First sessions by the Illinois Jacquet Orchestra in 1945 while he was between engagements with Cab Calloway and Count Basie . .eight piece band with his brother Russell on trumpet, Henry Coker or Vic Dickenson on trombone, John Brown on alto, Arthur Dennis on bari, Tom Archia occasionally playing tenor, Sir Charles Thompson on piano, Ulysses Livingston on guitar and Charles Mingus on bass with vocals by Russell and Wynonie Harris . .the focus is on the fleet and inventive tenor playing of the...

Bands led by two almost forgotten black musicians from Chicago - drummer Harry Dial and pianist/composer/arranger Alex Hill. In Chicago Harry Dial's Bluesicians included Shirley Clay, Lester Boone, Omer Simeon, George Dixon, Cecil Irwin, and Hayes Alvis . . Hill's band in Chicago from 1930 had Bob Shoffner, George Dixon, Cecil Irwin, Darnell Howard, George James, Zinky Cohn and Sid Catlett . . his 1934 New York band had Joe Thomas, Benny Carter, Clyde Bernhardt, Claude Jones, George James,...

Great unheard jazz from various black groups active in Chicago in the late 1920's - Dave Nelson, Kline Tindall, Vance Dixon, Ernest "Mike" Michall, Cicero Thomas and others producing some exceptionally hot sounds just below the radar . .recordings for Paramount and Gennett. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Great band straddling swing, bop and R&B, all featuring the Texas tenor, Illinois Jacquet with his brother Russell and Joe Newman on trumpets, J.J. Johnson and Henry Coker on trombones, Ray Perry on alto, Leo Parker and Maurice Simon on baritones, John Lewis and Sir Charles Thompson on piano, John Collins on guitar, Al Lucas on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Bud Freeman was one of the most in-demand sidemen on record sessions in the 1930's - here he is featured extensively with Bunny Berigan (with Forrest Crawford, Chick Bullock), Gene Gifford (with Berigan, Matty Matlock, Claude Thornhill, Morey Samuels), Wingy Manone (with Dicky Wells, Teddy Wilson, Matty Matlock, Gil Bowers, Artie Shaw) and Eddie Condon (with Max Kaminsky, Floyd O'Brien, Pee Wee Russell, Joe Sullivan, Alex Hill) - all between 1933 and 1936. --- Support this podcast:...

Great jazz sides by Richard M. Jones' Jazz Wizards, featuring Shirley Clay, William Franklin, Roy Carew, Omer Simeon, Artie Starks, Johnny St. Cyr, Willie Hightower and others, playing the compositions and arrangements of the New Orleans pianist, composer and talent scout Jones. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Great studio band playing hot stock arrangements in 1924 and 1925 . . featuring Red Nichols, Mickey Bloom, Miff Mole, Vincent Grande, Charles Panelli, Bennie Krueger, Rube Bloom, Harry Reser, Joe Tarto and others --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Great sessions for Charles Delauney's Swing label in New York in 1946 featuring Benny Carter and The Chocolate Dandies (Buck Clayton, Al Grey, Ben Webster, Sonny White, John Simmons and Sid Catlett), Jonah Jones and His Cats (Tyree Glenn, Rudy Powell, Ike Quebec, Dave Rivera, Milt Hinton, Kansas Fields) and Gene Sedric (Lincoln Mills, Freddy Jefferson, Danny Settle, Slick Jones), including two bonus Sedric tracks for Keynote --- Support this podcast:...

Great early version of the George Lewis band, featuring the trumpet player the leader always said was his favorite - Elmer "Coo Coo" Talbert. Live and transcription recordings from 1949 to 1950 (when Talbert died) also featuring Jim Robinson, Alton Purnell, Lawrence Marrero, Slow Drag Pavageau and Joe Watkins --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Benny Carter led a big band from 1932 until 1947, but none was better than the 1945-46 edition, which split time between New York and Los Angeles. Featured in his regular band are Bumps Myers, Idrees Sulieman, Max Roach, Al Grey, Sonny White and of course Carter himself on alto, trumpet and clarinet, with most of the arrangements being his. The two sessions with his all-star band have some of those musicians plus Trummy Young, Dickie Wells, Emmett Berry, Joe Newman, Don Byas, Flip Phillips...

