I don’t know how they still do it, but Mosaic Records continues to find some of the best obscure and undiscovered jazz sessions that immediately become essential once they come to light. This 11 disc set is no exception, consisting of recordings from the 1940s that were produced under the name of the label Black & White.
Who, or what, was the Black & White label? It was similar in scope and concept to labels like Commodore, Savoy and Keynote, in that it focused on small group sessions by mostly sidemen, but also up and coming stars. Just to give you a tasty sampling, you have here gloriously casual and swinging sessions by pianists by the likes of (but not limited to) Art Hodes, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum and even Lil Armstrong. Trumpeters? How about Buck Clayton, Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee and Red Rodney? Sax and clarinetists range from Pee Wee Russell, Art Pepper, Lucky Thompson, Charlie Ventura, George Auld, Jack McVea and Sidney Bechet. Guitarists include Barney Kessel and Laurindo Almeida, and there are some swinging and vocals delivered by Ivie Anderson, Helen Humes, Ernestine Anderson and Etta Jones. Bassist Oscar Pettiford, Charles Mingus and Red Callender, drummers Chico Hamilton, Baby Dodds and Shadow Wilson as well as trombonists Jimmy Knepper, JC Higginbotham and Melba Liston are just a starting lineup for sessions that rival anything you’ve heard from this fertile era.
The sessions themselves? How much time ya got?
Art Hodes has some wonderfully solo stride work on “Four Or Five Times” and a hard hitting left handed “Art’s Boogie”, and in a similar vein, the more obscure Cliff Jackson has indigo’d fingers for “Limehouse Blues and “Royal Garden Blues. There are a few duets, such as pianist Dick Cary joined by drummer George Wettling on “I Thought About You”. Trio sessions range from the obscure Ray Stokes band with the fun “Stokin’ The Boogie” to Red Callender’s team with guitarist Leonard Enois on “Red Boogie. A hip trio with pianist Nat Jaffe and guitarist Remo Palmieri is a ringer with “If I Had You” and “These Foolish Things” in a very Nat Cole mode, and a real young Erroll Garner swings on “White Rose Bounce”.
You may not remember tenorist Jack McVea, but he stole the show on the very first JATP concert, and had a hit with “Open the Door Richard” before closing out his career blowing standards at Disneyland. Here, he swings hard in small group sessions, playing his hit tune as well as hitting the KC groove on “Blackout Boogie,” “Rettie Vootie Boogie” and “The Crow’s Boogie”
There are gobs of one-offs by Ellingtonians, a gold mine for fans of The Duke as well. For instance, Clarinetist Barney Bigard teams with saxist Georgie Auld for a sleek ‘Blues Before Dawn” , and Etta Jones joins in for a sassy “Evil Gal Blues”. Ivie Anderson teams with Willie Smith/as , Phil Moore/p, Charles Mingus/b and Lee Young/b for some raucous blues in “Tall, Dark and Handsome” and “Butter and Egg Man”.
Basie alumni include a session with Helen Humes and Buck Clayton on “If I Could Be With You One Hour” while Gerald Wilson’s orchestra includes a hip “One O’Clock Jump” and clever “The Saint” while proto-boppers like Howard McGhee and Lucky Thompson get together for “Big Noise” and Boppin’ Bop”.
But what makes this limited edition so fun are the under-the-radar or overlooked artists that make up a large part of the collection. I mean, who has anything by Louis Armstrong’s wife, Lil Harden? Well, here she is backing “Mushmouth” Robinson on “I’m Hip To These Women”. And, I guarantee few of you have heard of Cee Pee Johnson and his orchestra, Pianist Hank Duncan’s trio, Mike Lo Scalzo and his Dixieland Woodshedders, Gene Schroeder’s piano trio or Cliff Jackson’s Alley Cats, but here they are, along with Estelle Edson, Joe Evans and Rod Cless. Believe me, you’re going to love these guys!
Listening to these sessions (and please, take them in small samples), you realize that back then, jazz may not have had the chops and technique of today’s Berklee School graduates, but they more than make up for it in energy, tone, individualism and above all, that palpable thing called “swing”. Today’s artists and listeners have much to learn here. And appreciate!