump" is based on a simple line that might possibly have spawned the famous introduction to Charlie Parker's "Klactoveesedsteen." Bird almost certainly heard this band when he was still in Kansas City. Did he store this fairly flaccid melody in his brain along with hundreds of other "head arrangements," only to pull it out years later and transform it into gold? Who can say? "Contact" is a fine jam tune. The saxophones growl, and William Smith plays fine piano. "Snaky Feeling" has a cool vocal by trumpeter and arranger James Ross. "Skee" is a smoker, solid stuff for the jitterbug crowd. Myra Taylor sings a perky "World On Fire" and Ernie Williams hollers as hot as the band blows on "Ride My Blues Away." With the bouncy "Parade of the Stompers," listeners have arrived at a turning point, for the next session introduces the arrangements of Tadd Dameron, who also composed material for the Rockets. "Rock and Ride" and "400 Swing" are particularly invigorating. Suddenly, Myra Taylor is back at the microphone singing a song about pickles. Based on the 19th century melody "La Sorella," this pop tune would be irritating if the band didn't swing so hard. "Please Don't Squabble" has Ernie Williams sounding a lot like Jimmy Rushing. Tadd Dameron arranged "A la Bridges," a lush tenor saxophone ballad for Henry Bridges, who comes across like a Coleman Hawkins devotee. "Dameron Stomp" and "Take 'Um" are climactic achievements for this exciting, short-lived band. These recordings, existing at the stylistic crossroads of bebop and swing, are essential episodes in both the saga of the Kansas City scene and the rapid evolution of mid-20th century jazz. arwulf arwulf  
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