Jazz Focus cover image

Jazz Focus

Latest episodes

undefined
May 21, 2020 • 1h 14min

Kid Ory and Henry "Red" Allen - live and in studio 1959

Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band was one of the most consistently popular group in the New Orleans/Dixieland Jazz Revival from the middle 1940's through the mid 1960's.  For this version of the band, Ory hired the great trumpeter Red Allen for a European tour in the fall of 1959.  Prior to this, they recorded an album for Verve also featuring Bob McCracken on clarinet, Cedric Haywood on piano and Alton Redd on drums and vocals.  Tracks from the album and a live date in Berlin are the focus of this podcast. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
May 11, 2020 • 1h 13min

Bob Wills - King of Western Swing!

Today we listen to some of the jazzier sides recorded by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, mostly in the 1930's.  "Western Swing" as a term didn't come into use until the middle 1940's - these players considered themselves jazz musicians and their playing on standards like "Lady Be Good," "White Heat," "Wang Wang Blues," "Who Walks In When I Walk Out" and others demonstrate this very well.  The most impressive soloists are Jesse Ashlock on violin and Leon McAuliffe on steel and electric guitar, but acoustic guitarist Eldon Shamblin, pianist Al Stricklin, trumpeters Everett Stover and Tubby Lewis, sax/clarinet players Ray DeGeer, Charles Laughton and Wayne Johnson should not be overlooked either! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 22, 2020 • 59min

Omer Simeon - unheralded New Orleans and Chicago clarinet

The great clarinet player Omer Simeon was known for his recordings with Jelly Roll Morton in the 1920's, Earl Hines in the 1930's, Jimmy Lunceford and Kid Ory in the 1940's and Wilbur DeParis in the 1950's . . .here are a series of small group dates from 1929 on which he is featured with Reuben "River" Reeves, Jabbo Smith, Richard M. Jones and the Dixie Rhythm Kings, featuring members of the Earl Hines band.  The two small group recordings Simeon did under his own name (one including Hines himself) are included here as well. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 9, 2020 • 1h 11min

Hilton Jefferson - great lead and solo alto sax

Hilton Jefferson was known to musicians more than the public - as lead alto for Fletcher Henderson, Claude Hopkins, Cab Calloway and many others, he was often featured on ballads to show off his gorgeous sound, but here we are featuring him on more rhythmic tunes from some all star swing combos of the middle 1940's with a few ballads thrown in besides.  Jonah Jones, Joe Thomas, Tyree Glenn, Ike Quebec, Jerry Jerome, Bernie Leighton, Eddie Barefield, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Hinton, Cozy Cole and Panama Francis are just a few of the notables featured here, but the focus is really on Jefferson, whose playing is a model of consistency, musicality and some innovation as well. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 9, 2020 • 44min

Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven - radio transcriptions

The TD Clambake Seven recording for radio transcriptions in 1936 . . Max Kaminsky, TD, Joe Dixon, Edythe Wright and Dave Tough playing some standards ("Jada", "Somebody Stole My Gal" "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" "My Honey's Lovin' Arms") as well as contemporary tunes ("Cabin In the Sky" "I'll Bet You Tell That To All The Girls") . .some great jazz. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 9, 2020 • 59min

Maggie Jones - Classic Blues singer

The records Louis Armstrong made with Maggie Jones in 1924 were ones he singled out as favorites of his later in his life.  Here she is featured on four numbers with him (including the very special "Does Anyone Here Want to Try My Cabbage?") one with Charlie Green, and several with Fletcher Henderson units, members of the Original Indiana Five, and an Elmer Snowden group. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 9, 2020 • 55min

Anachronic Jazz Band . . Traditional Jazz from France

The 1976-78 recordings by the Anachronic Jazz Band were both traditional and innovative.  By taking tunes by Bebop and later composers (Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane) and filtering them through a 1920's sensibility they showed the continuity of the Jazz tradition with great arrangements of and solos on tunes like "Round Midnight," "Yardbird Suite," "Giant Steps" and "Joy Spring." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 9, 2020 • 1h 5min

Mary Lou Williams first recordings - 1927-1929

Mary Lou Williams was one of the finest pianists of the 1920's and 30's  . . . she was also a very under-appreciated arranger and composer.  Her work here on the early Andy Kirk and His Clouds Of Joy recordings as well as a couple of earlier sides with her then-husband, reedman John Williams show a fine combination of playing, composing and arranging.  Kirk's band was also one of the hottest and most interesting groups in Kansas City at that point. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 9, 2020 • 1h 5min

Dizzy Gillespie in 1945-46 . .as leader without Charlie Parker

This is a look at the sessions Dizzy Gillespie led in 1945 -46 without Charlie Parker.  The Diz and Bird sides have received a lot of attention, but the recording dates that Parker wasn't hired (or just didn't show up) for are fascinating as well.  Gillespie leads and is heavily featured on tunes with Don Byas, Lucky Thompson, Dexter Gordon, Trummy Young, Clyde Hart, Al Haig and someone who may or may not be Thelonious Monk. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support
undefined
Apr 2, 2020 • 48min

Bessie Smith and James P. Johnson

An examination of the duet recordings made by Classic Blues singer Bessie Smith and stride pianist James P. Johnson in October 1929. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app