Jazz Focus

Old Bottles, Older Wine - the Gil Evans Orchestra on Pacific Records, 1958, 1959 . . Arrangements by the innovative Gil Evans of Jazz standards from earlier eras featuring Cannonball Adderley, Budd Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Chuck Wayne, Johnny Coles, Bill Barber, Elvin Jones, Steve Lacy, Ray Crawford, Art Blakey and of course Evans himself. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Apropos more now than ever, this is a tribute to a very HOT band from Philadelphia in the summer and fall of 1932.  The Washboard Stompers featured Taft Jordan and Valaida Snow on trumpets, Ben Smith and Carl Wade on saxes, Eddie Miles on piano, Ghost Howell on bass and Steve Washington on banjo and vocals with assists from Bella Benson and Lavada Carter --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

The Gene Kardos Orchestra was a busy and frequently recorded band in the early 1930's - based at the Gloria Palast in the Bronx, they were one of the few white groups playing really hot dance music during the Depression years.  While they recorded under Kardos' name (and a variety of pseudonyms) for Victor, Melotone and the ARC labels, it was featured under the name of their pianist, Joel Shaw for recordings made for the Crown label.  These records were, if anything, hotter than the Kardos sides - featuring no well known Jazz players, this band was known to swing harder than its competition - Ben Pollack, Casa Loma and the Dorsey Brothers. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

WETF Show - Benny Goodman in 1945/6 . . from December '45 to Jan '46 - one radio show and two transcription sessions featuring the big band (with Stan Getz, Bernie Privin and Mel Powell) and the Trio, Quintet and Sextet (with Powell, Red Norvo, Mike Bryan and others).  Some of Goodman's greatest and least inhibited playing under his own name --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Swingin' Minstrel - Clancy Hayes!  The banjo player and singer with Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band (Bill Napier, George Probert, Jack Buck, Pud Brown), Art Hodes, Yank Lawson's Yankee Clippers (Cutty Cuttshall, Pee Wee Russell, Dave McKenna), Salty Dogs (Lew Green, Kim Cusack, John Cooper, Wayne Jones, Mike Walbridge) and his own quartet with Jess Stacy or Ralph Sutton . .great tunes and singing with a mix of West Coast, Chicago and New York Dixieland musicians. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Clarinet Marmalade - Edmond Hall on Commodore - featured as a sideman with Wild Bill Davison's Commodores (including George Brunies, Vernon Brown, Gene Schroeder and Eddie Condon), The DeParis Brothers (Sidney and Wilbur Deparis, Clyde Hart), and George Wettling's Rhythm Kings (Billy Butterfield, Wilbur DeParis, Dave Bowman) . . great mainstream/trad! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Louis Armstrong 1947 . . transition!  Two live concerts (February and April) leading up to his Town Hall Concert in May and the formation of the All-Stars.  The February date has him fronting the Edmund Hall Sextet at Carnegie Hall with Irving "Mouse" Randolph, Henderson Chambers, Ellis Larkins, Johnny Williams and Jimmy Crawford along with Hall . . the April date is the "This Is Jazz" show produced, written and narrated by Rudi Blesh for WOR . . the This Is Jazz All-Stars with Louis are Wild Bill Davison, George Brunies Albert Nicholas, Art Hodes, Danny Barker, Pops Foster and Baby Dodds. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Clarinet Spice . . .recordings featuring two (or more) clarinets!  The Southern Jazz Five (led by Dave Dallwitz), Bechet-Nicholas Blues Five (Albert Nicholas and Sidney Bechet), Clarence Williams Washboard Band (with Bennie Moten and Ben Whitted), Benny Goodman and Stan Hasselgard, Ray Burke and Harry Shields, Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, Johnny Dodds and Junie Cobb, Edmond Hall with Herb Hall and Omer Simeon and others . . --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Chasing The Blues Away - recordings for World and Associated Transcriptions in 1935 of the Claude Hopkins Orchestra (with Ovie Alston, Ed Hall, Hilton Jefferson, Bobby Sands and Sylvester Lewis) and 1936 of the Chick Webb Orchestra (with Bobby Stark, Sandy Williams, Pete Clarke, Edgar Sampson, Teddy McRae, Joe Steele and Ella Fitzgerald) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

The Reunion - December, 1957 recording sessions featuring Gerry Mulligan.  One with the reunion of Mulligan and Chet Baker in a quartet setting (with Henry Grimes and Dave Bailey) and two tunes from the unreleased album "Gerry Mulligan with the Vinnie Burke String Quartet" featuring Calo Scott and Dick Wetmore --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support