podcast
details
.com
Print
Share
Look for any podcast host, guest or anyone
Search
Showing episodes and shows of
Jazzbnd
Shows
Jazz Focus
Willie "The Lion" Smith and Earl Hines - Paris, 1949
Great recordings for the French Vogue label featuring both Hines and Smith playing solo and a date (largely of his own originals) with Smith joined by Wallace Bishop . . stride and post-stride at its best!
2026-03-18
1h 03
Jazz Focus
Show - Tommy Whittle and the British bop scene
Almost forgotten tenor sax player of the late swing and early bop periods in England, Tommy Whittle played with Ted Heath, Harry Hayes and other mainstream groups from his early teens. By the late 1940's he was clearly influenced by bebop and these recordings demonstrate this. With the Jack Parnell Quartet and Quintet (from Heath's band), Tony Kinsey's group (with Dill Jones on piano) and two sessions under his own name (with Derek Humble and other nascent British stars), Whittle established himself as an important solo voice on the European Jazz scene.
2026-03-18
55 min
Jazz Focus
Barney Kessel - first three Contemporary Albums!
Kessel and his Charlie Christian-derived guitar playing was the focus of all these quintet sessions for Contemporary in the middle 1950's, but he gives good innings to Buddy Collette, Bud Shank and Bob Cooper on saxophones and flute, Claude Williamson, Arnold Ross and Hampton Hawes on piano, Red Mitchell on bass, Shelley Manne on drums and several others . . standards as well as original compositions and arrangements by the leader.
2026-03-09
1h 02
Jazz Focus
Show- Lu Watters and His Yerba Buena Jazz Band 1949-50
Recorded for Down Home at Hambone Kelly's . . Watters on trumpet, either Don Noakes or Warren Smith on trombone, Bob Helm on clarinet, Wally Rose on piano, Clancy Hayes on vocals and banjo, Pat Patton on banjo, Dick Lammi on tuba and Bill Dart on drums. A program of Watters' originals, blues and 1920's Jazz tunes.
2026-03-09
58 min
Jazz Focus
Buck Clayton and Bill Coleman - Paris, 1949
Three sessions for Vogue and Swing in Paris, 1949 by two great Swing Era trumpets. Buck Clayton's Sextet with Don Byas and Wallace Bishop, the Buck Clayton and Bill Coleman Orchestra with Alix Combelle, George Kennedy and Andre Persiany, and Bill Coleman with the Jack Dieval Quartet with Paul Vernon
2026-03-02
1h 06
Jazz Focus
Show - Bass Clarinet !
Survey of the 1920's Hot Dance Band scene with all sides featuring a solo bass clarinet! Paul Whiteman, Gus Arnheim, Jelly Roll Morton, Cab Calloway, Doc Cooke, The Harlem Trio, Eddie South, Ben Selvin, Jesse Stafford and Mal Hallett, among others . . .
2026-03-02
57 min
Jazz Focus
Buddy Rich Orchestra 1946-47
Big band formed at exactly the wrong time - Buddy Rich had a superb group he put together in the fall of 1945 . . .players like George Berg, Bitsy Mullins, Earl Swope, Allan Eager, Harvey Leonard and Tommy Allison played great arrangements by Ed Finkel, Tadd Dameron and Neal Hefti with vocals and drum features by the leader. These recordings are from V-Disc sessions and three sessions for Mercury.
2026-02-24
1h 06
Jazz Focus
Show - Mel Powell solo, trio and quartet
The great if unheralded pianist Mel Powell was better known after he left the jazz world as a classical composer and teacher, but in his late teens through his thirties he was a terrific piano player and an even better arranger. These sides (for Vanguard and Capitol in 1947 and 55) show him playing solo in and in small chamber jazz groups featuring Ruby Braff, Bumps Myers, Oscar Pettiford, Skeeter Best, Tommy Kay, Arnold Fishkin and Bobby Donaldson.
2026-02-24
55 min
Jazz Focus
Joe Harriott - Jamaican bebop and swing alto sax
Virtually forgotten Jamaican player who dominated the London jazz scene in the 1950's and 60's with a style that encompassed trad, swing and free - although his primary sound was bebop. Here he is featured with three different quartets in the mid 1950's and as a soloist with the Kurt Edelhagen radio band in Germany in 1959. Dill Jones on piano, Phil Seamen on drums and many others are also featured.
2026-02-16
1h 11
Jazz Focus
Show- Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins 1955
Several classic Vanguard albums from 1955 featuring the duo of trumpeter Ruby Braff and pianist Ellis Larkins doing a series of duets. Songs associated with Bing Crosby and composed by Rodgers and Hart are the feature . . .
2026-02-16
58 min
Jazz Focus
Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra 1933-34
From Sept 1933 through the end of January 1934 (when the band left for a European tour), the Calloway Orchestra recorded for RCA Victor, redoing some earlier hits (like "Minnie" and "Scat Song") and premiering some great jazz numbers by trombonist and arranger Harry "Father" White ("Fatha's Got His Glasses On," "Harlem Camp Meetin'," "Evening" etc). Featuring Ed Swayzee, Lammar Wright and Doc Cheatham on trumpet, White and DePriest Wheeler on trombones, Eddie Barefield on alto, Arville Harris on clarinet, Andrew Brown on bass clarinet, Walter Thomas on tenor and bari sax, Bennie Payne on piano, Morris "Fruit" White on guitar, A...
2026-02-10
1h 11
Jazz Focus
Show - Ben Webster 1944-47
Great mid 1940's sides featuring the tenor sax player soon after his tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. All these recordings feature Webster as the only horn with stellar rhythm accompaniment under his own name (with John Simmons, Al Haig, Johnny Guarnieri, Oscar Pettiford, Bill De Arrango and David Booth) and with Sid Catlett (with Marlowe Morris and Simmons).
