The record changer (Jan 1955-Dec 1957)

13 Benny Frenchie ItVe are sure that you have heard this jig, but we wonder if you realize the laning of it. We mean the blues "singing Bnmercial." Think of it, the power of the [ -es form put to, "your Ford dealer keeps •d car prices low." The blues are a suc,s, at long last. Madison Avenue has dis[fered that not only do some blues sell, I: that they can be used to sell other j'ngs. The achievement is complete; all f els of American culture have now been !'i.ched. Support this drive by seeing your Ird dealer today! The following item is reprinted from de paper Variety. We thought you'd like ) have it just the way we did: IjroU GOTTA QUIT SHOVIN' 60! YEAR-OLDS AROUND; IT BREAKS UP THE BAND San Francisco, May 3. I iid Ory, 60-year-old trombone player, I ldleader, and author of "Muskrat RamI ," got into a hassle with his 66-year-old I ts player, Ed Garland at the Hangl tr Club last week over the classic quesk p of money. I Garland shoved the Kid and the Kid fell |< I the bandstand onto the bartender, frac ■ ing several ribs. As a result, he was off i job with trombonist Skipp Morr sub [l luting for several days. Club operator I ic Dougherty, tired of advertising Kid | iy's band without Ory, cancelled the date llirely and booked in Jack Teagarden's ■ [up, which opened at the end of the ■ pry and Garland have been working to I ;her for some 40 years and this was their m it battle. Ory has been house band at the Ijjngover for most of the past year and a I I pi* Old Days: In the late thirties the I Negro bands would spend the last Ijpnty minutes or so of a dance date iml;ovising a "head" arrangement with solos ■ ti riffs on a medium blues or 32 bar ■mine. Benny remembers hearing Basie, Rpbb, Hines, and even Erskine Hawkins' Ijfids doing this. Lester Young used to fol|j ' a few choruses of Basie's piano with a lp during which he would throw out I nals for background riffs, section work, l| i motifs to the whole band which they ■J uld pick up on, bit by bit, for the next H f hour, as Clayton, Evans, Wells, and the I it: sometimes including Rushing and W kays including Jo Jones, soloed. I Pu2z/e: If you find any piano rolls labeled Ivats Waller," they were really played by i| Laurence Cook. If you find them labeled ■jjhomas Waller," they were played by ■its." That's the way it is — you figure it Bargains: Eli Oberstein now has about six cut-price labels on the market. We say this because we can't keep them straight but on one of them he has a ten inch LP called "Bunny Berigan's Last Recordings." Maybe they weren't his last exactly but they were his most commercial. We understand that some people collect Berigan. Well, let them collect this. Benny's Red Hot Ideas for Ambitious Record Executives: The following dream ideas for LP records are disrespectfully submitted : Ike Rogers with Strings Stuff Smith with Altos Leo Watson and Chet Baker sing Duets Wally Rose plays Duke Ellington Joe Turner sings Noel Coward. Some Quotes: "Fletcher had a good band, don't get me wrong, but compared with Duke, Fletcher was a play-boy. Don Redman was the man responsible for his writing, you know. Coleman Hawkins helped too, because he used to make bets with Fletcher that he'd finish the arrangement first, and in that way he got Fletcher to sit down and write" — Rex Stewart, quoted by George T. Simon in Metronome. "Swinging is not new in the history of music, nor is improvisation. What makes jazz unique is that it is Collective improvisation that swings" — John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, quoted by Nat Hentoff in High Fidelity. "Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for [Charlie] Parker's next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now?" — Charlie Mingus, quoted in Down Beat. England has a new monthly jazz magazine called, appropriately enough, Jazz Monthly. The first issue featured articles on Benny Carter, Leadbelly (by Fred Ramsey), John Lewis, collectors' information (by McCarthy) etc. The address: 43a Goring Road, London Nil. One of the Most Important Books FOR JAZZ SCHOLARS By ALAN P. MERRIAM With the Assistance of ROBERT J. BENFQRD Published by the American Folklore Society Here for the first time is a truly monumental bibliographic tool in the field of jazz studies. Merriam and Benford have indexed, cross indexed, dissected and listed every book, article, critique, magazine, etc. published anywhere in the world which contained material of any real importance in respect to jazz music. The American Folklore Society is one of the world's leading academic organizations. In publishing this excellent volume they have made an important contribution to the serious study of jazz music. Superbly Printed and Bound. ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY. Immediate Delivery Shipped Parcel Post Prepaid. $600 BOOK DEPARTMENT THE RECORD CHANGER 418 West 49 Street New York 19, New York