Golden Years Of Jazz Vol.5, The - Various Artists > Reviews > The Golden Years of Jazz Volume 5

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great jazz tunes from the Golden Age
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is real jazz, from the real Golden Age of Jazz. It's got the pace, the rhythm, the fluid trumpet playing, the relentlessly enthusiastic, rolling piano playing and the clear diction of some excellent singing of vocalists who could not only hold a tune, but who could capture your heart and soul, too…

There's musicians with such great names as Muggsy Spanier, Meade Lux Lewis, King Oliver and Sidney Bechet. You do not get musicians called Muggsy nowadays. I wonder why?

As well as straight out jazz such as the Dippermouth blues, there's also the dreamy and melodic April in Paris from Charlie Parker. Some jazz aficionados reckon that Charlie Parker eventually sold out. Well, perhaps he did. But some of his earlier work still stands the test of time.

Jack Teagarden is on this CD, with So Many Times, a rather nice, well-performed and fluid love song. Sadly the female singer with the honey-dripping tones is not credited on this CD.

There's Harry James and his Orchestra with a waltz time piece called Carnival of Vencie, with some trumpet playing that is straight out of the trumpet section of a classical orchestra.

There's Moonlight in Vermont sung by Ella Fitzgerald. If you haven't heard her sing, hear this song and you'll know why Ella Fitzgerald is so well-loved to this day by people from all over the year.

Prisoner of Love by Teddy Wilson is good, solid jazz fare. A simple rhythm, slightly muted trumpet and lilting piano. Eventually, the music is joined by a female singer with a voice that is slightly reminiscent of Mae West.

Closing Hour Blues by Meade Lux Lewis is a blues jazz cross-over. Somehow the crackles from the original master recording just add a little something to this pure piece of jazz-blues piano work that makes up this excellent tune.

Solitude by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra begins strangely with what sounds on this recording by what sounds like some off-key piano playing. Then the rest of the orchestra slowly join in. I fear that this recording is marred by damage to the masters, as it seems to have some problems. Even so, it shows what Duke an his court could do.

Speaking of royalty in jazz, the next track is King Oliver with Rhythm Club Stomp. This is re-mastered for digital stereo and seems to have benefited from the experience. It could be this might be one of the accidental stereo recordings that was discovered. Apparently it was the habit of some record producers to use two sets of recording equipment on a recording session, as insurance against an equipment failure. One set of microphones was to he left, the other two the right. Mostly, they didn't fail, so the company was left with two good master discs. In order not to waste them, they would produce record pressings from both masters, labelling them up to differentiate the two masters. Apparently a jazz historian found out about this and was able, by tracking down two records of the same performance, but produced from the different masters, to re-master them as a brand new stereo release, using the original recordings.

The St Louis Shuffle from Fletcher Henderson is a good example of the St Louis style of jazz, combining jazz and blues. Actually, Fletcher Henderson did more than this, he really put his own mark on this, by a variety of musical techniques and instruments. Based on this tune, I think he was robably more genuinely experimental than people like Charlie Parker.

Doggin' Around, is another By Royal Appointment tune, this time from the orchestra of Count Basie. A rather lush, full sound, perhaps a little less avant-garde than Duke Ellington?

Out of Nowhere by Coleman Hawkins makes use of jazz guitar (many of the jazz bands didn't) but this, combined with the other "traditional" instruments make for a satisfying jazz classic. Eventually Jango Rhinehart, the Gypsy/Roma jazz guitarist would change all that…

Lester Young's Sad Eyes, is a no-nonsense jazz piece, with more than a nod to the Blues. Moving, firm piano, which moves round a central theme, soon joined by the other instruments to show how to make Sad Eyes glad again.

Whose Honey Are You, by Fats Waller and his Rhythm starts with a smattering of scat singing, and then uses piano, rhythm, and jazz guitar to back a song sung by man asking "Whose Honey Are You?"

Indian Summer, by Sidney Bechet is a simple jazz refrain, which is as warm and as welcome as an Indian Summer. Sidney Bechet, feel some people, is one of the neglected heroes of the Golden Age of Jazz. He should not be.

Art Tatum's Stormy Weather is a good tune, much performed down to this day by score upon score of artistes. This version is a good, simple version of this classic tune. Just played on the piano, using a lilting style that is fully conversant with the jazz idiom.

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