2026-02-10
59 min
Jazz Focus
Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band - live, 1941-2
Live airshots, mostly from the Dawn Club in San Francisco of Lu Watter's first Yerba Buena band, featuring himself and Bob Scobey on trumpet, Turk Murphy on trombone, Ellis Horne on clarinet, Forrest Brown and Wally Rose on piano, Clancy Hayes and Russell Bennett on banjos, Dick Lammi on tuba and Bill Dart on drums . . .a bonus wartime date during the summer of 42 without Watters, but with Benny Strickler on trumpet, Bill Bardin on trombone, Horne or Bob Helm on clarinet, Burt Bales on piano, Bennett and Clancy Hayes on drums
2026-02-02
1h 07
Jazz Focus
Show - Hilton Jefferson 1958, 60, 61
Three great (and vastly different) mainstream sessions featuring the alto of Hilton Jefferson, who was known more popularly as a lead alto player for Calloway, Henderson and Ellington. Here he is featured with Rex Stewart on a Feltsted album with Garvin Bushell on clarinet and bassoon and Everett Barksdale on guitar; the Swingville All Stars with Al Sears, Taft Jordan and Don Abney and a different Swingville All Stars date with Joe Newman, J.C. Higginbotham, Jimmy Hamilton, Coleman Hawkins, Claude Hopkins and Tiny Grimes.
2026-02-02
58 min
Jazz Focus
Bass Clarinet Jazz 2!
A wide ranging survey of 1920's, Trad and Swing recordings featuring bass clarinet - with the Cotton Club Orchestra, PIccadilly Players, Monette Moore, Wilbur Sweatman, Anglo-American Alliance, Hoosier Hotshots and bands led by Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ray Noble, Marty Grosz, Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, Jean Morel, Humphrey Lyttleton and Ted Weems!
2026-01-27
1h 15
Jazz Focus
Show - Taft Jordan 1960 and 1961
Selections taken from two lps featuring Taft Jordan playing Ellington tunes with a quintet including Kenny Burrell and Richard Wyands and the Swingville All Stars with Al Sears, Hilton Jefferson and Don Abney.
2026-01-27
57 min
Jazz Focus
Billie Holiday on Clef 1955
Two great sessions from August, 1955 with Billie Holiday backed by the same band - Harry "Sweets" Edison, Benny Carter, Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Larry Bunker. Holiday was at the tail end of her career, but the top-shelf accompaniment inspired her to some of her best singing - rerecording tunes for Clef in 1955 that she had done twenty years earlier for ARC and Brunswick.
2026-01-19
56 min
Jazz Focus
Show- Clarence Williams Washboard Band 1927-29
Out and out jazz sessions led by the New Orleans pianist and entrepreneur Williams featuring mostly his own compositions/publications. Ed Allen and King Oliver play cornet, Buster Bailey, Arville Harris, Russell Procope, Benny Moten and Carmelo Jejo play reeds, Cyrus St. Clair on tuba and Floyd Casey on washboard, giving the group its name!
2026-01-19
59 min
Jazz Focus
Ben Webster on Clef - 1951, 53
Some of the first feature recordings made by Norman Granz on his various labels. This represents three sessions led by Ben Webster (the last two of which were issued on LP as "King of the Tenors"). The first is 1951 with Maynard Ferguson on trumpet, Benny Carter on alto, Gerald Wiggins on piano, John Kirby on bass and George Jenkins on drums. The others are from 1953 and feature Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and J.C. Heard on drums on the first, with the second substituting Herb Ellis on guitar and Alvin Stoller on...
2026-01-12
56 min
Jazz Focus
Show - Jabbo Smith the Sideman
Great records featuring the iconoclastic trumpeter playing with other groups, including Charlie Johnson's Paradise Orchestra (with Charlie Irvis, Benny Waters, Ben Whitted and Monette Moore), Duke Ellington (with Joe Nanton, Rudy Jackson, Otto Hardwick and Harry Carney), Charles Lavere and His Orchestra (Joe Marsala, Preston Jackson, Zutty Singleton, Boyce Brown), Banjo Ikey Robinson (Omer Simeon, Lawson Buford), the Louisiana Sugar Babes (with James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and Garvin Bushell), and Eva Taylor (Clarence Williams, Charlie Irvis).
2026-01-12
59 min
Jazz Focus
Mel Powell - Orchestra and Septet
These recordings from a septet through a full band feature the arrangements and some compositions by the great Mel Powell. After he left jazz in the late 1950's he became well known as a serious composer and educator, but his arrangements for jazz groups demonstrate his earlier abilities as applied to more commercial ensembles. The 1946 orchestra features Bernie Privin, Johnny Carisi, Lou McGarity, Cutty Cutshall, Bill Shine, Cliff Strickland and even Mitch Miller on oboe! The septet from 1955 has Al Mattoliano on trumpet, Peanuts Hucko on clarinet, Nick Caiazza on tenor sax, Tommy Kay on guitar, Arnold Fishkin on bas...
2026-01-05
55 min
Jazz Focus
Show - Buck Clayton and Buddy Tate on Swingville 1960/61
Two of the stalwarts of Count Basie's band of the early 1940's, Clayton and Tate recorded many times in the 1950's and 60's, but these dates for Swingville really highlight their chemistry and affinity for the blues - with Sir Charles Thompson, Gene Ramey, Mousie Alexander and Gus Johnson.
2026-01-05
58 min
Jazz Focus
Gene Krupa, Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster on Clef 1952, 53, 54
Early sessions produced by Norman Granz for his Clef label featuring great Swing Era Stars - the Gene Krupa Sextet has Charlie Shavers, Bill Harris, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and the leader while the various Hodges groups have Emmett Berry, Lawrence Brown, Hodges, Webster, Leroy Lovett, Cal Cobbs, Osie Johnson and others all playing standards and originals!
2025-12-30
1h 09
Jazz Focus
Show - Jack Purvis . .trumpet for hire 1929-35
The original wild man of jazz - Purvis was an extraordinarily gifted trumpet player who spent time with most of the great white players of the pre-swing era and led several dates. Here he is with his own groups (with J.C. Higginbotham, Coleman Hawkins, Frank Froeba and Adrian Rollini among others), Hal Kemp and His Orchestra, Ben Selvin and His Orchestra, Rube Bloom's Bayou Boys (with Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman) and Frank Froeba's Orchestra (with Slats Long and Herbie Haymer)
2025-12-30
59 min
Jazz Focus
Art Hodes and Sidney Bechet - Blue Note 1944, 45, 49
Three sessions all featuring Art Hodes, with Bechet on two . . the Art Hodes Blue Five with Max Kaminsky (tpt), Mezz Mezzrow (clt), Pops Foster (sb) and Danny Alvin (drums), the Hodes Hot Five with Wild Bill Davison (c), Sidney Bechet (clarinet and soprano sax), Foster and Freddie Moore (d) and the Sidney Bechet Blue Note Jazz Men with Davison, Hodes, Walter Page (sb) and Moore. Terrific New Orleans-Chicago-New York dixieland!
