The Tenor Sax Album (The Savoy Sessions)

Side 1:
01) Honeysuckle Rose - Ben Webster
02) I Surrender Dear - Ben Webster
03) Blue Skies - Ben Webster
04) Kat's Fur - Ben Webster
05) Body And Soul (alt) - Cozy Cole and his Orchestra
06) Girl Of My Dreams - Ike Quebec
07) Jim Dawgs - Ike Quebec

Side 2:
01) Scufflin' - Ike Quebec
02) I.Q. Blues - Ike Quebec
03) Lunatic - John Hardee
04) Can't Help Loving That Man - John Hardee
05) Red Man Bounce - John Hardee
06) Baby Watch That Stuff - John Hardee
07) Misty Blues - Billy Taylor
08) Take The A Train - Billy Taylor

Side 3:
01) Don't Blame Me - Illinois Jacquet
02) Jumpin' Jacquet - Illinois Jacquet
03) Blues Mood - Illinois Jacquet
04) Jacquet In The Box - Illinois Jacquet
05) Savoy Blip - Emmett Berry
06) Doggin' With Doggett (alt) - Emmett Berry
07) Minor Romp - Emmett Berry
08) Berry's Blues - Emmett Berry

Side 4:
01) Last Stop - Coleman Hawkins
02) Should I - Coleman Hawkins
03) Flight Eleven - Coleman Hawkins
04) Modern Fantasy - Coleman Hawkins
05) Confessin' - Coleman Hawkins
06) September Song - Coleman Hawkins
07) They Can't Take That Away From Me - Coleman Hawkins

The Tenor Sax Album (Mega)

The Tenor Sax Album (Zippy)

Back to the 1940s Savoy sessions with another double helping of a treat that's hard to beat. Muscular tenor sax jazz workouts from some of the greatest players around at the time and definitely no over the top honkin' and squealin' on show here as things stay on the right side of tasteful. Heck, even Illinois Jacquet is in restrained mood on his session. In fact this 2LP set came as some relief to me after I'd overindulged in a honk honk honk fest by listening to a Hal Singer collection followed by an Apollo compilation of various R&B sax men, all of which left me rather exhausted and half deaf. This stuff is rather easier on the discerning ear.

Side 4 is the odd one out as it contains a 1954 session recorded by Coleman Hawkins in Chicago, but everything else is from that time and place with which I have a fascination - New York in the 1940s. Some of these tracks have appeared on the blog before as I have occasionally dipped into this set for tracks to post on a homemade comp (John Hardee) and some reconstructions of 1950s Savoy EPs (Ike Quebec and Illinois Jacquet) but these are all new rips for your delectation, and boy was it hard work getting rid of the clicks and pops hence the delay in posting. There is still some surface noise in evidence on a couple of tracks but I'm pretty pleased with the way it all turned out.

The session details are on the LP cover and there is an essay by jazz critic Leonard Feather to fill in the background. As usual I have provided the details of the original release of the tracks. Note that one Ben Webster side is an alternate take of a track originally released under Cozy Cole's name. Two of the John Hardee tracks were originally credited to pianist / organist Billy Taylor and four of Illinois Jacquet's tracks were from a session credited to trumpet player Emmett Berry, although all four of the Berry tracks were eventually released under Jacquet's name.

Original Release of the Tracks:

Ben Webster:

Body And Soul - alternate take of side released on Savoy 501 - Body And Soul / Talk To Me - Cozy Cole and his Orchestra, released May 1944. This take first released on this 2LP set.

Honeysuckle Rose / Blue Skies - Ben Webster - Savoy 553, part of 78 RPM Album "Tenor Sax Album" (Savoy A-500) released April 1945

I Surrender Dear / Kat's Fur - Ben Webster - Savoy 580, part of 78 RPM Album "Tenor Sax Album No. 2" (Savoy 502) released January 1946

jazzdisco.org and 78discography.com list the following 2 releases, both probably 1944 -

Blue Skies / I Surrender Dear - Ben Webster - Savoy 505

Honeysuckle Rose / Kat's Fur - Ben Webster - Savoy 506

I have not come across any reference to these two releases in Billboard or The Cash Box, nor have I come across label shots of the discs.

