Journey Through The Penguin Jazz Guide

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Fletcher Henderson - The Harmony & Vocalion Sessions 1925-26/1927-1928

Great comp by Henderson, a tremendously influential bandleader and songwriter - he's not truly underappreciated (got a lot of attention in Ken Burns' Jazz documentary and even a single disc CD from that series) but still should be spoken about more.

From Wiki:
Henderson, along with Don Redman, established the formula for swing music. The two broke the band into sections (sax section, trumpet section, etc). These sections worked together to create a unique sound. Sometimes, the sections would play in call-and-response style, and at other times one section would play supporting riffs behind the other.

Henderson was also responsible for bringing Louis Armstrong from Chicago to New York City in October 1924, thus flipping the focal point of jazz in the history of the United States (although Armstrong left the band in November 1925 and returned to Chicago). He also played a key role in bringing improvisatory jazz styles from New Orleans and other areas of the country to New York, where they merged with a dance-band tradition that relied heavily on arrangements written out in musical notation

 

[Ojai Sam]

Fletcher Henderson - The Harmony & Vocalion Sessions 1925-26/1927-1928

Great comp by Henderson, a tremendously influential bandleader and songwriter - he's not truly underappreciated (got a lot of attention in Ken Burns' Jazz documentary and even a single disc CD from that series) but still should be spoken about more.

It's small wonder that a Columbia comp devoted to "Smack" (nicknamed for a sound he made with his lips) was titled thusly:

 

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Louis Armstrong - Complete Hot Five and Hot Sevens



Took a few days to get through this (4 hour comp) but worth it - beyond essential and still sounds fresh today. Several of these songs still are played by New Orleans combos and hearing them makes me feel an interesting connection to music almost a hundred years prior

Many people remember later Satchmo hamming it up and in films like High Society or on pop songs like “What a Wonderful World” or “Hello Dolly” not realizing how much 30 years earlier Armstrong influenced jazz. To hear jazz historians tell it, the whole epicenter of jazz - with its popularity and future influence on younger players - shifted from NOLA to Chicago (when he played with King Oliver) and then to NYC (when Fletcher Henderson brought him there briefly). To jazz it’s almost described like Lebron going from Cleveland to Miami to Cleveland to LA. Of course there were plenty of other artists like those that appeared already on this list (Jelly Roll, Oliver, Fletcher, and Duke) but Armstrong’s influence was huge on future players even if he would stay with classic NOLA-based jazz and others would innovate further.

No wonder they named the New Orleans airport after him. Why not?! Better than some politician!

 

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Papa Celestin and Sam Morgan - Recorded in New Orleans 1925-1928



Coronetist Oscar Celestin ran a popular band in New Orleans from 1910-1932 (during the Great Depression). Louis Armstrong was his second coronetist in early 20s. He would reform his “Tuxedo Band” after WWII and was popular until his passing in the 1954

 

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Eddie Lang - Pioneers of Jazz Guitar 1927-1939

Penguin suggests The Quintessential Eddie Lang 1925-1932 but this crosses over a lot and is a darn good collection
Allmusic review: "Highly recommended, and proof that the jazz guitar did not begin with Charlie Christian"

In a continuing theme of jazz musicians tragically dying too young: Lang dealt with chronic laryngitis and sore throat. He was good friends with Bing Crosby (and accompanied Crosby on many of his 30s tracks), and Crosby, after a doctor recommended tonsillectomy, encouraged Lang to have the surgery. Lang would never wake up after surgery, dying at age 30

 

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Johnny Dodds - The Chronological Classics 1926

The premier jazz clarinetist of the 1920s playing with King Oliver and Louis Armstrong among others.
Brother of drummer Baby Dodds who appeared earlier in the series.

 

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Jelly Roll Morton - 1923/24

Penguin recommends the Classics 1926-1928 collection - don't have that one, but can't go wrong with this Milestone collection covering a few years earlier

 

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Tiny Parham - 1928-1930

Pianist Tiny Parham was apparently anything but tiny, but as a bandleader put out some solid classic 1920s jazz

Through a Wiki wormhole on Parham, found that R Crumb did artwork for 1982 trading cards for "Early Jazz Greats" (as well as for early Blues and Country pioneers). Tiny made the cut.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Jelly Roll Morton - 1923/24

Penguin recommends the Classics 1926-1928 collection - don't have that one, but can't go wrong with this Milestone collection covering a few years earlier

Those Classics discs are terrific, but long out of print and hard to find today.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Tiny Parham - 1928-1930

Pianist Tiny Parham was apparently anything but tiny, but as a bandleader put out some solid classic 1920s jazz

Through a Wiki wormhole on Parham, found that R Crumb did artwork for 1982 trading cards for "Early Jazz Greats" (as well as for early Blues and Country pioneers). Tiny made the cut.

