JSP's
All Star Jazz Quartets is a 97-track mini-archive of early jazz and small-band swing records dating from the years 1927-1941. Like any
JSP compilation, four-CD box set is reasonably priced and packed to the gills with great vintage music. Disc one focuses mainly on brass players, beginning with
Louis Armstrong's "Coal Cart Blues," and touching upon the Parisian adventures of
Rex Stewart and
Dickie Wells. The inclusion of five gutsy jams by
the Hot Lips Page Trio adds tremendous value to this set.
Page's "trio" was actually a quartet with guitarist
Teddy Bunn,
Ernest "Bass" Hill, and critic/producer
Leonard Feather at the piano. Cornetist
Jabbo Smith is heard with pipe organist
Fats Waller, pianist
James P. Johnson, and multi-reedman
Garvin Bushell in a 1928 chamber jazz ensemble known as
the Louisiana Sugar Babes.
Jabbo also leads his own
Rhythm Aces in a fast-paced, frantic "Jazz Battle." There are several fine pieces by
Harry James with
Teddy Wilson, and one early example of
Tommy Dorsey blowing a muted trumpet. This excellent volume closes with two old-styled masterworks by
Muggsy Spanier and
Sidney Bechet's Hot Record Society unit,
the Big Four.
Disc two is primarily devoted to reed players, with
Benny Goodman's Quartet grabbing the first seven tracks, followed by
Joe Marsala with
Roy Eldridge and
Frank Teschemacher with
Eddie Condon's Quartet.
Bechet reappears with
Spanier and also as a member of
Noble Sissle's Swingsters. One sterling example from saxophonist
Coleman Hawkins leads to a
Blue Note session led by clarinetist
Edmond Hall with electrically amplified guitarist
Charlie Christian and boogie-woogie master
Meade "Lux" Lewis, who operates a tinkling celeste. On "Call Me a Taxi" and "I Hear You Talking," tenor saxophonist
Eddie Miller and three colleagues from
Bob Crosby's scaled down band are billed as
Four of the Bob Cats.
Omer Simeon signifies with his own quartet anchored by pianist
Earl Fatha Hines, and as a member of a foursome led by
Jelly Roll Morton. One of the great definitive traditional jazz records,
Jelly's "Mournful Serenade" is a masterpiece of intimate collaboration.
Disc three is mostly given over to stringed instruments, with fiddler
Joe Venuti commandeering the entire first half of the menu in collusion with virtuoso guitarist
Eddie Lang. Highlights in this part of the package include
Adrian Rollini's hot fountain pen solo on "Kickin' the Cat";
Teschemacher's brave essay on bassoon during "Runnin' Ragged," and
Jimmy Dorsey's warbling clarinet during the opening of "Raggin' the Scale."
Teschemacher's handling of the bassoon echoes
Bushell's efforts on that instrument with
the Louisiana Sugar Babes. Violinist
Eddie South is represented by records he cut in the U.S. with his own
Alabamians and in Paris with
Django Reinhardt. There are also brief outings with French fiddlers
Stephane Grappelli and
Michel Warlop. This delightful disc rounds off with encores by the
Edmond Hall and
Spanier/
Bechet groups.
Disc four is thickly populated by old-style jazz quartets with a high incidence of washboard percussion.
Louis Armstrong re-manifests as a member of
Jimmy Bertrand's Washboard Wizards alongside clarinetist
Johnny Dodds and pianist
Jimmy Blythe.
Dodds is well-represented with the
Chicago Footwarmers,
the Dixie Land Thumpers, and
the Beale Street Washboard Band. Several New York-based groups led by
Clarence Williams are also propelled by rub boards, and the anthology closes pleasantly enough with a half-dozen sides by Harlem stride pianist
Willie "The Lion" Smith & His Cubs. This is an extraordinarily enjoyable compilation, and anyone interested in high quality pre-WWII small-group jazz ought to seriously consider obtaining a personal copy in order to stay in touch with tradition while staving off negative vibrations. ~ arwulf arwulf
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