‘Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions’ 1943-49

‘Epic’ is an over-used description and I’m embarrassed to employ it, yet no word is more appropriate to describe Mosaic’s latest limited-edition release. Because this venture is epic in historical context. Epic in scale. Epic in talent and execution. Epic in content. And epic in quality of restored sound.

The Back Story

Much like the universe, this epic tale also starts with a big bang, specifically, the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 propelling the United States into the crucible of World War II.

At some point, during the Pentagon’s detailed preparation for conflict, the issue of maintaining troop morale far from home is raised. A bright spark with psychological insight recommends that a regular supply of the latest popular music recordings might alleviate the problem (is it worth reminding readers that, during the early 1940s, much popular music is jazz?). Metronome is an authoritative jazz magazine and its co-editor, George T. Simon, is enlisted to persuade the cream of U.S. jazz musicians to volunteer services gratis, regardless of recording label contracts. And that, dear readers, is how the V-Disc (‘V’ standing for victory) programme is born.

The V-Disc programme is a state venture, not a commercial enterprise and restricted to military personnel only. The civilian population is totally excluded. And because conventional 10-inch 78rpm brittle shellac records would never survive the hazards of delivery to distant war zones, V-Discs are pressed on 12-inch vinylite, a flexible and nearly indestructible material that bends almost double. Consequently, not only do soldiers get a product that endures shock and awe, but musicians are afforded more time and space than usual to express their ideas. From October 1943 until May 1949, eight million 12-inch vinylite discs are delivered to U.S. combat forces in action.

Every V-Disc has a patriotic red, white and blue label carrying the stern warning: “This record is the property of the War Department of the United States and use for radio or commercial purposes prohibited”. In fact, while both the U.S. military and the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) insist they should be destroyed, the innate disobedience of jazz collectors is being overlooked. Explaining why, over subsequent decades, some of this material surfaces on bootlegs, often of questionable quality. However, through meticulous sleuthing, gee-whiz technology and consummate mastery of the black arts, Nancy Conforti, Shane Carroll and Andreas Meyer at Swan Studios triumph over what the late Humphrey Lyttleton once described as ‘the grot of ages’, restoring antique sound signals to a state of exceptional clarity and crispness.

The Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions are gathered onto 11 CDS with 223 music tracks plus a number of spoken introductions and some studio chat. Point of interest: the earliest V-Discs are recorded during a recording ban instituted by AFM supremo, the unlamented, unsavoury James Caesar Petrillo, whose office windows (according to jazz connoisseur and ephemera collector Michael Steinman’s 22-page magisterial and highly informative sleeve notes) were bullet-proofed, probably to protect him from his less adoring union membership. This means that some tracks on the first few CDs are the only existing examples of certain musicians’ work during those lean recording years.

Jim Robinson (l) and Bunk Johnson (r) at a November 21, 1945 session for Decca Records.
Photograph by Warren Rothschild.

The Artists

A reminder: this 11-CD collection is limited to small bands only. The Mosaic team plans to issue a further collection of big bands on V-Discs.

The musical talent on display has its own epic historical sweep. CD 1 begins with William Geary ‘Bunk’ Johnson, a trumpet player born in New Orleans in the 19th Century. By the finish of CD 11, we hear blind pianist and influential teacher Lennie Tristano, a key figure in the cerebral cool school. At various points between the two, we encounter the reconstituted Original Dixieland Jazz Band with two of its original members and prominent leaders like Woody Herman, John Kirby and Bob Crosby, even the spectacular footwork of tap dancer, Bunny Briggs.

The stellar cast list is broad and inclusive. With apologies to those omitted, trumpet and cornet players include Louis Armstrong, Hot Lips Page, Muggsy Spanier, Yank Lawson, Joe Thomas, Roy Eldridge, Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett, Sonny Berman, Al Killian, Charlie Shavers, Wild Bill Davison and Clark Terry.

Saxophonists include Sidney Bechet, Boomie Richman, Bud Freeman, Charlie Ventura, Herbie Fields, Georgie Auld, Flip Phillips, Don Byas, Ben Webster and Al Sears. Clarinettists includes George Lewis, Brad Gowans, Hank D’Amico, Buddy deFranco, Ernie Caceres, Pee Wee Russell, Buster Bailey, Michael ‘Peanuts’ Hucko, Aaron Sachs and Ake ‘Stan’ Hasselgard.