Tiny Parham was a well known theater musician, arranger and composer who had a series of recording sessions for Victor in 1928-1930 featuring his compositions and arrangements. This show focuses on two sessions, each of which features the New Orleans trumpeter Punch Miller along with Charles Lawson, Charles Johnson, Dalbert Bright, Mike McKendrick and others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Three of the few white dance bands in Chicago in the 1930's playing good jazz - Jack and Charlie Teagarden fronting the Charles Lavere band (with Bud Freeman, Rod Cless, Bob Conselman, Dick McPartland), the slightly later Lavere group (with Jabbo Smith, Marty Marsala, Joe Marsala, Joe Masek), and Frankie Trumbauer's short-lived big band featuring mainly himself, but good solos from Joe Harris as well --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Great houseband for Rudi Blesh's radio show "This Is Jazz" in 1947. Selections from two broadcasts of the show and two appearances on the same days by the same band on another program. .. .Wild Bill Davison on cornet, Jimmy Archey on trombone, Ed Hall on clarinet, Ralph Sutton on piano, Danny Barker on guitar, Pops Foster on bass and Baby Dodds on drums. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Perhaps the first true New Orleans revival session - George Lewis and His Band was essentially the same group that recorded with Bunk Johnson, but with Avery "Kid" Howard bringing a more modern style to the band. Jim Robinson, Lawrence Marrero, Chester Zardis, Edgar Mosely and "Jim Little" (Sidney Brown) round out the group. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Excellent if unapprecciated big band led by the great pianist Earl Hines. Featuring arrangments by Franz Jackson, Budd Johnson and Gerald Valentine, soloists include Johnson, Jackson, tenor sax player Bob Crowder, alto sax Scoops Carey, clarinets Omer Simeon and Leroy Harris and brass players including John "Streamline" Ewing, Harry Jackson, Walter Fuller and Ed Sims. Vocals by Billy Eckstine! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

The New Orleans trombone player Preston Jackson was an active participant in Southside jazz bands in the 1920's . .here he is featured with Richard M. Jones Jazz Wizards (Shirley Clay, Artie Starks, Johnny St. Cyr, George Reynolds, Clifford "Snags" Jones), Bertha "Chippie" Hill and his own Uptown Band (featuring Jones' musicians) and also Luis Russell's Heebie Jeebie Stompers with Bob Shoffner, Darnell Howard, Barney Bigard and St. Cyr. --- Support this podcast:...

Swing to Bop records made by members of Woody Herman's First Herd in 1944-46 . . groups led by Harris (with Conte Candoli, Alvin Burroughs and Phillips), Berman (Harris, Phillips, Serge Chaloff) and Phillips (Neal Hefti, Harris, Aaron Sachs and Bill Shine) with a more or less steady rhythm section of Ralph Burns, Billy Bauer, Chubby Jackson and either Dave Tough or Don Lamond. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Teddy Wilson solo piano performances, from his first (unreleased) session in 1934 through some occasional 1941 tracks for Brunswick, ARC and Columbia. He was known as the "Quintessence of Swing" and these somewhat rare solos demonstrate why! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Small groups that played regularly at Cafe Society and other New York establishments for about four years, led by the great pianist Teddy Wilson. Columbia and transcription recordings featuring Bill Coleman, Emmett Berry, Benny Morton, Jimmy Hamilton, Edmond Hall, George James, Al Hall, Specs Powell, Sid Catlett, Slam Stewart and others . .also Helen Ward and Lena Horne on vocals! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Small group recordings featuring Woody Herman's First Herd tenor saxophonist - with Earl Hines (Ray Nance, Johnny Hodges, Betty Roche), Red Norvo (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Teddy Wilson, Slam Stewart) and under his own name with Ralph Burns, Chubby Jackson, Billy Bauer and Don Lamond --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

The largely forgotten clarinet player Archie Semple was a mainstay in Alex Welsh's great band in the 1950's and 60's before suffering an emotional and physical breakdown that sadly ended his playing days. Here is a sample of the relatively few tracks he recorded under his own name, featuring Welsh, Dickie Hawdon on trumpet, Roy Crimmins on trombone, Fred Hunt on piano and others, but focusing on the leader's clarinet, reflecting the twin influences of Pee Wee Russell and Edmond Hall ---...

Lovie Austin was a busy pianist/arranger/composer in Chicago in the 1920's - as one of the few women in an almost exclusively male business she carved out a niche for herself, influencing other women performers to come, such as Mary Lou Williams. Her instrumental recordings are here from 1924-26 and feature Tommy Ladnier, Natty Dominique, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy O'Bryant, W.E Burton, Priscilla Stewart and others, with Austin holding it all together as a player, arranger and...

Recordings made by one of the greatest versions of the Basie band for Verve in January, 1956. Featuring arrangements by Ernie Wilkins, Neal Hefti, Joe Newman, Frank Wess and Frank Foster and solos by the two Franks, Newman, Thad Jones, Bill Hughes, Henry Coker, Benny Powell, Bill Graham, Marshall Royal and the great rhythm section of Basie, Freddie Green, Eddie Jones and Sonny Payne. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Trumpeter Welsh led one of the most musical yet exciting trad bands of the 1950's and 60's - with Roy Crimmins on trombone, Archie Semple on clarinet, Fred Hunt on piano and Lennie Hastings on drums (and several guitars and bassists), the band mined a wide range of jazz repertoire from ragtime to New Orleans and swing, all within a Chicago Jazz/Eddie Condon perspective. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support

Great Roulette recordings by the New Testament Basie Band reinterpreting the tunes from his 1930's and 40's band. Featuring great work by Billy Mitchell, Henry Coker, Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Jimmy Nottingham, Seldon Powell, Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Marshall Royal, Benny Powell and Basie himself! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-clark49/support