2025-12-22
1h 10
Jazz Focus
Show - Pee Wee Russell and Bud Freeman on Swingville, 1960
Uncharacteristic sessions from two musicians unfairly pigeon-holed as dixielanders . . here playing superb mainstream Jazz with much more modern-sounding rhythm sections . .Russell's clarinet is heard with Buck Clayton (trumpet), Tommy Flanagan (piano), Wendell Marshall (bass), J.C. Heard (drums) and Freeman is on tenor with Shorty Baker (trumpet), Claude Hopkins (piano), George Duvivier (bass) and Heard.
2025-12-22
58 min
Jazz Focus
Rex Stewart 1947
Rex Stewart and His Orchestra - a septet of fine musicians touring France, Sweden and Germany in late 1947 through 1948. Great arrangments fo swing tunes, novelties, some dixieland and even some bebop with Stewart, Sandy Williams (tbn), John Harris (clt and alto), Vernon Story (tenor), Don Gais (p), Fred Emelin and Ladislas Czabanyck (bass), Ted Curry (drums) and Stewart and Honey Johnson on vocals
2025-12-18
1h 04
Jazz Focus
Show - Bunk Johnson in San Francisco, 1943-4
Some of the New Orleans trumpet player's first recordings after being rediscovered . . with Kid Ory's band (Mutt Carey on cornet, Kid Ory on trombone, Wade Whaley on clarinet, Buster Wilson on piano, Frank Pasley on guitar), Ed Garland on bass, Everett Walsh on drums), Lu Watters Yerba Buena band (Watters on trumpet, Turk Murphy on trombone, Ellis Horne on clarinet Burt Bales on piano, Pat Patton on banjo, Squire Girsback on bass, Clancy Hayes on drums and vocal, Sister Lottie Peavey on vocals) and his own group recording for World Transcriptions (Floyd O'Brien on trombone, Whaley, Fred Washington on...
2025-12-18
57 min
Jazz Focus
Clarence Williams - Dixie Washboard Band 1927-29
Clarence Williams records not released under his name . . The Dixie Washboard Band, Bluegrass Feet Warmers and Seven Gallon Jug Band. .featuring Ed Allen, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Buster Bailey, Carmelo Jari, Cyrus St. Clair, Floyd Casey, Benny Moten, Jasper Taylor, Arville Harris and others!
2025-12-09
1h 03
Jazz Focus
Show - Buddy Tate on Swingville, 1960
Three great mainstream sessions featuring the great Texas/Basie tenor sound of Buddy Tate (and clarinet on one number) with Claude Hopkins and Tommy Flanagan on piano, Emmett Berry, Joe Thomas and Clark Terry on trumpets, Wendell Marshall and Larry Gales on bass, J.C. Heard, Osie Johnson and Art Taylor on drums
2025-12-09
58 min
Jazz Focus
Clarence Williams - 1925-27
Great small group sides made by the New Orleans pianist and entrepreneur Williams featuring many great black Jazz players of the day including Bubber Miley, Ed Allen, Tommy Ladnier and Louis Metcalf (trumpet), Joe Nanton and Charlie Irvis (trombone), Arville Harris, Ben Whitted, Don Redman, Buster Bailey and Coleman Hawkins (reeds), Leroy Harris and Buddy Christian (banjo), Cyrus St. Clair (tuba) and Floyd Casey (drums) with Eva Taylor and Kathleen Henderson on vocals
2025-12-02
1h 08
Jazz Focus
Show - Original Salty Dogs 1964, 66, 69
Drawn from three albums for Delmark and GHB, these records capture this classic trad band at its peak . . originating as a campus band at Purdue in the late 1940's, the Salty Dogs became the Original Salty Dogs by the mid 1950's and were one of the top two or three groups in the genre for decades. Here, Lew Green (cornet), Jim Snyder (trombone), Kim Cusack (clarinet and alto), John Cooper (piano), Bob Sundstrom (banjo and vocals), Mike Walbridge (tuba) and Wayne Jones (drums) show how to reinterpret classic jazz. On two tracks Clancy Hayes plays banjo!
2025-12-02
59 min
Jazz Focus
Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams 1924-25
Recordings by the Clarence Williams Blue Five and Red Onion Jazz Babies featuring Louis Armstrong during the year he spent in New York with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. Also involved are Charlie Irvis and Aaron Thompson (tbn), Sidney Bechet, Buster Bailey, Don Redman and Coleman Hawkins (reeds), Lil Armstrong (piano), Buddy Christian (banjo) and Eva Taylor, Alberta Hunter and Clarence Todd on vocals
2025-11-24
1h 06
Jazz Focus
Show - Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band 1945, 46
Some of the early New Orleans Revival recordings by Kid Ory's band - for Exner and Decca in 1945 and Columbia in 1946. Featuring Mutt Carey (c), Ory (tbn), Joe Darensbourg and Barney Bigard (clarinet), Buster Wilson (p), Bud Scott (bjo and guitar), Ed Garland (sb), Minor Hall or Alton Redd (d), vocals by Ory, Cecile Ory, Darensbourg and Helen Andrews.
2025-11-24
59 min
Jazz Focus
Louis Armstrong in Chicago, 1933
Louis' regular band in Chicago recorded several dates in January and April of 1933 for Victor with tunes he had popularized as well as come new pop material. In addition to his singing and playing (definitely at a peak, despite reputed chops trouble), we hear Keg Johnson on trombone, Scoville Brown on alto, Budd Johnson on tenor, Teddy Wilson and Charlie Beal on piano, Mike McKendrick on guitar and Yank Porter, Sid Catlett and Harry Dial on drums
2025-11-17
1h 08
Jazz Focus
Show - early Modern Jazz Quartet 1951-53
Some sides for Hi-Lo and Dee Gee by the Milt Jackson Quartet at the beginning of the career of the Modern Jazz Quartet followed by the actual group in one of its first recording sessions for Prestige - with Milt Jackson on vibes, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath and Ray Brown on bass, and Kenny Clarke and Al Jones on drums, standards an originals!
2025-11-17
58 min
Jazz Focus
Jabbo Smith's Rhythm Aces 1929
Great series of recordings featuring the legendary trumpet player (also on trombone and vocals) with a seasoned bunch of Southside Chicago jazz players - Omer Simeon, George James, Cassino Simpson, Earl Frazier, Banjo Ikey Robinson, Hayes Alvis and Lawson Buford. All tunes by Jabbo Smith!
