Count Basie/Benny Carter
Legendary Radio Broadcasts
Storyville

Ella Fitzgerald/Mildred Bailey
Legendary Radio Broadcasts
Storyville

Sounds of New Orleans
Volume 1
Storyville

Sounds of New Orleans
Volume 2
Storyville
By George W. Harris

It’s fitting that Storyville should be putting out this collection of radio broadcasts of Count Basie’s band when Lester Young was the tenor player. This 2 disc set serves as a perfect complement to Mosaic’s recent 4 disc box of the similar period, the only difference being that this setting is in a “live” context, making the music have a bit more caffeine in the coffee.

Taken from broadcasts when the band was at the crossroads of the jazz world, namely Pittsburgh, Boston, and some place called New York City, these 37-40 recordings embody everything that is good and great about swing. The incessant rhythm supplied by Basie, Jones, Page and Green is still one of the greatest contributions to Western Civilization. Lester Young’s solos on songs like “Swinging at the Daisy Chain” and “Every Tub” are wonders to behold. Tenor partner Herschel Evans was the perfect foil for Young, as his fluffy and creamy solo on “One O’Clock Jump” is the epitome of the Kansas City Sound. What also makes this disc essential is that a large number of the songs (like “Ebony Rhapsody”) were never recorded in the studio by the Basie band, and those that were had completely different solo. A sovereign for anyone willing to transcribe Young’s solos from these recordings!

Benny Carter’s 39-43 broadcasts feature a band that, while not as free and loose as Basie’s had it’s own important qualities. While the trumpet section boasted guys like Miles Davis and Freddy Webster, it was the velvety sax section that is a delight. Their voluptuous sound on “Rose Room”, “All Of Me”, and “Opening Night” hint at his stellar “Further Definitions” recordings two decades later. Also standing out is his gorgeous alto playing on tunes like “Sleep”, “Ill Wind” and “I Can’t Get Started.” You could make a good argument that no one sounded as good on the alto as Benny Carter. The technique of bebop came at a steep price: the loss of a tone as smooth as this.

By 1940, Ella Fitzgerald had essentially taken over Chick Webb’s band, who had died the previous year. She kept most of the musicians such as trumpeter Taft Jordan and saxists Hlton Jefferson and Eddie Barefiled, as well as arranger Edgar Sampson, so the band still had the ability to rock the joints pretty well. These recordings show what the band was capable of doing. Ella herself sounds uncommonly youthful and spry, since we are usually used to the voice of the 50s Songbook period, but she’s got that smile in her tone that makes every song sparkle. She handles rhythm tunes like “I Want The Waiter” like a member of the sax section. The band itself is in the pocket, taking tunes like “Traffic Jam” and wringing them out to dry.

The accompanying disc features the undeservedly overlooked singer Mildred Bailey, who was every bit as brilliant with a lyric as Ella or Billie. Supported by a 1945 band that included Roy Eldriege, Charlie Shavers, Teddy Wilson, Red Norvo, and guest Tommy Dorsey, Bailey shines most brightly on spirituals like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child.” Earl Hines and Trummy Young join in for some fantastic work; Hines’ “St. Louis Blues” is a tour de force!, and Cozy Cole puts some extra fire in the band as he kicks up “Stompin’ At The Savoy”. This disc is a lost treasure.

The two double disc sets of New Orleans musicians is mostly comprised of recordings from the early to mid fifties. Stalwarts like clarinetists George Lewis and Alphonse Picou, trombonist Kid Ory and Wilbur De Paris, trumpeters Alvin Alcorn and Sidney De Paris, and drummer Zutty Singleton are recorded during gigs in either (mostly) New Orleans or at The Hangover Club in San Francisco. The standard fare of “High Society”, “Royal Garden Blues” and “Muskrat Ramble” were all part of the Trad Jazz rage at the time. The music is quite fun and frenetic, and exudes an incredible amount of energy. The importance of these discs is that this was no recreation by a bunch of Ukrainian wannabees, as we see in so many festivals nowadays. This was the real deal.

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