Journey Through The Penguin Jazz Guide

[Zeeba Neighba]

Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell (Volumes 1 & 2)



Recording in sessions from 1949, 1951, and 1953, love these albums - essential bop

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Miles Davis - The Complete Birth of the Cool (recorded 1949-1950, released 1957)

Miles Davis makes his first appearance on the list - wonder if he'll be back
Like the Bud Powell albums yesterday, essential stuff

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Lu Watters and His Yerba Buena Band - Live at Hambone Kelly’s 1950



Penguin does a good job at covering artists in the Dixieland revival of the late 1940s - Watter’s was centered on the West Coast including San Francisco area and played frequently at the club Hambone Kelly’s in El Cerrito, CA. Not particular well recorded - vocals especially - but the jazz sounds great and the crowd noise makes it sound like a big party.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

George Shearing - Verve Jazz Masters

Welcome to the 1950s!
Shearing doesn't make too many top 10 lists of jazz pianists (and many may not have heard of him) but he really should
Born blind, this British pianist had a long like (until age 91) and a long career and wrote one of my fave jazz standards "Lullaby of Birdland"
Highlights on this nice comp: "Summertime" and "Lonely Moments"

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Humphrey Lyttelton - The Other Parlophones 1951-1954

M

A little creative license with some Penguin compilation choices here - Penguin suggests for the next 4 choices, a four disc 100-number compilation of British trumpeter Lyttelton who was instrumental for bringing Dixieland revival to Britain in the late 1940s to 1950s. These aren't available on streaming and even so, 100 songs a bit much. This nice compilation checks off the list for an intro to Lyttelson's style

Similar liberties will probably be made by me soon with the upcoming TEN disc set of Charles Mingus' complete Debut recordings which are nice early stuff but chosen at the extent of some later choices (Mingus Ah Um and Blues and Roots for example don't make the grade). I think I'm going to do some substitutions as a ten disc comp a little much of this period of Mingus's material

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife (1960)

Penguin suggests the earlier The Enchanting Ella Fitzgerald: Live at Birdland 1950-1952 which was long-unreleased, then put out by Baldwin Street Music and now on CD though not streaming - so I'll default to the traditional go-to for Ella live especially as I adore her on this set - Penguin I guess being different in an earlier Ella live selection as no other classic late 50s-early 60s sets are included later

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Joe Bushkin - After Hours (1950) and Piano Moods (1951)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Stan Getz - The Complete Roost Recordings (recorded 1950-1954)

Buonarroti, when will you make these multi-disc jazz compilations end?!

When they're finished, I guess. Though, Stan Getz is one of my faves.

 

[axolotl]

Whatever Stan Wants...

Stan Gets

P. S. I will try not to make this about his addictions or behaviors.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Wardell Gray - Memorial: Volume One (Bonus Tracks)

Gray was a tremendous bop tenor influenced by Lester Young apparently famous for his tenor competitions (on record and off) with Dexter Gordon who tragically died young due to drugs. Definitely an odd story as he was found in the desert outside Vegas dead from an OD but with his neck broken. Years later, it came out he died from heroin OD then his bandmates dumped him in the desert to avoid the police attention, and he broke his neck when being tossed out of the car. Yikes!

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Stan Kenton - Innovations In Modern Music (1950), Stan Kenton Presents (1951), City of Glass (1952)

Not a tremendous Kenton fan though admit his progressive/orchestral jazz back in the early 1950s was quite the new thing and was quite influential (even extending to film soundtracks. Lot of cool players on these albums too - June Christie, Art Pepper, Shelly Manne. These two Penguin suggestions/comps basically include these consecutive releases. Interesting just not my personal cup of tea.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Chico O'Farrill - Cuban Blues: The Chico O'Farrill Sessions

Now THIS is much more my cup of tea

 

[axolotl]

Now THIS is much more my cup of tea

If you waded through all that Stan Kenton, you deserve your own preferred cup of tea.

 

[JazzyRandy]

Humphrey Lyttelton - The Other Parlophones 1951-1954

M

A little creative license with some Penguin compilation choices here - Penguin suggests for the next 4 choices, a four disc 100-number compilation of British trumpeter Lyttelton who was instrumental for bringing Dixieland revival to Britain in the late 1940s to 1950s. These aren't available on streaming and even so, 100 songs a bit much. This nice compilation checks off the list for an intro to Lyttelson's style

Similar liberties will probably be made by me soon with the upcoming TEN disc set of Charles Mingus' complete Debut recordings which are nice early stuff but chosen at the extent of some later choices (Mingus Ah Um and Blues and Roots for example don't make the grade). I think I'm going to do some substitutions as a ten disc comp a little much of this period of Mingus's material

You're forgiven. You're doing yeoman's work for us, but 100 tracks for one entry is a bit much.

 

[axolotl]

Wardell Gray - Memorial: Volume One (Bonus Tracks)

Gray was a tremendous bop tenor influenced by Lester Young apparently famous for his tenor competitions (on record and off) with Dexter Gordon who tragically died young due to drugs. Definitely an odd story as he was found in the desert outside Vegas dead from an OD but with his neck broken. Years later, it came out he died from heroin OD then his bandmates dumped him in the desert to avoid the police attention, and he broke his neck when being tossed out of the car. Yikes!

I have a bunch of Wardell Gray CDs, including a 4-CD set that I received from John, my next-door neighbor.

But still, I had no idea about the story of his addiction or death.

 

[axolotl]

I have a bunch of Wardell Gray CDs, including a 4-CD set that I received from John, my next-door neighbor.

But still, I had no idea about the story of his addiction or death.

Also, from Wiki In Popular Culture:

James Ellroy's novel The Cold Six Thousand contains a reference to Gray's disappearance and death: according to this, he was murdered by (fictional) racist conspirator Wayne Tedrow, Sr. for having an affair with his wife, Janice.

Bill Moody's book Death of a Tenor Man tells the story of a contemporary investigation of Wardell's death by fictional detective/pianist Evan Horne.

Jack Kerouac explicitly references Wardell in his novel On the Road: "They ate voraciously as Neal, sandwich in hand, stood bowed and jumping before the big phonograph listening to a wild bop record I just bought called 'The Hunt', with Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray blowing their tops before a screaming audience that gave the record fantastic frenzied volume."

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Louis Armstrong - The California Concerts

4-CD set of Satchmo with his "All Stars" live in 1950s shows. Joyous, fun classic jazz