WILLIE "THE LION" SMITH – 1944-1949 | The Chronogical Classics – 1229 (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Willie "The Lion" Smith had a career that was somewhat sporadically documented in phonograph records. Living almost until the age of 80, he waxed a fair number of piano solos over many decades and sat in from time to time here and there, but only occasionally led his own bands. The solos greatly outnumber his ensemble recordings, and so it is always interesting to hear this pianist operating as part of a group. On September 29, 1944, a sextet calling itself the Lion's Band cut four sides for the small-time Black & White label in New York. Trumpeter Max Kaminsky, clarinetist Rod Cless, and trombonist Frank Orchard made for a strong front line, perfect for Kid Ory's "Muskrat Ramble" and "Bugle Call Rag." Smith sang on his own sentimental composition, "How Could You Put Me Down." Sounding a bit plaintive but not unpleasant, he was already ripening into the old man who would be heard singing and playing for the patrons of Blues Alley on two albums brought out by the Chiaroscuro label many years later. The odd tune here is "Let's Mop It," a somewhat forced bit of hipness based on the famous lick from Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts." With the exception of "Woodland Fantasy," a pleasant piano solo left over from a Moses Asch recording project, the rest of the material on this disc was recorded in Paris during December of 1949. There are 14 piano solos covering a good sampling of Smith's catalog of original compositions, along with a few standards and a pair of shouts by his old companion James P. Johnson: "Charleston" and "Carolina Shout." Smith's reflective blue reverie "I'm Gonna Ride the Rest of the Way" is particularly satisfying. As a sort of epilogue, listeners are treated to a session featuring the magnificent trumpet of Buck Clayton in the company of a rather reedy-sounding Claude Luter, who does his best to emulate his hero, Sidney Bechet. This little band's version of "Nagasaki" is especially delightful, as Willie strides up and down the piano while chuckling, grumbling, and shouting with joy. arwulf arwulf  
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JAMES P. JOHNSON – 1944, Vol. 2 | The Classics Chronological Series – 856 (1995) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This installment in the James P. Johnson chronology includes no less than eight sides featuring the clarinet of Rod Cless, who didn't live long enough to make very many recordings. The first four selections are played by Max Kaminsky & His Jazz Band, a staunch Eddie Condon group recording for Commodore Records in June of 1944. Their music is warmly reassuring. Next comes a series of gorgeous piano solos, each one precious and iridescent as lapis lazuli. In the months that followed the sudden death of his close friend and protégé Fats Waller, Johnson created a series of interpretations of songs written by Waller ("Squeeze Me") or forever linked with him ("I'm Gonna Sit Right Down"). Johnson also set down on record a marvelous catalog of his own compositions, eight of which appear on this disc. Some of these melodies date back to before the 1920s, like "Carolina Shout," which was published in 1914. The Rod Cless Quartet, a combination of Cless and Johnson with a gifted trumpeter named Sterling Bose and bassist Pops Foster, made four records that rank among the best that any of these guys ever made it onto. Bose needs his own retrospective! Hardly anybody knows anything about him. Cless was a woodwind ace who showed great promise, and would have enjoyed some measure of success during the continuation of what became known as the Dixieland revival. What a pity he fell off a balcony and never woke up. James P. Johnson, who had only three partial years of creative activity ahead of him, sounds exceptionally fine throughout this collection of essential Harlem jazz. arwulf arwulf
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MUGGSY SPANIER – 1939-1942 | The Classics Chronological Series – 709 (1993) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Well, let's put it this way. If you were to choose one Muggsy Spanier collection out of his portion of the Classics Chronological Series (or any edition on any other label for that matter), let it be Classics 709, which contains all of the essential material from every session he led between July 7, 1939 and June 1, 1942. This includes the master takes from Spanier's Bluebird "Ragtime Band" sessions of 1939, which are generally considered to have been the apex of his entire career. Participants in these joyous and staunchly traditional proceedings included singing trombonist George Brunies, master clarinetist Rod Cless, tenor saxophonists Ray McKinstry, Bernie Billings and Nick Caiazza, and pianists Joe Bushkin and George Zack. From the languid reflectivity of "Relaxin' at the Touro" to the punchy rowdiness of "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate," this is the very best of the music Muggsy Spanier left to posterity, and it virtually defines the entire genre of Chicago-style New Orleans-inspired traditional jazz. What makes this collection even finer and more useful is the addition of eight lesser-known Decca recordings cut in January and June 1942, with Caiazza joined at times by clarinetist Irving Fazola and someone named Benny Goodman operating both the black stick and the alto sax. Vocals throughout this delightful collection are as follows: George Brunies sings "Big Butter and Egg Man," "Dinah," and "Sister Kate"; trombonist Ford Leary arm wrestles Vernon Dalhart, as it were, in "The Wreck of the Old 97," and Dottie Reid croons "More Than You Know." The most important ingredient, of course, is the wonderful cornet of Muggsy Spanier, who Lester Young gently christened "Muddy Spaniels." arwulf arwulf
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