The record changer (Jan-Dec 1949)

PARADOX INDUSTRIES, I1VC. 55 West 42nd Street— Suite 306 NEW YORK 18, N. Y. CHickering 4-6691 (formerly GLOBE AGENCIES) CALLING ALL "CATS' For the "craziest" in real Mouldie music stomp down to your local record shoppe and beat on their door till they give you some of those PARADOX and B. R. S. originals and reissues. Only $1.05 and most on Vinylite too. If your dealer isn't already among the many handling them, tell him to hurry and order from us directly or through one of our local distributors. Or else, if you live in the sticks, we'll ship mail order. All of the famous names in jazz from Armstrong to Dodds, Morton, Oliver, Ory, to Williams are on these labels. Our complete catalog sent to you FREE, double quick as soon as you write your name and address on a postcard and send it to us. 4 NEW SIDES by the CASTLE J A II BAND Castle 5 Original Dixieland One Castle 6 Loveless Love Step Sweet Georgia Brown Sugar Blues OTHERS AVAILABLE Castle 3 Kansas City Stomps Darktown Strutters Bal Castle 4 No Bop Hop Scop Blues Tiger PRICE $1.05 DISTRIBUTED BY RAMPART RECORDS IN THE EAST CASTLE RECORDS 5126 S. E. 37th Avenue Portland, Oregon to head for the nearest porthole — but I have never heard him play as well with anyone as he teams up here with Bechet. The only regret I have is that there is no trombone on half of these sides and those on which Ray Diehl does appear' are notable more for their solo 'work than for any three part ensemble work. This is the first time I have heard Diehl, by the way, and I wish I had heard him more, rather than more of him. Do I make myself clear? There was a time not so long ago, when everyone, young and old, was playing the old numbers and everyone was objecting because everybody was trying to play like Johnny Dodds, King Oliver or, if you'll pardon the expression, like Sidney Bechet. It became the thing to say, in praise, that here was a young band that had gotten itself out of the rut — if you listen closely you'll hear a little Ellington, a little .of what the big bands do right and nothing they do wrong, and even, God help us, a wee soupcon of be-bop ; that here was progressive jazz, but with a strong foundation in the traditional vein. That's fine and I'm all for it, but may I mention here that this album is something so old it's really new? For here, wonder of wonders, is Sidney Bechet sounding like Sidney Bechet and also playing six of the most wonderful tunes in the jazz repertoire. I'd like to go on record as saying that I think this is pretty wonderful stuff and I'd rather be caught on Times Square minus my britches than not to have this album on my shelves. All right, I know, I've got some Bechet around I wouldn't trade for these, and yet I've never heard Bechet play better than he does here. Add this to some pretty damned fine Wild Bill and Art Hodes and what do you want for your money? It's amazing how much Bechet has progressed (no, I don't mean he's better, I merely mean that here's one of the old timers who plays with his heart in '49 without forgetting what happened in '29) through the years, that he's always himself, but looking forward and not backwards. There are some things here I don't like, but what I don't like is so overshadowed 'by what I do like, that I don't hesitate to urge you to latch on to this one, but quick. (Blue Note 105) (B. M.) James P. Johnson and Fletcher Henderson The Harlem Strut Unknown Blues This month's Paramount re-issue is one of those good old piano goodies, though for my money they might just as well have made two sides of Harlem Strut so when I wore out one I could switch over to the other. Not that I mean to slight the Fletcher Henderson number, which is plenty good in itself, but merely that the James P happens to make me want to get up and yell. I never was an Eastern Seaboard man, myself, but the more I hear of it the better I like it. And James P — now the dean of the Harlem pianists — was trying to carve one out for himself on this one, rather than showing the boys that he still had it. The acknowledged debt of Fats Waller is pretty apparent here, by the way, and all I can say about this kind of thing is you can hit me with it all night long. To get back to the Henderson side, it's in the mechanical piano vein and mighty fine too. What more can I say? (Paramount 14009) (B.M.)