The record changer (Mar 1945-Feb 1946)

ptioruses Mead introduces a polyhythmic chorus and from here keeps 0 the lower section of the keyboard, rhe fifth is a light airy polyrhythmic :horus that he has used more than )nce. There is no other boogie voogie player that has anything like t. After this airy chorus Mead plays nore of this melodically-rich material 'urther down on the bass, making this ;ide a sober but rich piece. One of he many devices of the harpsichord is :he jcu de luth pedal. The use of this )edal gives a fine effect to one of Vlead's choruses. It makes the lotes sound extremely muffled while he plucking mechanism of the inIrument is quite audible. The last ;horus is divided up in phrases of we or more chords each. Against :he boogie woogie left hand it makes 1 stirring final. At the end of this :horus the blues is also evident. A fast boogie, 19 Ways To Play A Chorus and a little slower side School Of Rhythm are both extraordinary pieces. Each chorus on these sides is packed with ideas and the silhouettes of each are clearly outlined in the composition. There is a sweep to both these pieces that comes up to the best of Mead Lux's creations. Feeling Tomorrow Like I Feel Today has about as many surprises as Self -Portrait. There are two outstanding choruses on this side. One is the sixth where he has an extraordinary passage in dotted quarters. Nowhere else will we find anything like this. The other is the ninth where he has a series of bold utterances every four bars. The chorus ends with a rhapsodic flight of the right hand. On these four sides Mead Lux has shown his richest imagination. Except for such set pieces as Honky Tonk and Yancey Special the material here shows him to have the greatest imagination of any keyboard artist. Add to this the timbre and earthy quality of the harpsichord with all its accompanying devices for variety, and we have a keyboard music which can at last compare with the complete musical statement of the wind instruments. Apex Blues is a very quiet record, in fact a little too qtiiet. The duet of Kaminsky and Mezzrow is straight but nice. After this Mezzrow takes two very simple but gratifying choruses. The music in the ninth bar has exceptional blues quality. Hodes takes the next chorus holding our attention more in the beginning than at the end. There is another duet section and a return to the first theme for a final. The -V 0 V E M PI E K , 19 4 5 record is nice but too repetitive. Everything is repeated 'as is' which makes it drag in places. Shake That Thing is an excellent record. The choruses are well planned, Hodes taking the first, last and one in the middle. It gives good balance. Max leads the second chorus while in the next Mezzrow becomes more pronounced. Max has a sharp way of playing the tune that gives it a pronounced down beat. Mezz's chorus is mellow and low, and I wish he had gone on up into the high register for a second chorus. There is a simple one-bar riff chorus. Hodes plays against this riff which is very effective. Riffs have their place in jazz if done simply. Riffs are about the easiest type of music to assimilate and for this very reason become obnoxious when they are "overloaded." After this chorus Kaminsky plays still sharper and more pointedly. This is a very fine chorus of his. One of the best I have ever heard him take in this sharply attacking vein. In ' the ensemble chorus Mezz plays very beautifully. His tone is warm and clear. I like Hodes' blues playing and although I like his delicate trill tracery I believe he is beginning to rely on it too much. Once accepted, it does not have great interest in itself. I feel he goes into a chorus waiting for inspiration and when it does not come he substitutes the device of trill tracery. Today, in the recording studio, a player need not be always ready with a spot improvisation. If he is ready, that is fine and good, but if he is not, then he can always borrow some successful device out of his past playing. What comes out on a record is what we judge by, not how it came about. The prolific Mead remembers a great deal but on a record we are little concerned with whether he remembered or someone was whispering in his ear. These comments about Hodes' playing are not specifically directed towards Shake That Thing but are general in nature. As a matter of fact Shake That Thing is played just right .and is on' the whole finely conceived. Bunk Johnson's Band Panama American Music V-255 When You Wore a Tulip Walk Thru The Streets Of the City American Music V-256 Darktown Strutters' Ball Without even hearing Bunk in the flesh it is quite evident by now how such a band as his functions. They have a pattern which encloses any 27 thing they touch. The pattern has qualities of its own that we can abstract from the performance as heard. Whatever they touch melts immediately into this pattern and in addition there is the pure quality of the sound itself. So long as the piece is not too slow it never becomes cheap in their interpretation. With a proper balance of counterpoint and tonal qualities the sentiment and sweetness vanishes from music. This goes for all music. Bunk's variations on a tune are inventive but most of the time very close to the tune. The twists he does give are fragmentary and are a vehicle through which to hear Bunk himself although they do not transcend the music as heard. Bunk represents a most critical period between playing straight and the more definite examples of a later jazz. Lewis does not have such a wide variety as Bunk but his variations are more concise and can transcend the actual performance. The beauty of his figurations, the inventiveness of an ascending passage and the variety given the descending counterpart is so exquisite that they stand out from the whole band in unmistakable fashion. Lewis with much less of this definiteness of thought would still be a great ensemble player because of his constant musical presence both in figuration and the richest high notes I have ever heard. The way Jim Robinson kicks himself and the whole band along makes for a more important trombone than I ever heard on the older records. His long notes against the terrific jamming sing out, and at all times he is heard. He has invention but he needs the right moment of excitement to bring it forth. Baby Dodds plays the most normal drum I can think of. Not by overstressing the rhythm, nor by solo playing, nor by an exaggerated primitive tom-tom does he achieve his effects. Here we have a-player who achieves solo variety without playing solo and a true primitive effect without giving the impression that he is imitating African drumming. Panama has a steady drive all the way throusfh. The end of the record FOR SALE Several hundred out of print items. Send for list. Each item priced and graded. MARY LANDERS 1017 E. Harrison Street Seattle 2, Wash. THE RECORD CHANGER