The record changer (Mar 1946-Feb 1947)

fighter. Thelma Middleton sings rv badly indeed, and Louis is as arvelous as ever. The reverse is bet: Louis sings and plays all through and the atmosphere of the perrmance is reminiscent of Arm•ong's sentimental records of the rly thirties. I suppose it's useless to hoping for something very difrent from Louis. We must resign rselves to the fact that he likes to ike records of this type. The great tist has become a great mystifier. RISCO JAZZ BAND At the Jazz Band Ball Red Wing clfic 606 Two very respectable Dixielandrough-the-Chicago-looking-glass per•rmances by a band of unknown (to )e) San Francisco musicians. Their zz is as good as most of the music nv played by the Chicagoans and eir converts in Xew York. None of ;e soloists is outstanding, except per.ps Ray Jahnigen on piano, who is uch above average. All the others in is six-piece band are competent men ho play with a nice feeling for enmble. The trouble again is too many ■ los. At least there is a certain connuity running through them, which nvever never reaches a really excitig level. Jack Crook on clarinet has ■etty low-register passages and lilds up the tension nicely in the last Tout choruses. The rhythm section quite satisfactory. This record reinds me of the Sherry Magees on 'ocalion, although the Frisco Jazz and, especially on Red Wing, a easant march tune, impressed me as ing less artificial and somewhat Dser to the real sources of jazz. EORGE ZACK Snowball Lazy River ■mmodore 566 George Zack has been famous for ars around New York and Chicago >r two things: his imitations of Wiis Armstrong and his stubborn resal, manifested over and over again, keep appointments for recording ssions. Commodore succeeded nere many had failed and Zack tally waxed a few solos. After lisling to this coupling, one wonders nether the frantic efforts of so many ople to record him were ' justified, i Snowball Zack pays his respects Louis by imitating as closely as he n the latter's famous vocal on that ne. What must be a good gag in a llage partyturns out to be a record 1 that could just as well not have been issued. Some may find Zack's imitation amusing; it struck me as being rather unpleasant. Lazy River is a piano solo with drum accompaniment by George Wettlihg at his most restrained. Zack plays it in a very relaxed mood. It's pretty, almost too pretty. However, Zack displays a coordination between his left and right hands for which all Chicago pianists strive but very few achieve. BABY DODDS TRIO Wolverine Blues Drum Improvisation No. I Albert's Blues Manhattan Stomp Circle 1001 and 1002 It is a big event when a great musician like Albert Nicholas returns to jazz after a retirement of several years. When the same session enables us to hear a wonderful new pianist like Don Ewell and the justly celebrated Baby Dodds on drums, their collective efforts produce of necessity records of high interest. With more careful supervision and better balance, these sides could have been truly great jazz. They just miss being that, because Baby Dodds features himself too much at the expense of the other two musicians. He has the unfortunate tendency toward playing solo drums even when he's supposed to be playing behind another instrument; the drum part is too independent. The result is a lack of intimate understanding between the three instruments. This is made more obvious by IF IT HAD A TROMBONE CHORUS.— IF IT HAD A VOCAL— IF IT WAS ON THE ORIGINAL LABEL;— IF I HAD THE MONEY!" the tact that Baby's drums are overrecorded. On the two sides he plays ( Wolverine and Albert's Blues), Nicholas shows he has lost nothing of his great gifts. Mastery of instrument, beauty of tone, wealth of ideas, it's all still there. He would be even greater if he had a little more fire. Wolverine Blues is a bit uneven. The three men don't play together as closely as they should. The best of these four sides is Albert's Blues. Nicholas improvises the most sensitive and beautiful choruses; this is perhaps the best example of his work on records. Ewell's playing of :he blues is so wonderful that he immediately establishes himself as one of the best pianists of the present. He is more impressive on Albert's Blues than on his solo side, Manhattan Stomp, because he plays the blues with great delicacy, restraint, and sincerity; whereas his rendition of the stomp is sligfaily disorganized and nervous. But still, both as composition and performance, Manhattan Stomp is first rate. It shows that Ewell can be vigorous as well as delicate. He doesn't get much help from the accompaniment of Baby Dodds. It's true, of course, that Ewell has patterned his style after that of Jelly Roll Morton. But this is not a case of superficial imitation. Ewell has captured the very essence of Morton's art. In the best sense of the word he is a true disciple, and all great masters must go through this stage. Baby Dodds is at his best on his drum solo. It's much less exhibitionistic than you'd expect from a drum solo, and contains a lot of very interesting and intricate rhythms. Don't compare it to African 'J GUST, 1946 15