Among trombonists supporting the war effort were Jim Robinson, Vic Dickenson, Miff Mole, Vernon Brown, Trummy Young, Bill Harris, Lou McGarity and Jack Teagarden.

The impressive list of piano players is led by daddy of them all, James P. Johnson, followed by Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Jess Stacy, Johnny Guarnieri, Marty Napoleon, Joe Bushkin, Hazel Scott, Teddy Wilson, Arnold Ross, Dodo Marmarosa, Ralph Burns, Barbara Carroll, Clyde Hart, Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis, Lou Stein, André Previn and Lennie Tristano.

The guitar list is equally impressive: Herb Ellis, Mundell Lowe, Oscar Moore, Irving Ashby, Al Viola, Arvin Garrison, Billy Bauer, Chuck Wayne and Remo Palmieri. Distinguished bass players include Alcide ‘Slow Drag’ Pavageau, Bob Haggart, John Kirby, Trigger Alpert, Jack Lesberg, Sid Weiss, Johnny Miller, Red Callender, Chubby Jackson and Slam Stewart. And drummers include Cozy Cole, Jimmy Crawford, Specs Powell, George Wettling, Ray McKinley, Kansas Fields, Gene Krupa, Sid Catlett, Dave Tough, Lee Young and Buddy Rich.

Vibraphonists included Marjorie Hyams and Red Norvo. Bob Crosby and Eddie Condon led bands. And vocalists? How about Jimmy Rushing, Connee Boswell, Mildred Bailey, Jo Stafford, Martha Tilton, Betty Roche and Ella Fitzgerald?

Peanuts Hucko, NYC, c. 1947. Photograph by Dunc Butler.

The Music

The collection starts by recalling the origins of jazz and the initial tracks, I Can’t Escape From You and Snag It feature Bunk Johnson’s band live at the Stuyvesant Casino in New York City. Johnson, never the most adept jazz trumpeter, is New Orleans-born (claiming to have heard Buddy Bolden and taught Louis Armstrong). In the opinion of traditionalist zealots known as ‘Moldy Figs’, Johnson is ‘pure’ and unsullied by what they regard as the destructive commercialisation of swing music. This Moldy Fig schism affects the jazz world for decades, surfacing in Britain as the ‘trad’ v. modern movement. New Orleans’ clarinettist George Lewis makes wonderful music over the enthusiastic bass of veteran Alcide ‘Slow Drag’ Pavageau.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, first band to record jazz music, back in 1917, is recreated with a couple of original members and updated four four vintage numbers with the timeless Bobby Hackett on cornet and fine Bostonian clarinettist Brad Gowans.

Then volcanic genius erupts with Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans FeetWarmers. Bechet’s commanding soprano saxophone and Vic Dickenson’s trombone indulge in bouts of furious interplay on After You’ve Gone, V-Disc Blues, a medley and a reworking of St Louis Blues, fuelled by Wilbert Kirk’s enthusiastic drumming.

On a cold December night in 1944, the V-Disc All Stars, a group of jazz immortals that comprises trumpet players Louis Armstrong, Hot Lips Page, Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett and Charlie Shavers, plus trombonists Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young and Lou McGarity, reedmen Ernie Carceres, Don Byas and Nick Caiazza, pianists Johnny Guarnieri and Bill Clifton, supported by guitarists Herb Ellis, bassists Al Hall, Bob Haggart and Sid Weiss and drummers Cozy Cole and Specs Powell gather in NBC’s recording studio. In a number of jamming configurations, they cut half-a-dozen discs, each becoming a jazz classic. On the transcendental Jack Armstrong Blues, Armstrong demonstrates conclusively why he’s idolised by every jazz trumpet player alive. Teagarden, backed by McGarity and Hackett, sings and plays an exquisitely measured version of If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight. And, on the stroke of midnight, Armstrong resumes leadership for I’m Confessin’ That I Love You. Then miracles are over for the night and it’s a wrap.

When veterans of Chicago jazz congregate, jazz romantics might detect a heady whiff of bathtub gin The controlled mayhem and tough love of trumpet and cornet masters Muggsy Spanier and Wild Bill Davison, clarinettist Pee Wee Russell, tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, pianists Jess Stacy and Joe Bushkin, guitarist and future bandleader Eddie Condon, bassist Pops Foster, drummer Kansas Fields and blues singer Jimmy Rushing, recall the entertainment of Prohibition patrons (although no ice dared to tinkle while Jess Stacy solos on Squeeze Me).There’s even a set from the V-Disc Bobcats led by Lt. Bob Crosby, brother of the more famous Bing.

