LOUIS PRIMA AND HIS NEW ORLEANS GANG – 1934-1935 | The Chronogical Classics – 1048 (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louis Prima came up in his hometown gigging steadily in the clubs and doing his best to emulate Afro-American musicians. His number one role model was Louis Armstrong. After playing Cleveland with Red Nichols in 1932, Prima began recording in 1934 and thoroughly established himself on 52nd Street in New York City the following year. Prima was good looking and sang in a pleasantly hoarse voice. His humor was often heavy-handed, and his bands pushed hard to generate excitement among live audiences and the record-buying public. Prima's 1934 bands had strong players in George Brunies, Claude Thornhill, and Eddie Miller. "Jamaica Shout" is a rare example of instrumental Louis Prima: hot jazz with nobody yelling. "Breakin' the Ice" was the first in a series of Prima interpretations of songs made popular by Fats Waller. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson performed a lively version of "I'm Living in a Great Big Way" with Waller during the last reel of the 1935 RKO motion picture Hooray for Love. Waller never managed to make an actual phonograph recording of this song. Prima had fun with it and with every tune he grabbed onto, sometimes maybe too much fun. During "Let's Have a Jubilee," which was recorded twice during November of 1934, Prima spits out weird nicknames for each bandmember, including "Baboon Face" and "Liver Lips." This sort of talk was not uncommon among Afro-Americans, but it is particularly unsettling coming out of the (big) mouth of a (Southern) white musician. The real gold on this CD lies in the last six tracks, ground out by a band that had Pee Wee Russell as its artistic nucleus. Prima was the handsome leader, Prima sang and blew his trumpet, but Pee Wee was the light, the emulsion, and the pigment in this picture. "The Lady in Red" just might be the very best record that Louis Prima ever made, largely because of the magical presence of a gifted clarinetist with poetic sensibilities and a tone like nobody else. arwulf arwulf  
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NEW ORLEANS RHYTHM KINGS – 1925-1935 | The Chronogical Classics – 1150 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The 1922-1923 recordings of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings are essential listening for anyone trying to piece together the evolution of New Orleans/Chicago-style jazz (see Classics 1129). To be permitted chronological access to everything that subsequently appeared under the banner of the NORK is a ticket to Elysium for all lovers of classic jazz. The first six selections, recorded in New Orleans near the beginning of 1925, reveal a much different band than the ensembles of 1923. Obviously, Jelly Roll Morton isn't directly involved anymore, even if "Golden Leaf Blues" sounds a lot like "Milenberg Joys." Paul Mares and Leon Roppolo retain their position at the center of things, but trombonist George Brunies has been replaced by the dashing Santo Pecora. Each little three-minute performance is solid and warm. Now the action moves up to New York City. A small cluster of originally unissued test pressings from June of 1934 includes a vaudeville version of "Shine" by a quartet calling itself "the Four Bales of Cotton," with scatting, trumpeting, and friendly patter by Wingy Manone. Although "Shine," with its mildly Jim Crow lyrics, always does better as an instrumental, this theatrical singalong approach is somehow fascinating. The same session yielded two hot instrumentals by a reassembled Rhythm Kings with a front line of Manone, either Brunies or Pecora, clarinetist Sidney Arodin, and the tenor saxophone of Eddie Miller. Why these sides were rejected in 1934 is anybody's guess. By September of that year, Decca was taking them more seriously. Brunies and Manone led a six-piece mob through eight outstanding stomps. Arodin's marvelous "San Antonio Shout" is succeeded by one traditional jazz anthem after the next. Their handling of "Jazz Me Blues" is particularly tasty. The session of September 26 was shaped by a deliberate emphasis on material harking back to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Back in Chicago on January 26, 1935, Paul Mares led his own version of a reconstituted Rhythm Kings band, referencing the earliest NORK sessions by reviving the Friars Society Orchestra name. The appropriately titled "Reincarnation" is elegantly, majestically blue. "Land of Dreams," "Nagasaki," and "Maple Leaf" swing hard. Pecora is back, along with the mighty Omer Simeon and a tough alto sax player by the name of Boyce Brown. The last band to record under this name in the 1930s had a strong front line in Muggsy Spanier, George Brunies, and Eddie Miller. Two of the numbers are hot Fats Waller spinoffs, while "No Lovers Allowed" is OK and "Since We Fell Out of Love" has notably stupid lyrics, made insufferable by Red McKenzie, who insists on warbling away at each song without mercy. Either you love him or you want to cram a comb down his throat. Whenever the singer runs out of lyrics, Muggsy's cornet shines like the harvest moon. arwulf arwulf  
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WINGY MANONE AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1934-1935 | The Classics Chronological Series – 798 (1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

You know what? Wingy Manone's best records were instrumental. That doesn't mean he wasn't a great singer. It's more of a commentary on the excellent bands he led, and the apparent ease with which the players interacted. Take for example the OKeh session of October 3, 1934. You've got Wingy the one-armed trumpeter, a New Orleans clarinetist by the name of Sidney Arodin (co-composer of the song "Lazy River"), and trombonist Santo Pecora, who wrote two of the four tunes recorded on that day. Wingy could have sung on any of these numbers -- even "Royal Garden Blues," which does in fact have lyrics. Instead, here is an opportunity to savor the sound of seven men swinging together, listening carefully and measuring out their individual contributions without having to work around a vocal line. Wingy seems to be savoring the experience, too. If Wingy's vocals alter the structural dynamics of the songs, Nappy Lamare's falsetto interjections distract and even detract. Nappy, who impersonates a nagging child during "On the Good Ship Lollipop," tended to come across that way regardless of subject matter. This Shirley Temple hit, by the way, does have redeeming social value when swung by Wingy's septet. But "Lollipop" would have been really outstanding without any vocals. If only they had recorded each song twice, side A as a vocal, backed with an instrumental take on the flip. Then listeners could have had it both ways. Fats Waller did up a few tunes in this manner, and the results were wonderful. Speaking of Waller, the great Wingy/Waller parallel of this package is a pretty love song with the title "I Believe in Miracles." Utilizing the Hammond organ, Fats recorded a sweet version on January 5, 1935. Wingy's more danceable interpretation was waxed on the 8th of March. Both artists seem to have enjoyed every word and in both cases the poetry makes for very pleasant listening. Four tunes, realized on the 8th of April 1935, are very satisfying instrumentals. It is easy to imagine what the effect would have been had Wingy sung the lyrics to these Tin Pan Alley creations. Some would smile at the naïvely rhyming stanzas, and everyone's ears would perk up when the instruments would take brief solos in the precious time remaining after an entire chorus had been eaten up by words, words, words. Instead, Wingy is heard putting all of his energy into blowing trumpet, Eddie Miller booting around with his tenor sax, and Matty Matlock garnishing the melody with attractive little clarinet runs. Without a doubt, a lot more from the piano of Gil Bowers is featured, simply because no space is taken up by vocals. When Wingy sings on two songs from May 27, 1935, it's nice to hear him again. "Every Little Moment" is charming and "Black Coffee" is a harrowing tale of misbehavior and confusion. Vocally or instrumentally, Wingy was always ready to show the people a good time. arwulf arwulf  
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