2025-11-10
1h 20
Jazz Focus
Show - Lou Donaldson 1952-54
Great and largely forgotten alto player in his first recordings under his own name (for Blue Note) with Horace Silver, Blue Mitchell, Gene Ramey and Art Taylor and live at the Birdland with the Art Blakey Quintet, with Clifford Brown, Silver, Curley Russell and Blakey creating some of the best late period bebop.
2025-11-10
55 min
Jazz Focus
Hal Kemp and His Orchestra 1927-29
Hal Kemp led an excellent student band at the University of North Carolina in the early 1920's that stayed together after graduation, travelling to England in 1925 and making their first recordings. By late 1927 the band was a professional unit in New York, highly regarded for its precision ensemble work and hot dance stylings - while there were no significant soloists (although trumpeter Bob Mayhew, reed players Joe Gillespie and Saxie Dowell and pianist John Scott Trotter were effective), the band was influential through its early, jazz-oriented recordings as opposed to its later career as as "sweet" band in the m...
2025-11-03
1h 06
Jazz Focus
Show - Wild Bill Davison and Tony Parenti 1949 and 1955
Two early sessions for the Jazzology/Circle label - the 1949 session was in fact the first for that label, featuring Tony Parenti's New Orleanians, with the New Orleans clarinetist leading Davison on cornet, Jimmy Archey on trombone, Art Hodes on piano, Pops Foster on bass and Art Trappier on drums. The 1955 session has Davison in charge with Parenti and Foster and joined by Lou McGarity on trombone, Hank Duncan on piano and Zutty Singleton on drums
2025-11-03
55 min
Jazz Focus
Bunk Johnson Deccas and Victors 1945-46
Bunk Johnson's New Orleans Jazz Band as they were performing at the Stuyvesant Casino in November 1945-January 1946 . . Johnson on trumpet, Jim Robinson on trombone, George Lewis on clarinet, Alton Purnell on piano, Lawrence Marrero on banjo, Slow Drag Pavageau on bass and Baby Dodd on drums recording for Decca, Victor and AFRS.
2025-10-28
1h 05
Jazz Focus
Show - Budd Johnson 1960's and 70's
Great if largely unheralded sax player and arranger whose career stretched from Louis Armstrong through Quincy Jones is here featured on tenor, baritone and soprano on several sessions, including under his own name (with his brother Keg Johnson on trombone), pianist Claude Hopkins (with Bobby Johnson on trumpet and Vic Dickenson on trombone), Jimmy Rushing (with pianist Dave Frishberg and tenor sax Al Cohn), and Milt Hinton (with Jon Faddis on trumpet, Frank Wess on tenor and John Bunch on piano)
2025-10-28
56 min
Jazz Focus
Cab Calloway Live - 1940, 44, 45
Live broadcasts of the roaring Calloway band from the Meadowbrook in 1940 (featuring Chu Berry, Dizzy Gillespie, Tyree Glenn, Cozy Cole and Jerry Blake) and the Club Zanzibar in 1944 and 45 (with Jonah Jones, Shad Collins, Tyree Glenn, Hilton Jefferson, Ike Quebeck and J.C. Heard). Several vocals by the leader, but the focus is definitely on the instrumentals, some of which have extended solos!
2025-10-20
1h 08
Jazz Focus
Bunny Berigan live 1937-42
Airshots from radio broadcasts and remotes featuring Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra in several different incarnations - with Bob Jenney (tbn), Joe Dixon and Andy Fitzgerald (clt), Georgie Auld, Larry Walsh and Johnny Castaldi (ts), Joe Lippman and Buddy Koss (p), Gail Reese and Danny Richards (v), but the focus is rightly on the leader's majestic trumpet
2025-10-20
1h 07
Jazz Focus
Solo Piano at the Hangover . . Don Ewell, Meade Lux Lewis, Joe Sullivan, Lil Armstrong, Fats Pichon
The Hangover was a popular jazz club in San Francisco in the middle 1950's, specializing in Dixieland and New Orleans Jazz . . the weekly broadcast from the club featured resident bands as well as a solo (intermission) pianist . . here is a selection of the best! Fats Pichon, Meade Lux Lewis, Lil Armstrong, Don Ewell and Joe Sullivan accompanied by Smokey Stover (drums) and Truck Parham on bass
2025-10-13
59 min
Jazz Focus
Show - Saturday Night Swing Club 1936-39
The Saturday Night Swing Club was a regular radio show from the middle of 1936 through 1939 and featured a shifting cast of great musicians - the house band which included players like Mannie Klein, Bunny Berigan, Will Bradley, Pete Pumiglio, Dave Harris, Claude Thornhill, Lou Shoobe and Johnny Williams. Also featured here are Red Allen, Roy Eldridge, Chick Webb, Adrian Rollini, Billy Kyle, Dick McDonough, Carl Kress, Raymond Scott, Casper Reardon, and the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra with Willie Smith, Joe Thomas, Trummy Young and Jimmy Crawford.
2025-10-13
58 min
Jazz Focus
Sidney Bechet and Wild Bill Davison 1949-50
Great sides for Blue Note and Commodore made in NYC when Bechet was visiting from France - with Jimmy Archey, Ray Diehl and Wilbur DeParis (tbn), Joe Sullivan, Art Hodes and Ralph Sutton (p), Pops Foster, Walter Page and Jack Lesberg (sb), Slick Jones and George Wettling (d)
2025-10-07
1h 09
Jazz Focus
Show - Dave Brubeck Trio 1949/50
Some of the first recordings by the well-known pianist, here in trio form with Ron Crotty on bass and Carl Tjader on drums/vibes/percussion. Mostly standards, these tunes feature highly sophisticated arrangements using humor and extensive classical techniques!
2025-10-07
56 min
Jazz Focus
Ivy Anderson with Duke Ellington - 1933-38
Ivy Anderson was one of the most overlooked singers of the era - great with jazz, novelty, blues and ballads and was one of Ellington's prime tone colors during her decade-long tenure with his band. Here she sings a mix of Ellington tunes as well as older standards and songs composed for various Cotton Club reviews during the middle 1930's - with the expected excellence from Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney and the rest . . .