On all battlefronts, lovelorn forces adore the honeyed tones of popular vocalist Connee Boswell (whom Ella Fitzgerald claims as an influence), lately of the Boswell Sisters, who sings both intimately and swingingly with classy backing led by trumpeter Yank Lawson, followed bytrumpet star Roy Eldridge supportingsinger Liza Morrow on some scorching tracks.

Keeping sentimentality under tight control, vocalist Jo Stafford records nine tracks with Billy Butterfield playing the prettiest intro for Blue Moon. Mildred Bailey records four tracks in duets with Teddy Wilson. Martha Tilton cuts seven sides backed by, among others, Roy Eldridge, Trummy Young, Billy Butterfield and Vernon Brown. Helen Ward (who’d worked with Benny Goodman), croons Too Marvellous For Words and I’ll Be Around, backed by vibraphonist Red Norvo with clarinettist Aaron Sachs and the tenor saxophone of Flip Phillips, warming the heart of any homesick combatant.

Lennie Tristano with unidentified bassist at an unidentified location, c. October 1946.
Courtesy of the Scott Wenzel collection.

The Piano Players

It might have been wartime, but there’s no rationing of piano players here. They are the beating heart of this collection allowing us to compare the reigning champions with rising contenders.

Art Tatum is world champ, the universally acknowledged titan virtuoso, probably the most influential pianist in jazz. His ten coruscating solo tracks, marked with his unique brand of extravagant bravura include a brilliantly ornamented Gershwin medley and a version of 9:20 Special to astound the ears.

Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller is the heavyweight monument to overindulgence with a mean left hand. Pianist, composer and purveyor of joy, he conceals genius behind coy quips and clowning, announcing himself as “my mother’s 285 pounds of jam, jive and everything” before a delicately lacy version of his own Ain’t Misbehavin’ plus eight more songs including his serenade to cannabis sativa, If You’re A Viper. Tragically, three months after completing these recordings, Waller is dead.

Teddy Wilson achieves international fame in Benny Goodman’s trios and quartets and as accompanist on Billie Holiday’s imperishable records. Possessed of an intense swing, he combines it with restrained elegance, leading a couple of sides with trumpeter Joe Thomas, clarinettist Edmond Hall and master drummer, Big Sid Catlett in August 1943 and accompanying singer Mildred Bailey, solo, on four V-Disc tracks later in November.

Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis is a key figure responsible for igniting the early 1940’s boogie-woogie craze, gets three V-Disc sides to do his knock-out, authentic eight-to-the-bar blues.

Joe Bushkin graced Tommy Dorsey’s big band but is happier in smaller groups. In July 1948, he records with a variety of combinations including top-notch trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Buck Clayton and clarinettist Peanuts Hucko. Later, in October, 1948, he duets with cornetist Bobby Hackett, approaching Cole Porter and Irving Berlin songs with sensitivity, taste and delicacy.Then three young challengers. First, from Los Angeles with six songs, the young Nat ‘King’ Cole, who together with the rest of his close-knit trio, guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Johnny Miller, are stirring critical acclaim with their cool, hyper-sophisticated approach. Second, originally from Trinidad, actress and political activist Hazel Scott, who hasknocked them dead at Manhattan’s Juilliard School, cuts three captivating V-Disc sides accompanied by superstar drummer Big Sid Catlett. Piano player number three is a precocious 17-year-old deeply in thrall to Art Tatum, working with guitarist Irving Ashby and bassist Red Callender, named André Previn who donates four V-Disc tracks including an exuberant version of September In the Rain.

Red Norvo (l) and Aaron Sachs (r) at the Preview Club, Chicago, c. March 1944.
Courtesy of the Scott Wenzel collection.

And More…

In 1943, John Kirby and His Orchestra (Charlie Shavers, trumpet; Buster Bailey, clarinet; George Johnson, alto saxophone; Clyde Hart, piano; John Kirby, bass; Bill Beason, drums), a precise, tight-knit and smartly drilled small band (boppers Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were avid fans of their sound and routines), contributed four sides including the whip-smart Do You Savvy? and a lilting version of 9:20 Special.

