THE SPIRITS OF RHYTHM – 1933-1945 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1028 (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The Spirits of Rhythm were to the 1930s what the Cats & the Fiddle were to the 1940s. Both groups relied upon well-organized, carefully harmonized scat singing and a flurry of adroitly picked tiples and guitar. What the Spirits had going for them was the great Leo "Scat" Watson (1898-1950), drummer, tiple tickler, and one of the most interesting scat singers of all time. Teddy Bunn was their guitarist, and may be heard playing and singing throughout the entire CD. The recordings made in 1933 are exceptionally fine. Two delightful versions of "I Got Rhythm" are matched with "Rhythm," an original by Wilbur Daniels. "I've Got the World on a String" cuts off abruptly during a reprise of the vocal chorus, as they ran out of room on the recording platter. The session of December 6, 1933, introduces bassist Wilson Myers. "I'll Be Ready When the Great Day Comes" is something like a spiritual with humorous overtones: "Didn't the good book say that Cain slew Abel? Hit him in the head with the leg of a table!" Johnny Mercer's "My Old Man" belongs in a special category of cruel songs poking fun at fathers. This picturesque ditty predicts that the parent in question will end up in a garbage can: "Put a bottle of gin there and he'll get in there." The first seven tracks are so satisfying that it's a bit of a jolt when Red McKenzie is featured as lead vocalist on the session of September 11, 1934. Whose idea was it to foist this character onto the Spirits? His wobbly chortling sounds a bit incongruous with such hip backing. The expert picking and scatting come as a relief, after which McKenzie's reprise sounds foolish. He should have confined himself to his famous paper and comb, which would have sounded wonderfully weird with this band. As it is, he sounds about as hip as, say, Nelson Eddy. Three days later, the Spirits were back without McKenzie but with the addition of percussionist and vocalist Virgil Scroggins. "Junk Man" is good fun, and Watson sings a snatch of the old vaudeville number "Horses, Horses," a riff he'd quoted on tiple during a solo on "I Got Rhythm" the previous year. Mercer's lightweight Sherlock Holmes routine is peculiar enough for entertainment purposes, but "That's What I Hate About You" is too closely modeled after a record made several years earlier by Jack Teagarden and Fats Waller. Waller fans who are aware of the original might actually resent the close cover. Now the chronology leaps ahead seven years. Ella Logan's piping vocal with the Spirits on "Tipperary" and "From Monday On" are cute enough, but the two instrumentals from the same session allow us to concentrate on the presence of bassist Wellman Braud and the fine drumming of Watson. "We've Got the Blues" contains a premonition of "Caldonia," and we learn that cement is the reason her head is so hard. The final six sides to appear under this band's name involved only Watson and Bunn from the original group. This 1945 ensemble contains no tiples whatsoever. Leonard Feather is sitting in on piano, Ulysses Livingstone operates a second guitar, and Red Callender is the bassist, while Georgie Vann sings the blues and plays the drums. Here we get a fine dose of Watson's fully developed singing style. No doubt Waller would have approved of "Honey-Sock-Me-on-the-Nose." Watson's throaty interjections on "She Ain't No Saint" sound slightly deranged. Irving Berlin's "Coquette" becomes a smorgasbord centering on "Chicken Croquette." Watson was working with Slim Gaillard during these years, and this last number sounds a lot like something Slim would have dished up. arwulf arwulf  
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PETE JOHNSON – 1938-1939 | The Classics Chronological Series – 656 (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This superlative CD reissue features boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson on two classic numbers with singer Big Joe Turner (the original versions of "Goin' Away Blues" and "Roll 'Em Pete"), with inspiring trumpeter Harry James ("Boo Woo" and "Home James"), with his Boogie Woogie Boys (a sextet that includes Turner and trumpeter Hot Lips Page), interacting with fellow pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis (joining Big Joe on "Café Society Rag"), and on a pair of trio numbers. However, it is Johnson's ten unaccompanied piano solos (mostly released previously by Solo Art) that are the rarest and most notable. Taken as a whole, this is Pete Johnson's definitive release, showing that he was much more than just a one-dimensional (although powerful) boogie-woogie specialist. Scott Yanow
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PETE JOHNSON – 1939-1941 | The Classics Chronological Series – 665 (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Born in Kansas City, Pete Johnson began his musical career as a drummer but soon learned how to massage a piano under the tutelage of his uncle Charles "Smash" Johnson. During the early 1930s, Pete worked overtime performing as a solo act in his hometown. For those who have a healthy appetite for piano blues and boogie-woogie, you're not going to find anyone more authentically rooted in the Kansas City tradition. This portion of the Pete Johnson chronology begins with four sides cut for the Blue Note label in December of 1939. The "Holler Stomp" is an exceptionally fine accelerated romp for unaccompanied piano. Everything you need to know about the real boogie-woogie is contained in this red-hot four-minute performance. It defines the entire genre. Continuing the rapid pace, "Barrelhouse Breakdown" is performed by Johnson's Blues Trio, with Abe Bolar's superb string bass and the guitar of Ulysses Livingston. The trio eases into blue relaxation with "Kansas City Farewell," a very cool stroll during which the musicians make good use of the four full minutes allowed by 12" 78 rpm records. "You Don't Know My Mind" is a fundamental blues for solo piano, every bit as rich and rewarding as its flip side, the "Holler Stomp." Never chained to one label for very long, Johnson switched to Decca Records during the following year, knocking off a pair of solo boogies in August and the "627 Stomp," possibly the greatest ensemble record of his entire career, on November 11, 1940. The front line of Hot Lips Page with reedmen Eddie Barefield, Don Stovall and Don Byas was perfectly supported by Johnson's ace rhythm section, notably driven by legendary percussionist A.G. Godley. The flip side, "Piney Brown Blues," was issued under the heading of Joe Turner and His Fly Cats. Johnson and Turner's partnership dated back to the early 1930s, when Joe was locally famous as a singing bartender. What we have in "Piney Brown" is the keystone of Turner's entire recording career. 