2025-09-29
1h 06
Jazz Focus
Show - Zoot Sims 1950/53 Europe and the US
Great band sides led by the great tenor player early in his career - some while on tour in Europe, some in New York. With Conte Candoli, Frank Rossolino, Lars Gullin, Lee Konitz, Al Cohn, Art Blakey, Dick Hyman, Jimmy Gourly, Henri Renaud and many others.
2025-09-29
59 min
Jazz Focus
Make Believe Ballroom Jam Sessions (1938-39)
Martin Block usually just spun records on his WNEW show, but for a while he was hosting thirty minute jam sessions, several of which have been preserved . . here featuring Charlie Shavers, Charlie Teagarden and Bobby Hackett (trumpet and cornet), Jack Teagarden and Vernon Brown (trombone), Joe Marsala and Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Dave Matthews (alto sax), Herschel Evans, Kenneth Hollon and Bud Freeman (tenor), Ernie Caceres (baritone), Fats Waller, Howard Smith and Joe Bushkin (p), Eddie Condon, Teddy Bunn and Carmen Mastren (guitar), Sam Shoobe, Artie Shapiro and Milt Hinton (bass), Cozy Cole, George Wettling and Zutty Singleton (drums...
2025-09-22
1h 18
Jazz Focus
Show - Cozy Cole and Walter "Foots" Thomas 1944
Thomas led several sessions featuring great jazz contemporaries playing his compositions and arrangements (see previous show) but he also participated in several at the same time led by drummer Cozy Cole and featuring an array of talent - Don Byas, Coleman Hawkins, Hank D'Amico, Emmett Berry, Eddie Barefield, Clyde Hart, Billy Taylor, Budd Johnson and others.
2025-09-22
55 min
Jazz Focus
Earl Hines 1954
Interesting band led by the great pianist Hines for the first eight or nine months of 1954 - including Gene Redd (trumpet and vibes), Dickie Wells (trombone), Morris Lane and Jerome Richardson (tenor sax), Leroy Harris (clarinet/alto/bari), Carl Pruitt and Paul Binnings (sb), Eddie Burns, Hank Milo (d). Studio sessions and live dates from the Club Hangover in San Francisco
2025-09-15
1h 07
Jazz Focus
Show - Walter "Foots" Thomas and his Orchestra 1944-45
Saxophonist Walter "Foots" Thomas was never known as a great jazz player (he recorded numerous solos in his early days) but by the 1940's was highly regarded as a composer and arranger. He also was associated with the publisher and entrepreneur Joe Davis, for whom he assembled recording bands. Here are four sessions by these Thomas-led groups including Emmett Berry, Doc Cheatham and Charlie Shavers (trumpet), Eddie Barefield, Budd Johnson and Ernie Caceres on clarinet, Hilton Jefferson and Milt Yaner on alto sax, Johnson, Coleman Hawkins and Teddy McRae on tenor sax, Billy Taylor and Clyde Hart on piano, Mi...
2025-09-15
59 min
Jazz Focus
Dave Brubeck Octet - 1948/9/50
Third Stream before it was called that - several students of Darius Milhaud including Brubeck, Dave Van Kriedt (ts), Dick Collins (tpt), Bill Smith (clarinet), and Jack Weeks contribute arrangements of originals and standards using counterpoint, fugue and other classical techniques. With Paul Desmond (as), Bob Cummings (bars), Ron Crotty (sb), Carl Tjader (d) and Bob Collins (tbn)
2025-09-08
1h 01
Jazz Focus
Show - Frank Trumbauer 1929-30
Recordings by the Frank Trumbauer Orchestra without Bix! Mostly members of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra - Andy Secrest, Harry Goldfield, Charlie Margulies, Bill Rank, Charles Strickfadden, Izzy Friedman, Roy Bargy, Lennie Hayton, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, George Marsh, Min Leibrook . .also with Stan King, Fud Livingston, Snoozer Quinn and Smith Ballew
2025-09-08
59 min
Jazz Focus
Zoot Sims Quartets - 1950/51
Great swing tenor at the beginning of his bandleading career, featured with both late swing and bebop musicians including John Lewis, Gerald Wiggins, Art Blakey, Curly Russell, Kenny Clarke, Don Lamond, Pierre Michelot, Clyde Lombardi and others.
2025-09-02
1h 03
Jazz Focus
Show - Duke Ellington 1939
Great pre-Blanton/Webster band, this Ellington Orchestra has Rex Stewart, Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, Ellington, Fred Guy, Billy Taylor and Sonny Greer doing all Ellington compositions and arrangements (with one Strayhorn tune). Some retreads of 1920's hits but mostly new tunes and arrangements!
2025-09-02
58 min
Jazz Focus
Smith Ballew and His Orchestra 1928-1932
Great performances of well known and unknown tunes of the period with (almost) all featuring Smith Ballew singing. The personnel is very murky, but various tracks feature J.D. Wade and Jack Purvis on trumpet, Glenn Miller on trombone, Pete Pumiglio and Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet, Babe Russin on tenor sax, Bobby Van Eps on piano, George Van Eps on guitar, Bruce Yantis on violin and many others!
2025-08-26
1h 14
Jazz Focus
Show - Conte Candoli and West Coast Jazz
Three different groups all featuring the trumpet player Candoli recording between August 15 and 22 of 1955 . . a primer of West Coast Jazz, the West Coast Wailers feature him with Bill Holman on tenor, Lou Levy on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Lawrence Marable on drums. The Herb Geller sextet has the leader on alto with Candoli, Ziggy Vines on tenor, Lorraine Geller on piano, Red Mitchell or Vinnegar on bass and Buzz Freeman on drums. One track by the Stan Getz Quintet has Getz, Candoli, Levy, Vinnegar and Shelly Manne on drums
2025-08-26
58 min
Jazz Focus
Stephane Grappelli and the Diz Disley Trio 1975
The legendary violinist Grappelli was in his late 60's when these recordings were made, but he had another twenty years of extreme productivity ahead of him and his playing here is certainly on par with his classic recordings of the 1930's and 40's. The Canadian/British guitarist Disley had a particular affinity for those records with Django Reinhardt and his trio (with Burmese guitarist Ike Isaacs and bassists Dave Moses and Isla Eckinger) clearly inspired Grappelli on two dates - one live and one in studio.