In January, 1945, clarinettist and band-leader Woody Herman leads seven different combinations drawn from his big band featuring stars like trumpeters Charlie Shavers, Ray Wetzel, Pete Candoli and Sonny Berman, trombonist Bill Harris, tenor saxophonists Flip Phillips, Georgie Auld, Don Byas and Ellington’s former star soloist Ben Webster (masterful gruff solo on Mercer Ellington’s John Hardy’s Wife)and vibraphonist Margie Hyams, all boosted by the magnificently integrated rhythm team of Ralph Burns, piano; Billy Bauer, guitar; Chubby Jackson, bass and Dave Tough, drums.

In spring 1945, with the war in Europe drawing to a close, megastar drummer Gene Krupa leads two different trios, one with clarinettist Buddy deFranco and pianist Dodo Marmarosa and the other with tenor saxist Charlie Ventura and pianist George Walters, to record eight sides including a fire-breathing Wire Brush Stomp.

In late 1945, although combat is now officially over, the ever-combative trumpeter Roy Eldridge leads an octet for his Roy Meets Horn and a smouldering I’ve Found A New Baby, Ernie Carceres playing tasty clarinet and Specs Powell whipping up a storm on drums.

In October, 1945, depending on how you define ‘all-star’, a group of all-stars comprising trumpeter Charlie Shavers, trombonist Lou McGarity, clarinettist Peanuts Hucko, tenor saxophonist Al Sears, pianist Buddy Weed, guitarist Remo Palmieri, bassist Trigger Alpert and drummer Buddy Rich gathers at Columbia’s Manhattan recording studios with Ella Fitzgerald. The first number, Sy Oliver’s That’s Rich is an up-tempo romp with a brief scatcontribution from Ms Fitzgerald and rolling thunder from Rich. However, she takes full advantage of the next two songs, Green, Ruby and Stept’s I’ll Always Be In Love With You and Isham Jones and Gus Kahn’s I’ll See You In My Dreams. Depending on how you define ‘pretty exciting’, it’s pretty exciting.

Also in October 1945, Chicago tenor saxophonist and passionate Anglophile Bud Freeman visits RCA Victor studios in New York City to record four red hot tracks with trumpeter Yank Lawson, clarinettist Peanuts Hucko, pianist Buddy Weed plus Trigger Alpert on bass and Ray McKinley on drums.

1946, the first year of peace, finds blind pianist, educator and all-round influential guru, Lennie Tristano in RCA’s studio with guitarist Billy Bauer and Leonard Gaskin playing unashamed modernist versions of I Can’t Get Started and Dizzy Gillespie’s A Night in Tunisia. We can only wonder what faraway forces in Europe and the Pacific make of it.

In 1947 (troops remaining abroad, but in occupation rather than conflict), Bob Haggart, bass player with Bob Crosby, in association with clarinettist Peanuts Hucko, alto saxophonist Toots Mondello, trumpeter Chris Griffin and pianist Stan Freeman contribute beautifully engineered swing pieces. Same year, virtuoso clarinettist Peanuts Hucko is roped in for sessions with an octet, a sextet and a quintet.

By February 1947, the shock appearance of flatted fifths signals a jazz revolution with trumpeter Clark Terry leading a quintet playing unabashed bebop. Billies Bounce, a Charlie Parker composition, is taken slower than originally conceived, but Terry’s irrepressible humour shines through.

By 1948, modernism becomes firmly established with the cool Stan Hasselgard, a Swedish bebop clarinettist so accomplished that Benny Goodman (through genuine admiration or wanting to maintain close proximity with the competition?) hires him to work alongside in his septet. Hasselgard’s companions on his four tracks are Barbara Carroll, piano; Chuck Wayne, guitar; Clyde Lombardi, bass; Mel Zelnick, drums and vocalist Jackie Searle. Then fate deals a lousy hand: five days later, Hasselgard’s promise and talent are smashed in a car accident.

Summary (and apologies)

And that covers a few of the 223 tracks. There’s more, much more, but your reviewer apologises for omitting to mention some rip-roaring sessions (Wild Bill Davison, Eddie Condon, Betty Roche) and overlooking the contributions of platoons of lesser-known musicians (but not less talented) in this collection, all of whom selflessly volunteered their services to raise the morale of forces abroad. We’re grateful to every single one as well as the dedicated folks at Mosaic (especially producer Scott Wenzel) for compiling this epic journey that starts within touching distance of Buddy Bolden in Storyville, New Orleans and continues until the advent of bebop in Harlem, New York City.

And we’re exceptionally grateful to jazz, the music that helped to win the war.

from https://ukjazznews.com