1941 found Johnson recording a stack of piano duets for Victor with the amazing Albert Ammons. Additional friction was supplied by percussionist Jimmie Hoskins. If Godley is more your speed, "Death Ray Boogie" opens four additional trio sides for Decca from May of 1941. Nestled between three excellent studies in boogie rhythm, "Just for You" offers a rare glimpse at Pete Johnson's way of handling a simple love song. He sounds in fact more than a little like Fats Waller. It is a small romantic islet floating in the middle of an ocean swarming with blues and boogies. arwulf arwulf
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ELLA FITZGERALD – 1941-1944 | The Classics Chronological Series – 840 (1995) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This Classics CD traces Ella Fitzgerald's recordings from the beginning of her solo career. Having finally broken up the Chick Webb ghost orchestra, Ella mostly recorded ballads during her first few years as a solo artist; her jazz and scat singing would develop much more quickly starting in 1945. On some selections she is joined by a mundane vocal group called the Four Keys, but her three collaborations with the Ink Spots (particularly "Cow Cow Boogie" and "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall") are quite delightful. Other highpoints from this release (which finds Ella at 24 to 27 years old) include "This Love of Mine," "My Heart and I Decided" and "I'm Confessin'." Scott Yanow
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ERROLL GARNER – 1947-1949 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1109 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Here's one package that demonstrates the piano artistry of Erroll Garner in several settings -- as a solo act, with trio and quartet, and as an integral part of a jumpin' sextet caught live in concert. The Just Jazz series was producer Gene Norman's answer to Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. Beginning with a jam on Edgar Sampson's "Blue Lou," the main attraction here is tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray. "One O'Clock Jump" and its three sequels bring on trumpeter Howard McGhee, trombonist Vic Dickenson, and Benny Carter on alto sax. (Neither the bassist nor the excellent guitarist are even mentioned let alone identified in the enclosed discography.) In a tasty example of resourceful editing, tracks three through six have been seamlessly linked into one more or less continuous performance. The same trick was accomplished with both halves of "Lover" (tracks seven and eight), which was performed by the rhythm section only. Garner's next recordings were made almost exactly one year later in front of a live audience with guitarist Ulysses Livingston and bassist John Simmons. Four beautiful, superbly crafted studies for solo piano were recorded for the Vogue label in Paris on May 15, 1948. These tracks, which might be new to some U.S. listeners, are a real treat for the Garner connoisseur. Garner was back in California two months later, punching out a version of "Just You, Just Me" at another Just Jazz concert with guitarist Oscar Moore, bassist Nelson Boyd, and drummer Teddy Stewart. This excellent compilation concludes with seven relaxed ballads and one feisty take of "Stompin' at the Savoy" recorded for the Savoy label in February and March 1949. Alvin Stoller and John Simmons interact marvelously with Garner, who was now developing into a purveyor of what has been accurately described as the "rhapsodic ballad." The wide range of styles and instrumentation on this disc mark it as an excellent choice for those who wish to experience the art of Erroll Garner from a variety of musical perspectives. arwulf arwulf  
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JOE SULLIVAN – 1944-1945 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1070 (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Eddie Condon always considered Joe Sullivan to be a worthy stand-in for Fats Waller, which is one hell of a nice recommendation. Protracted opportunities to hear this guy playing solo piano are uncommon enough, but the material presented on this disc is positively rare. Sullivan's musical choices are delightful. "Squeeze Me" was one of Fats Waller's first substantial compositions, possibly dating back to 1919. Near the end of his brief life, Fats recorded several versions of "The Moon Is Low." In 1944 the song was strongly associated with Waller, almost as if he had composed it himself. "I Got It Bad" is an archetypal study in blue, painted by Duke Ellington and his star tenor, Ben Webster. "Memories of You" is still Eubie Blake's most famous melody, with good reason. Sullivan gleans the nectar from each of these tunes, savoring every passage in what Ruby Braff would eventually refer to as the "Adoration of the Melody." Sullivan's own compositions include a whimsical set of "Reflections." "The Bass Romps Away" is a major boogie, and "24 Hours at Booth's" a minor woogie. Joe Sullivan's Quintette is the centerpiece of this fine collection. Beginning with "Night and Day," listeners are treated to four excellent sides featuring clarinetist Archie Rosatie. "High Dudgeon," "Brushin' Off the Boogie," and the pared-down lament "Heavy Laden" are all Sullivan originals. Next come eight obscure sides recorded by Moses Asch for eventual release on his Folkways label. Sullivan swings as naturally as breathing. If you were to string his compositions together, you'd get a sort of autobiographical suite, where "Only a Dream," "Blues in My Heart," and "What a Life!" appear as separate entries in a private diary made public in the best imaginable way. The disc ends with a gorgeous example of what piano players used to call "chimes," and two distinct versions of "Fidgety Feet," right out of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band repertoire. An outstanding traditional jazz piano album, filled with echoes of Harlem, Chicago, and just a little bit of New Orleans. arwulf arwulf  
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