UK-based Retrospective Records specializes in bringing back music from the swing-to-bop era. These latest three releases include some vitally important music that reflects an era when jazz was popular. What a concept!
If you want to know how far jazz has wandered off its mark, just give a listen to this single disc by Kansas City pianist Jay McShann. He’s featured here in settings ranging from 8 to the bar trios to full toe tapping orchestras. In case you didn’t know, a young Charlie Parker was in his swinging band for awhile, and it just doesn’t get any better when Walter Brown moans out “Hootie Blues” while Bird gets a quick solo here and there. Ben Webster joins the band in 1951 for a smoking “The Duke and the Brute” while Jimmy Witherspoon oozes out on “Spoon Calls Hootie.” McShann’s patented touch is gorgeous on “Vine Street Boogie.” You’ll NEVER get tired of this one!
Martha Tilton was one of the most popular white female vocalists of the Swing Era, and this collection of her material shows why. She’s got a clear tone and yet knows how to make it swing, as well as put a sparkle in the eye. Her term with Benny Goodman’s Orchestra was her apotheosis, and the contrast of her voice with Ziggy Elman’s trumpet on “And The Angels Sing” as well as her lithe delivery with a quintet on “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” is vunderbar. She does some impressive work with Dean Elliott’s Orchestra on “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” and teams up well with Johnny Mercer for a buoyant “A Fine Romance.” Contemporary singers have a lot to learn from this lady!
Vocalist Eve Boswell made a name for herself in South Africa after leaving England during WWII. Sometimes confused as being related to the Boswell Sisters, she is more of a pop vocalist, but shows some great depth on her read of “Autumn Leaves” (which she sings in French) and has a glowing delivery on “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and “Everything I Have Is Yours.” Because she was more of a pop vocalist, you get “hits” like “Pickin’ A Chicken” and “The Mexican Hat Dance” but she is able to pull off “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” with credibility. Check her out!