View attachment 10659

Here’s another piano pounder in the “Counterintuitive Nickname” Department:

 

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Bix Beiderbecke - Volume 1: Singin' the Blues and Volume 2: At the Jazz Band Ball

Two wonderful collection of Bix here - Penguin selects Volume 2 and a Frankie Trumbauer Classics 1927-1928 collection. Singin' the Blues (perhasp my favorite comp of jazz of this era) includes almost all the tracks on the Classics collection exchanging 3 for alternated versions of other songs plus adds Bix's piano piece "In A Mist".
Love Bix's sound - crisp, penetrating cornet. Earlier stuff is better than his later material - he flourished in small band setting as opposed to the constraints of the Whiteman orchestra, but his alcoholism took a toll by then too
At his best, he's "transplendant" though - there's a few moments on "Riverboat Shuffle" where his blowing is nothing heard on record in this period Armstrong included (who admired Bix)

 

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Duke Ellington - 1927-1928

As we've stated many of the Chronological Classics series aren't streaming, but happily Spotify has the Ellington In Order series which in even more inclusive it seems with multiple alternated takes. So instead of 24 tracks, I got 45 songs tracks on the 1927-1928 collection. That's a whole mess o' Duke

 

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Miff Mole - Slippin' Around
Eddie Condon - 1928-1931

Mole was a jazz trombonist who would influence many like Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey with his solo style
Condon was a guitarist, banjoist and bandleader
Both had relatively lengthy careers (Mole until late 1950s, Condon until early 1970s.

 

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I've been amazed at how available the recommended Penguin collections have been from these artists from the 20s, but definitely hit some snags with suggested 1920s collections (or good equivalents) by McKinney's Cotton Pickers, trombonist Dicky Wells, pianist Meade "Lux" Lewis, and even solo work from 1920s-1930 by the great Ellington alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges
I suspect as I move forward through the decades especially in the album era, the completist in me will be satisfied

 

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Earl Hines - The Earl Hines Collection: Piano Solos 1928-1940

While this collection not available on Spotify, enough Hines is there to make a makeshift composite of his solos and late 1920s-early 1930s work

 

[axolotl]

great Ellington alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges

I will be all ears for this. The man (nicknamed "Rabbit") had a velvety tone to his alto sax.

 

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Jimmie Noone - The Chronological Classics 1928-1929

Lots of jazz over the past couple of days. Roarin' through the '20s

Thoroughly enjoyable compilation - Noone, a New Orleans clarinetist, had such a smooth sound and was an influence on Bennie Goodman and Artie Shaw

 

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Jabbo Smith - 1929 The Complete Set

Some great trumpeting from Jabbo who recorded in the 1920s-1930s but then only played part time making his living working at AVIS car rentals. He would have a revival playing in his late 60s and throughout his 70s in the late 1960s and 1970s.

 

[axolotl]

Jabbo Smith - 1929 The Complete Set

Some great trumpeting from Jabbo who recorded in the 1920s-1930s but then only played part time making his living working at AVIS car rentals. He would have a revival playing in his late 60s and throughout his 70s in the late 1960s and 1970s.

One could say he tried harder.

 

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Bennie Moten - Band Box Shuffle 1929-1932

Moten was a pianist and bandleader famous in Kansas City who would hire such slackers as Count Basie, Ben Webster, and Jimmy Rushing who appear on several tracks here. Basie who would work as an arranger would take over the band a various points but stayed with Moten until Moten's death in 1935. Moten died after a tonsillectomy, clearly a procedure with risks pre-antibiotics, as jazz guitarist Eddie Lang (who we saw earlier) died under similar circumstances.

Moten's band's final recording session didn't include Bennie but did have Basie and Ben Webster - those last 10 tracks are here and sound exactly like Basie's later recordings.