The record changer (Jan-Dec 1949)

LATE NEWS FROM COAST TO COAST NEW YORK Two of the greats of New Orleans jazz have passed away. George Baquet, one of the earliest New Orleans greats and Irving Fazola, the big jovial clarinetist who sparked so many of the great Bob Crosby records. These were men who were devoted to the music they loved. They were beloved for their playing by every jazz lover. They will never be forgotten. Muggsy left New York to open in Chicago. His last appearance here was at the Central Plaza and featured Mugs and Maxie Kaminsky fronting two bands. It developed into an old fashioned cutting contest with each band holding the stand for an hour at a time. There weren't five minutes elapsed when one or the other group wasn't playing. What a ball. Featured in the bands were uch stalwarts as J. C. Higginbotham, Sol Yaged, Charlie Traeger (playing in both bands while his pretty new bride sat alone in a corner). Freddy Moore, Art Trappier, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Joe Sullivan and other g/eat cats. Jimmy McPartland was scheduled to show up but bad weather forced his plane to be delayed. BOSTON— Bob Parent Edmond Hall and his All Stars opened at the Savoy Cafe early this month. This group should furnish some great jazz what . with a front line of Hall, clarinet; Franltie Newton, trumpet; and Vic Dickenson, trombone backed by a rhythm section composed of Ken Kersey, piano; John Field, bass; and Jimmy Crawford, drums. Intermission group still undecided at press time. Bobby Hackett will lead a 7 pc combo against Skip Towne's Band at the Purple Key Ball at Williams College on May 13th. This is another "Danceable Jazz" date booked by the Boston MCA office. CHICAGO— Walter Wager Encouraged by bigger audiences and balmy Spring weather, the lads were beating it out all over Chicago last month. Probably the beit show in this Windy City was being 'offered at the rapidly zooming Hi-Note, a cozy pad on North Clark Street that followed the gone groaning of Anita O'Day with the persuasive purring of Lee Wiley and replaced Jimmy MacFarmland's Dixie foursome with Don Lundahl's strong young Bop-Tet. Anita was going great guns, and it seems to be a smart management to have lined up another terrific thrush like Miss Wiley. The .Lundahl gang has been bopping well around the South Side, and this booking may give these experienced and talented citizens the attention which they merit. Max Miller took his very special mood music from the Hi-Nite down into the Blue Note behind Mel Torme for two weeks, following on the heels of a fat fortnight of the Duke of Ellington there. Then came three weeks of stimulating Jazz at the Philharmonic stuff, offering a fine combo and the torrid tonsils of scatting, jumping, bopping Ella Fitzgerald until May 2 when Dizzy Gillespie is to prance in for fourteen crazy days. Muggsy Spanier finally got his molars mended and went back on active combat duty at the slick Jazz Ltd., a pub which always manages to serve fine Dixieland music and a most agreeable atmosphere. My bookie reports that the pleasant Reinhart folks who operate that suave saloon have a great disk in Maryland My Maryland, one of the sides Sidney Bechet cut for their imminent album. They are pressing just 1,000 sets, and may sell MMM as a single too. Miff Mole, Baby Dodds, Darnell Howard and the potent piano of George Zack are almost too good to be true at the Beehive, and one wondrous Sunday afternoon Johnny Schenck brought down Danny Alvin's facile five from Jim Isbell's Bryn Mawyr hutch for a barrel of delightful Dixie. Jimmy James was blowing a lot of trombone, while Master Miff was his usual mellow self. Little Brother Montgomery, currently manipulating the keyboard at Clark Street Diamond Lounge, put out a quantity of adroit piano. These Sunday sets on the South Side are frequently worth catching, despite the fact that the management tries to raise the booze prices for edch. There's also a $1.25 clip at the door. Lee Collins toots his hard hitting horn among the strange mixture of folk at the Victory Club, and the Loop flicker parlors seem to be getting better jazz with their cinematic offerings. A wise tout would watch the Regal Theater and other spots in the Negro area, as that is where a lot of music sounds. Things are not exactly quiet, but after all Dad, it's still Chicago. LOS ANGELES— Jack Lewerke Emanating from station KLAC Television is one of the best (if not the best) jazz programs in the country. A half-hour devoted exclusively to the jazz band of the week and mceed by the guest leader. Kid Ory, Red Nichols, Pete Daily, and their respective groups were the first three televized. The program has had a tremendous response and it is hoped that the station will make it a regular feature. Bud Scott, who has been quite ill for some time, dropped in to see his favorite trombonist, Kid Ory, one night last month and was persuaded by the crowd to sing a couple of tunes. Bud, who is still very weak, was forced to sing while sitting in his booth, but the wonderful hand he received at the close of his numbers was a tonic. When Ory was informed that he had placed second in the all-time greats polls for trombone, that was conducted by George Hoefer in Down Beat, he asked who was first. On being told "Bill Harris", he looked blank for a moment, then his face lit up as he said, "Ah, I remember now, he played with Fletcher Henderson didn't heZ" Club 47 on Ventura Blvd. is th e musicians hangout for the San Fernando Valley. Owned by Doc Rondo and Nappy LaMarr from the old Bob Crosby band, it features Zutty Single ton as the house musician. The fabulous Fire House Five (Plus Two) dropped in the other day, with red shirts and fireman hats, and brought down the house with such originals as Fireman's Lament and Eagle Stomp (Under the Double Eagle). Walter Gross who just arived in California for a Television show, says that there is a misconception as to what be-bop really is. For instance Charlie Ventura's Ork, Flip Phillips, and Ella Fitzgerald are not bop artists . . . . Gross was not able to classify exactly what they were, except that they play good jazz . . . . How complicated can you get? SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA— Dick Oxtot Hotel goerj were in for a new type of fare as of March 27, when Jack Sheedy led a sixpiece dixie combo into the Persian Room of the Sir Francis Drake. The band consists of Jack Minger, trumpet; Jack Pearl, clarinet; Sheedy, trombone; Bill Erickson, piano; Bill Dart, drums; Pat Patton, bass; and Paul Miller, guitar. This deal takes place Sundays only, but in landing even a one-night-a-week job in the swank hub, the fast-talking Sheedy accomplished a heretofore impossible feat. Additional interest in jazz is being fostered these days via the Sunday afternoon radio program Record Collector's Review, broadcast from 2:30 to 3:30 over station KSVM, San Mateo. New Orleans jazz is the main course and to increase interest announcer Vince Cosgrave is running a series of polls by the listeners. Results of the first poll found Ace In The Hole, by Bunk Johnson (a very limited edition); Eh La Bas, by the Original Creole Stompers; and Doctor Jazz, by Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers, running one, two, three as the most requested tunes. The most recent poll named an all-star jazz aggregation, consisting entirely of old-timers, to-wit: Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Kid Ory, Jelly Roll Morton, Bud Scott, Ed Garland and Baby Dodds. Out in front of the vocalists were Armstrong and Bessie Smith. Albert Nicholas' option was again taken up by the management of the Arabian Nights, and Nick is still around blowing fine New Orleans clarinet. PORTLAND, OREGON— Harry Fosbury The great Castle Jazz Band has moved from the Rathskeller Cafe to The Sportsman Club, a swanky joint, and is currently packing them in. The terrific sale of their first releases on the CASTLE label has really encouraged the group to work hard and they are getting better and better after every session. The book is being rapidly expanded with half a dozen of the real old standards being added weekly. Favorites though, locally, are still The Saints, Wise Guy (Monte Ballou sings it), Dasktown Strutters Ball, Sister Kate, and Tiger Rag. Many of the boys from the Bay area in California are making the trek up to see this gang. It's a happy music.