Customer Reviews

Lost Chords: 1915-45

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you don't have a large record collection of hot jazz from the '20's,'30's, and '40's, this CD is an excellent purchase for two main reasons. First it's a good survey of white hot jazz in its own right. For example, if you like the Casa Loma Orchestra's cut that's included, you can buy a complete CD (as I did) of that group.

The other more interesting reason is that it is a companion to the incredible book of the same name. Now you can follow along and hear just what the author, Richard Sudhalter, is talking about -- sort of a mixed media experience. This is the reason that the CD does not follow strict historical order when it comes to the takes it contains, which is slightly off-putting without the book to go along with it.

You can buy the CD without the book, but if you buy the book, you really should buy the CD as well.

DISC ONE:

1. I've Lost My Heart In Dixieland - Original Dixieland Jazz Band
2. Tiger Rag - Original Dixieland Jazz Band
3. Tiger Rag - Friars Society Orchestra
4. Tin Roof Blues - New Orleans Rhythm Kings
5. Panama - Johnnie Miller's New Orleans Frolickers
6. Sizzlin' The Blues - Monk Hazel & his Bienville Roof Orchestra
7. There Ain't No Gal Like My Gal - Original Memphis Melody Boys
8. Mamma Loves Papa - Isham Jones Orchestra
9. San - Mound City Blue Blowers
10. He May Be Your Man - Original Memphis Five
11. Snakes Hips - The Georgians
12. A Good Man Is Hard To Find - The Red Heads
13. Original Dixieland One-Step - Miff Mole & His Little Molers
14. Imagination - The Charleston Chasers
15. The Wild Dog - Joe Venuti's Blue Four
16. Sensation Stomp - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
17. Sittin' In A Corner - The California Ramblers
18. After You've Gone - The California Ramblers
19. Jazz Me Blues - Charles Pierce Orchestra
20. Maple Leaf Rag - Paul Mares Friars Society Orchestra
21. The Eel - Eddie Condon Orchestra
22. Ja-Da - Bud Freeman & The Summa Cum Laude Orchestra
23. Shimme-Sha Wabble - Bud Freeman Famous Chicagoans
24. I've Got A Crush On You - Lee Wiley


DISC TWO:

1. It's The Blues - Jean Goldkette Orchestra
2. Clementine (from New Orleans) - Jean Golkette Orchestra
3. Buy, Buy For My Baby - Ben Pollack Park Central Orchestra
4. White Jazz - Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra
5. It's Right Here For You - Tommy Dorsey
6. There'll Be Some Changes Made - The Boswell Sisters
7. Call Me A Taxi - Four of the Bobcats
8. Royal Garden Blues - Wolverine Orchestra
9. Crying All Day - Frank Trumbauer Orchestra
10. March Of The Hoodlums - Carmichael's Collegians
11. For No Reacon At All In C - Tram, Bix and Lang
12. What's The Use Of Cryin', Baby? - Jack Purvis Orchestra
13. Nothin' But The Blues - Gene Gifford
14. Stage Fright - Kress & McDonough
15. The Chant - George van Eps
16. Taking Off Milton Brown And His Musical Brownies
17. I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles - George Barnes Quartet
18. Carolina In The Morning - Red Nichols & His Five Pennies
19. It Had To Be You Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
20. Small Fry - Adrian Rollini
21. New Orleans - Bobby Hackett & Orchestra
22. Dance Of The Octopus - Red Norvo & His Orchestra
23. A Porter's Love Song To A Chambermaid - Red Norvo & His Orchestra
24. The Last Time I Saw Chicago - The Three Deuces
25. Jack Hits The Road - Bud Freeman Famous Chicagoans

Had this reissue appeared in isolation, it might well have passed relatively unnoticed, but it was designed as a musical companion to Richard M. Sudhalter's magisterial book of the same name, with the sub-title "White Musicians and their Contribution to Jazz 1915-1945". A word of explanation for the uninitiated; it has become the prevailing orthodoxy that jazz originated with and was played by black bands, and that it was appropriated by white musicians who exploited it for their own ends. This revisionist view holds that there were no white innovators, and few soloists of distinction, Very little tangible evidence has been advanced in support of that theory, but anyone who dared to challenge it ran the risk of being branded a racist.

Richard's book does not merely rebut this polemic, but produces concrete evidence to show that there was considerable white input into the creation of jazz, from its very first days in New Orleans. On the other hand, as he himself said, there is no point in replacing one exclusionist canon with another. The irony is that those collectors who have championed the early bands regardless of their colour, catalogued their output, and sought out rare source material for reissue, are almost exclusively white!

Needless to say, you can enjoy this reissue in its own right, but I would recommend the purchaser to seek out the book also, and approach it in the spirit in which it was written.

OK, OK...the book's not racist, I hear ya...But what is it that Library Journal says?: "throughout, the author repeatedly and unnecessarily bludgeons the reader with the point that these white jazz luminaries contributed to jazz as much as their African American counterparts, whom he mentions only peripherally. His lopsided perspective keeps an excellent book from turning into a classic". Well, no need for me to review the book; this guy said it all. But the CD set? Lots of trivia - clever, "peppy rather than swinging" in the immortal words of Martin Williams. And yet, there's a point here. I'm one who believes in the concept of African Retentions in Jazz - I feel them, I hear them, I sense them, I study them, I know they're there. But "retentions" means what it means, which is to say, it is only part of the story. Some of the rest of the story is to be found here. Let's skip quickly over the Tiger Rag versions - they show the misreading of the secondary downbeat hemiola groove at its finest. The guys play what they play, but they miss a lot, let's just say. Similarly with the approach to that in - the - cracks major-minor - ness of the blues (Tin Roof Blues, for example). They speak a foreign language quite well, those NORK, ODJB-ers.Period charm abounds,and it's a lo-o-o-ong way to the masterpieces. But they do exist...Listen to this version of Ja - Da. Brad Gowans' solo has an unearthly beauty that somehow combines Beiderbecke-isms and Prez-isms on the valve trombone.
These guys like Sudhalter eat out too often on the story of Trumbauer's being Lester Young's main influence. But a track like this one makes the whole thing make more sense - a particular strain in lyricism that runs through Jazz History where the Bix - Tram vocabulary is crucial - essential! But please don't push me too hard to consider Bud Freeman a GREAT Jazz musician. I'll admit he's got his thing, and let's leave it at that, OK? Teagarden, OK - I think even Stokely Carmichael would have to agree about him! Then there's that unique case of Goldkette's Clementine. I'm not sure I really buy Sudhalter's explanation of why this is their only truly great recording (sorry, you'll have to read the book to find out!). But, hey, it's truly amazing, start to finish.
Bix is a whole story in himself - one of the greatest Jazz musicians in the History, and who doesn't think so is just a PC bore, and has to take it up with me. But Man! The number of tracks here which confuse cleverness and glibness with excellence and profundity... We all need to take a deep breath, and sign up for that Remedial Aesthetics course. But just for the record, the Boswell Sisters are awesome, and the Bobcats track will show you where Tom Waits got his groove from.

why did you take my review ( 4 star) of this CD off the site