2025-08-19
1h 05
Jazz Focus
Show - Oscar Peterson Trio and Quartet 1945-49
Some of the first recordings made by the great Afro-Canadian pianist. Done for Victor in Montreal, the groups feature local guitar, bass and drums but the focus is on the already developed virtuosity of Peterson in a program of Tin Pan Alley standards and American Pop Songbook tunes.
2025-08-19
59 min
Jazz Focus
Cozy Cole 1944-45
Great small group sessions recorded for Keynote, Guild and Savoy by the drummer and bandleader Cozy Cole . . .featuring Shorty Rogers, Shad Collins and Frankie Newton on trumpet, Tyree Glenn and Vernon Brown on trombone, Aaron Sachs on clarinet, Earl Bostic on alto sax, Don Byas on tenor sax, Ernie Caceres on baritone sax, Billy Taylor, Bill Rowland and Teddy Wilson on piano, Remo Palmieri and Tiny Grimes on guitar, Slam Stewart, Billy Taylor and Sid Weiss on bass, June Hawkins on vocals and Red Norvo on vibes
2025-08-11
1h 02
Jazz Focus
Show - Pee Wee Russell Quartet 1962, 63
Almost Avant-Garde group led by clarinetist Russell and valve trombonist Marshall Brown in their two albums. Bass player Russell George and drummers Ronnie Bedford or Ron Lundberg negotiate tunes by Coltrane, Monk, Ornette Coleman and Tadd Dameron as well as a few standards, giving Pee Wee wide scope to develop his ideas and show off his tone.
2025-08-11
58 min
Jazz Focus
Duke Ellington Live at the Cotton Club 1938
Live recordings by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and three small groups from the Cotton Club (and one from a Saturday Night Swing Club broadcast) - all in 1938 and featuring Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Wallace Jones, Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, Duke Ellington, Fred Guy, Hayes Alvis, Billy Taylor, Sonny Greer and Ivy Anderson
2025-08-04
1h 17
Jazz Focus
Show - Stephane Grappelli in the 1970's
The 1970's was a fallow decade for classic jazz, but Grappelli made quite a few excellent recordings - including duets with Earl Hines and Alan Clare, a quintet with George Shearing and a tribute to Django album with Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine and Niels Henning Orsted-Pederson.
2025-08-04
59 min
Jazz Focus
Dorsey Brothers 1932-33
Basically a studio band made up of the best white jazz players in New York, this version of the Dorsey Brothers band is heard backing Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby and Mildred Bailey in addition to doing several great pre-swing instrumentals. Featuring Bunny Berigan, Mannie Klein, Benny Goodman, Larry Binyon, Fulton McGrath, Eddie Lang, Dick McDonough, Artie Bernstein and Stan King in addition to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.
2025-07-29
1h 13
Jazz Focus
Show - Tate Houston . .bebop baritone sax
Detroit native Tate Houston was much in demand in the late 1940's through the 1950's - playing with Maynard Ferguson, Milt Jackson, Billy Eckstine, Sonny Stitt and others. After that he went back to Detroit and played around the local music scene until he died in 1974. These recordings are from the late 1940's (JC Heard's band, with Joe Newman, Wardell Gray and Al Haig; Sir Charles Thompson's All Stars with Benny Powell, Bob Dorsey and others), 1950's (the album Bone and Bari with Curtis Fuller, Sonny Clark, Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor) and one from shortly before he died, pla...
2025-07-29
59 min
Jazz Focus
Cootie Williams' Rug Cutters 2
The great Ellington trumpeter Cootie Williams led a series of dates for Vocalion in the late 1930's featuring his bandmates - Joe Nanton, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, Billy Taylor, Jimmy Blanton, Sonny Greer, Billy Strayhorn and the Duke himself along with vocalists Scat Powell and Jerry Kruger
2025-07-21
1h 02
Jazz Focus
Show- June Christy and the Kentones 1946
The underrated Jazz singer June Christy here at the beginning of her career with Stan Kenton recording for Capitol Transcriptions with Ray Wetzel and John Anderson on trumpet, Kai Winding and Gene Roland on trombone, Boots Mussulli on alto, Bob Cooper on tenor, Freddie Zito and Arnold Ross on piano, Dave Barbour on guitar, Eddie Safranski on bass, Eddie Spanier and Shelly Manne on drums. Arrangements by Roland and Tommy Todd!
2025-07-21
54 min
Jazz Focus
Pee Wee Russell - Quartets and Quintet 1950's and 60's
The unique clarinetist Russell is here featured on quartet and quintet sessions for Counterpoint (with Nat Pierce, Steve Jordan, Charles Potter, Walter Page, Karl Kiffe and George Wettling), a trio with Art Hodes, a quartet with Dave Frishberg, George Tucker and Oliver Jackson and a quartet with Jimmy Giuffre, Danny Barker and Jo Jones.
2025-07-14
1h 02
Jazz Focus
Show - Rex Stewart 1930's
Rex Stewart joined Duke Ellington's band in 1935 and his cornet was one of the most frequently featured sounds with that group for the next decade or so. During that time he was also heard in small group sessions led by Ellington or himself. Here are the sessions by Rex Stewart and his 52nd Street Stompers (with Freddy Jenkins, Louis Bacon, Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Hayes Alvis, Billy Taylor, Sonny Greer, Brick Fleagle and Ceele Burke as well as Ellington himself), the Duke Ellington Sextet (with Hodges, Carney, Alvis, and Wellman Braud) and Stewart's fi...
2025-07-14
58 min
Jazz Focus
New McKinney's Cotton Pickers
An early (1970's) revival band of a group from almost fifty years earlier. The original MKCP was a crack band from Detroit that was guided by Don Redman and then later Benny Carter, developing a terrific repertoire of hot jazz. Singer Dave Wilborn (who played banjo as well as sang with the original group) fronted the NMKCP, which was directed by clarinet and saxophone player David Hutson. Local Detroit and area musicians like Paul Klinger, Tom Saunders, Al Winters, Ted Buckner, Ernest Rogers and Tate Houston provide excellent solos on tunes associated with the original band as well as som...
2025-07-08
1h 13
Jazz Focus
Show - Cootie Williams and His Rug Cutters - 1937-38
One of the great Ellington small groups recording in the 1930's - led by the great (yet still underrated) trumpeter Cootie Williams, the various groups include Juan Tizol, Joe Nanton, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Otto Hardwick, Duke Ellington, Fred Guy, Hayes Alvis, Billy Taylor and Sonny Greer with most of the arrangements by Ellington.
