King Oliver s Creole Jazz Band 1923-1924
£10.37
- Just Gone
- Canal Street Blues
- Mandy Lee Blues
- I m going away to wear you off my mind
- Chimes Blues
- Weather Bird Rag
- Dipper Mouth Blues
- Froggie Moore
- Snake Rag
- Snake Rag
- Sweet Lovin Man
- High Society Rag
- Sobbin Blues
- Where did you go last night?
- Dipper Mouth Blues
- Jazzin Babies Blues
- Alligator Hop
- Zulu s Ball
- Working man Blues
- Krooked Blues
The First Great Jazz Records - Having lived with these tracks for about 50 years, repeated listening has confirmed that these are the finest recordings of a classic New Orleans ensemble ever made. The front line are completely integrated with no one (not even Louis Armstrong!) trying to hog the limelight. There are no star soloists and the cornets, clarinet, and trombone, although distinctive voices, blend together to create a polyphony so perfect as to almost defy belief. Sadly, this perfection could not last. The era of the great soloists was about to dawn and, although - for example - Armstrong, Hawkins, Bechet, etc created magnificent music, the very fact of their individual creativity meant the end of the truly integrated ensemble until the early 1940 s. Duke Ellington, in the Blanton-Webster band, created just this and, importantly, found a way of integrating important solo voices within the ensemble that detracted from neither. But that s another story!This edition of the Oliver Creole Band recordings was been splendidly remastered by the late, lamented, John R T Davis and contains the complete Gennett, Okeh, Columbia and Paramount sessions. Alternate takes are included. All in all, a perfect reissue of some of the most important of all jazz records.
This is how it started - There is that marching beat, harking back to the funerals and parades of New Orleans, and the popular songs and tunes of the day that any self-respecting musician had in his repertoire. Armstrong s first solo! And you can easily play a track half a dozen times trying to distinguish between the cornets of Oliver and Armstrong, they re so entangled and anyway I m far from sure who is who. Dodds warbling along on his clarinet is always a joy.This CD is sheer bliss for a lover of raw and primitive jazz with its ensemble playing. Only Hot Five and Hot Seven are better, even if dominated by Armstrong s power.
The authentic jazz sound of New Orleans - This double album embraces 41 recordings made after the closing of Storyville and the shift of jazz from its birthplace in New Orleans. No jazz recordings had been made when Joe King Oliver formed his first bands and played there alongside such other New Orleans jazz greats as Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds and Sidney Bechet. The CDs include 37 tracks by King Oliver s Creole Jazz Band, 2 tracks with King Oliver and Clarence Williams accompanying vaudeville singers Jodie and Susie Edwards, and 2 tracks of King Oliver cornet solos accompanied by the great Jelly Roll Morton on piano.The initial 8 tracks are revered by jazz enthusiasts and are amongst the first jazz recordings made by a Negro band. This was in Richmond, Indiana, with the rest of the 37 Creole Jazz Band tracks being recorded in Chicago. All this took place in the year 1923, and with no earlier jazz recordings it can be claimed these are the first real records of the authentic sound of New Orleans jazz. Indeed, it may be argued that there is no real New Orleans jazz other than that recorded elsewhere.It is not practicable to comment on all 41 tracks, but the 37 by the Creole Jazz Band demonstrate a most important element in traditional jazz termed collective improvisation where all instruments improvise in relation to the melodies and harmonies of the others and blend into an ensemble sound. There is also an element of creating openings for others and taking advantage of openings by others for solo slots, and of siezing opportunities to join in chorus lines. My favourites are Canal Street Blues from the initial recording session, together with Jazzin Baby Blues, Zulu s Ball, Sobbin Blues, I Ain t Gonna Tell Nobody and Room Rent Blues from Chicago sessions. Louis Armstrong is part of the line-ups on all these recordings and there is a rare opportunity to hear him playing swanee whistle. Alternative takes and versions are included for such numbers as Dipper Mouth Blues, Snake Rag, Mabel s Dream, Riverside Blues and Southern Stomps that allow appreciation of the considerable flexibility of the musicians and the wide diversity of the band.Surprisingly these multiple numbers do not detract from the easy listening nature of the CDs for the Creole Jazz Band numbers. However, for me the final 4 tracks recorded in 1924 fit rather uncomfortably with the 1923 recordings. It is perhps as well that positioning at the end of the second CD allows the vaudeville numbers to be ignored. Of some interest are the King Oliver cornet solos as these give a glimpse of him playing in isolation. I find King Porter Stomp full of inventiveness though rather ragged, and Tom Cat has the cornet as subdued staccato to Jelly Roll Morton s more melodic piano.King Oliver had built on the playing of Buddy Bolden and Freddie Keppard, just as Louis Armstrong was to go on and build on the playing of King Oliver. In his heyday King Oliver was amongst the greats of New Orleans horn players, and the Creole Jazz Band was his most famous group. These CDs include the best of what was being played at the time. King Oliver on cornet and the Creole Jazz Band were the sensation of this golden age playing the authentic jazz sound of New Orleans.