2025-07-08
55 min
Jazz Focus
Show - Kenny Burrell and Phil Woods
1966 and 1967 sessions featuring Burrell and Woods in tribute to Charlie Christian and Benny Goodman . .great guitar and alto (and a little clarinet) with Matt Manieri on vibes, Richard Wyands on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Grady Tate on drums
2025-07-01
56 min
Jazz Focus
Charlie Barnet - 1939/40 Bluebird recordings
The first recordings of the the classic Barnet band - the leader plays solos on tenor and alto, backed by Bob Burnett on trumpet (one special guest appearance by Charlie Shavers), Don Ruppersburg on trombone, either Don McCook or Skippy Martin on clarinet, Nat Jaffe, Phil Moore or Bill Miller on piano and Cliff Leeman on drums. Excellent jazz!
2025-07-01
1h 07
Jazz Focus
Benny Goodman - 1959-1960 . .Little Big Band!
Goodman was on a fishing trip to Florida in August, 1959 when he heard a little group led by trombonist Bill Harris and tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips and decided to record with them . . this led to several tours and long engagements with a combination of Harris and Phillips with members of the Red Norvo orchestra, including Norvo himself, trumpeter Jack Sheldon, alto and flutist Jerry Dodgion, pianists Gene DiNovi and Russ Freeman, guitarist Jimmy Wyble, bassist Red Wooten and drummer John Markham. Using arrangements by Harris, Phillips, Norvo, Al Cohn and Mel Powell, this group sounded like a progressive big b...
2025-06-24
1h 08
Jazz Focus
Show- Charlie Barnet plays Duke Ellington
The bandleader Barnet's greatest influence was Duke Ellington - as an alto and soprano saxophone player he channeled Johnny Hodges and his trumpet player Bobby Burnet was a devotee of Cootie Williams. These 1939-42 records (mostly for Bluebird) feature the arrangements of Billy May, who had a unique way of recreating the Ellington sound. Also heard are Bill Miller on piano, Don McCook on clarinet, Peanuts Holland, Bernie Privin and Roy Eldridge on trumpets and Bus Etri on guitar
2025-06-24
56 min
Jazz Focus
Cootie Williams - Capitol recordings 1945-6
After leaving Benny Goodman's band in 1942, Williams put a driving big band together that explored both the new Bebop sounds as well as early rhythm and blues. These recordings featuring the leader playing at the top of his game, assisted by Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson on vocals and alto, John Jackson and Rupert Cole on alto, Sam The Man Taylor, Edwin Johnson and Lee Pope on tenors, Arnold Jarvis on piano, Gene Redd on vibraphone, Robert Horton and Ed Johnson on trombone and Bob Merrill on vocals.
2025-06-17
1h 04
Jazz Focus
Show - Matty Matlock and Pete Kelly's Blues
The band that recorded the soundtrack to the film "Pete Kelly's Blues" was the cream of West Coast Dixieland - Dick Cathcart, Moe Schneider, Matty Matlock, Eddie Miller, Ray Sherman, George Van Eps, Jud De Naut and Nick Fatool. Almost the same group (with Abe Lincoln, Phil Stephens, Al Hendrikson and Stanley Wrightsman) also recorded as Matty Matlock's Dixie Men . . great jazz!
2025-06-17
58 min
Jazz Focus
Eddie Condon - Bixieland
Great 1955 sessions by one of Condon's best bands (Wild Bill Davison, Bobby Hackett, Cutty Cutshall, Ed Hall, Gene Schroeder, Dick Cary, Walter Page, George Wettling) recording Bix Beiderbecke-related tunes for Columbia . . a few from other sessions featuring Pee Wee Russell, Bob Wilber, Billy Butterfield, Peanuts Hucko, Jack Lesberg, and Leonard Gaskin round out the program.
2025-06-11
1h 07
Jazz Focus
Show - Buddy DeFranco in the 1940's and 50's
One of the few true Bebop clarinet players, DeFranco is here featured in his own quintets and sextets recording for Capitol and MGM with Teddy Charles, Jimmy Raney, Kenny Drew, Max Roach and others playing standards and a few originals.
2025-06-11
56 min
Jazz Focus
Duke Ellington - 1934, 35
At the dawn of the Swing Era, Ellington was in a bit of a funk . . his recording opportunities were less and the Depression had limited opportunities. Fortunately, his creativity came back quickly, mostly in answer to the swing style beginning to establish itself. With a band including Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Otto Hardwick, Wellman Braud (replaced by both Hayes Alvis and Billy Taylor), Sonny Greer and Ivy Anderson, he always sounded like himself.
2025-06-03
1h 13
Jazz Focus
Show - Joe Sullivan solos and trios
Great 1940's and 50's sessions by the Chicago stride pianist doing solos and trios (with Walter Page, Bob Casey and George Wettling) of unpublished Fats Waller compositions!
2025-06-03
55 min
Jazz Focus
Rex Stewart 1940/41
The legendary cornetist at the halfway point in his tenure with Duke Ellington, featured on four small group sessions. Two sessions are his own group of Ellingtonians recording for RCA Victor (including Lawrence Brown, Ben Webster, Harry Carney, Ellington, Jimmy Blanton and Sonny Greer) and two for the Hot Record Society . . one of those by Rex Stewart's Big Seven (with Brown, Barney Bigard, Billy Kyle, Brick Fleagle, Wellman Braud, Dave Tough) and one by Jack Teagarden's Big Eight (Bigard, Webster, Kyle, Fleagle, Billy Taylor and Tough).
2025-05-28
1h 11
Jazz Focus
Show - Red Norvo 1943, 44
Great band featured on V Disc and a live concert at Town Hall . . with Remo Palmieri, Teddy Wilson, Aaron Sachs, Shorty Rogers, Eddie Bert, Slam Stewart, Specs Powell and others, but the real focus is the leader's vibraphone and xylophone.
2025-05-28
56 min
Jazz Focus
Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra 1937-38
First blush of Barnet's popular Bluebird big band recording here for Thesaurus Transcriptions with two titles for Variety featuring Frankie Newton. The band features Don McCook on clarinet, Bobby Burnett on trumpet, Don Ruppersberg on trombone, Bus Etri on guitar, Nat Jaffe on piano and James Lamare on baritone sax in addition to the leader playing remarkably well on tenor and especially alto.
2025-05-20
1h 05
Jazz Focus
Show - Aaron Sachs with Red Norvo and Eddie Heywood
Largely forgotten clarinet player in the late swing/bebop style here featured on 1943/44 recordings with Red Norvo (and Teddy Wilson, Slam Stewart and Remo Palmieri) and Eddie Heywood (with Don Byas, Ray Nance and others)
2025-05-20
57 min
Jazz Focus
Dick Cathcart - 1950's and 60's West Coast Dixieland
Little known but dependable and highly original cornet player on the "Pete Kelly's Blues" soundtracks here featured with the Kings of Dixie, Russ Morgan's Wolverines, Ben Pollack's Pic-A-Rib Boys and others . . with Matty Matlock, Eddie Miller, Heinie Beau, Moe Schneider, Ray Sherman, Dick Cary, Nick Fatool, Red Callendar, Walt Yoder and lots of great guitar by George Van Eps!
2025-05-06
1h 02
Jazz Focus
Show- John Kirby 1943-46
Very late period recordings of the renowned John Kirby Sextet for V-Disc, Crown, Asch, Disc, Apollo and live broadcasts. Featuring the original members Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Russell Procope, Billy Kyle and Kirby, there are also guest appearances by Hot Lips Page, Emmett Berry, George Taitt, Clarence Brereton (trumpet), George Johnson, Hilton Jefferson (alto sax), Budd Johnson, Ben Webster (tenor sax), Clyde Hart, Hank Jones, Ram Ramirez (piano) and Bill Beason (drums).
2025-05-06
57 min
Jazz Focus
Buddy DeFranco Quartet 1954
Recordings for Verve with DeFranco, Sonny Clark, Gene Wright and Bobby White. Terrific swing to bop standards and originals.
2025-04-28
1h 01
Jazz Focus
Show - Red Allen and the small groups . .1934-39
New Orleans trumpeter Henry "Red" Allen featured with Buster Bailey's Chocolate Dandies (with Benny Carter, J.C. Higginbotham, Danny Barker, Walter Johnson), Benny Morton and His Orchestra (Jerry Blake, Ed Inge, Teddy McRae), Jimmy (James P.) Johnson and His Orchestra (Higginbotham, Gene Sedric, Sid Catlett, Pops Foster) and Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra (Higginbotham, Charlie Christian, Clyde Hart, Earl Bostic)
2025-04-28
57 min
Jazz Focus
Putney Dandridge with Red Allen
Great 1935-36 sessions for Vocalion featuring the singer and entertainer with a band led by the New Orleans trumpeter Henry "Red" Allen - also featuring Buster Bailey, Joe Marsala, Teddy Wilson, James Sherman, Clyde Hart, Eddie Condon, Wilson Myers, John Kirby and Cozy Cole
2025-04-22
1h 01
Jazz Focus
Show- Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five
Superb chamber jazz featuring Shaw on clarinet with either Billy Butterfield or Roy Eldridge on trumpets, Johnny Guarnieri on harpischord (!), Dodo Marmarosa on piano, Al Hendrickson or Barney Kessel on guitar, Jud DeNaut or Morrie Rayman on bass, Morey Feld or Lou Fromm on durms. Two bonus (live) tracks with Shaw soloing with Count Basie's band and rhythm section
2025-04-22
58 min
Jazz Focus
Wilbur DeParis' New New Orleans Jazz 1950, 51
The early version of the DeParis Brothers' band live from Jimmy Ryan's and featuring Wilbur on trombone, Sidney on trumpet, Omer Simeon on clarinet, Don Kirkpatrick and Norman Lester on piano, Eddie Gibbs and Danny Barker on banjo and Freddie Moore on drums.
2025-04-18
1h 09
Jazz Focus
Show - Roy Eldridge and His Orchestra 1944-46
Excellent big band led by trumpeter Eldridge in the middle 1940's before and after his tenure with Artie Shaw. Arrangements by Elton Hill, Buster Harding and others featuring him with Sandy Williams on trombone, Porter Kilbert, Joe Eldridge and Edmond Gregory (Sahib Shihab) on alto, Franz Jackson and Tom Archia on tenors, Duke Jordan on piano, Sam Allen on guitar, Cozy Cole on drums and others
2025-04-18
54 min
Jazz Focus
Bebop Clarinet - Stan Hasselgard 1947-8
A protege of Benny Goodman's at the end of his life, Hasselgard had a short but eventful career. After coming to the US in 1946 or so, he played with many big names, including Teddy Wilson, Red Norvo, Barbara Carroll, Barney Kessel, Wardell Gray and Goodman himself. These are three sessions issued under Hasselgard's name as well as four airchecks from the Click with the Benny Goodman Septet.
2025-04-07
1h 03
Jazz Focus
Show - Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra 1941-43
Millinder went from fronting the Mills Blue Rhythm Band in the 1930's to leading his own, more blues-based group in the 1940's and 50's. This first edition recorded for Decca and included musicians like Stafford Simon and Sam "The Man" Taylor on tenors, Ernest Purce on baritone, Tab Smith and Ted Barnett on altos with a cameo from Buster Bailey on clarinet. Trumpets included William "Chiefie" Scott, Archie Johnston and modernists Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Guy and Freddie Webster along with Bill Doggett on piano, George Duvivier or Abe Bolar on bass and Panama Francis on drums. The real star was...
2025-04-07
56 min
Jazz Focus
Red Allen and the blues singers of the 1930's
The great New Orleans trumpeter Allen accompanies singers for Decca and Vocalion - Victoria Spivey, Rosetta Howard, Trixie Smith, Blue Lu Barker and the remarkable Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon . . also featuring Lil Armstrong, Ulysses Livingston, Sammy Price, Wellman Braud, Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard, Rupert Cole, Albert Nicholas, Charlie Holmes, Luis Russell and Pops Foster.
2025-03-31
1h 02
Jazz Focus
Show- Peanuts Hucko on V Disc, 1947-48
Great series of V-Disc sessions featuring the clarinetist Hucko as leader (with Lou Stein, Mundell Lowe, Jack Lesberg, Dave Tough, Bobby Hackett, Cliff Strickland and Fred Ohms) and with Joe Bushkin (with Liza Morrow, Buck Clayton, Roy Eldridge, Ernie Caceres, Morey Feld, Ohms) and Johnny Blowers (with Chris Griffin, Bill Stegmeyer, Herb Winfield, Dave Bowman)
2025-03-31
57 min