Ike Quebec:

Jim Dawgs / I Q Blues - Ike Quebec - Savoy 570 - probably September - October 1945

Don't Blame Me - Illinois Jaquet All Stars / Girl Of My Dreams - Ike Quebec All Stars - Savoy 620 - released August 1946. Also released as part of the 78 RPM album "Tenor Sax Stylists" (Savoy S-503) in October 1946.

Scufflin' - first released on 1954 EP "Tenor Sax - Ike Quebec" (Savoy XP 8083) in 1954.

John Hardee:

Baby Watch That Stuff / Bad Man's Bounce - John Hardee Quintet - Regent 121 - July 1948

Lunatic / Can't Help Lovin' That Man - John Hardee Quintet - Savoy 703 - August 1949

Misty Blues (aka Misty Morning Blues) and Take The "A" Train first released on Savoy EP XP 8113 "Billy Taylor - John Hardee" and on Savoy LP Savoy MG 9035 "Billy Taylor - Piano" - both released in 1953

Illinois Jacquet:

Don't Blame Me - Illinois Jacquet All Stars / Girl Of My Dreams - Ike Quebec All Stars - Savoy 620 - released August 1946. Also released as part of the 78 RPM album "Tenor Sax Stylists" (Savoy S-503) in October 1946

Jumpin Jacquet / Blue Mood - Illinois Jacquet - Savoy 593 - released February 1946

Minor Romp / Berry's Blues - Emmett Berry's Hot Six - Savoy 594 - released February 1946

Jacquet In The Box / Jacquet And Coat - Illinois Jacquet - Savoy 910 - released November 1947. "Jacquet And Coat" is Emmett Berry's "Minor Romp" retitled.

Illinois Goes To Chicago / Jacquet And No Vest - Illinois Jacquet - Savoy 911 - released late 1947 / early 1948. Both of these tracks are retitled Emmett Berry tracks as follows - "Illinois Goes To Chicago" is "Doggin' With Doggett" and "Jacquet And No Vest" is "Savoy Blip." The version of "Doggin' with Doggett" on this 2LP set is an alternate take of the version released on Savoy 911.

Note - Don't Blame Me / Jacquet Blues - Illinois Jacquet - Savoy 651 - released July 1947. "Jacquet Blues" is a retitled "Berry's Blues"

Coleman Hawkins:

All tracks first released on the LP "The Hawk Returns" (Savoy MG-12013) in 1955.

Elsewhere On The Blog:

John Hardee - Bad Man's Blues

Click on the link for a homemade comp of John Hardee plus an in depth look at his career. New download link on the post if you wish to grab the album.

Ike Quebec - Tenor Sax (Savoy XP 8083)

Click on the link for a short but I like to think informative post on Ike Quebec and Savoy Records. New download link now on the post.

Illinois Jacquet Vol. 1 (Savoy XP 8068)

Again, the link above takes you to a short but worth-a-look post complete with new download link.

The Changing Face Of Harlem (The Savoy Sessions)

Side 1:
01) Twilight In Teheran - Buck Ram All-Stars
02) Morning Mist - Buck Ram All-Stars
03) Swing Street - Buck Ram All-Stars
04) Ram Session - Buck Ram All-Stars
05) Ooh-Wee - Pete Brown Quintette
06) Bellevue For You - Pete Brown Quintette
07) Pete Brown's Boogie - Pete Brown Quintette
08) Moppin' The Blues - Pete Brown Quintette

Side 2:
01) Dance Of The Tambourine - Hot Lips Page & His Hot Seven
02) Uncle Sam's Blues - Hot Lips Page & His Hot Seven
03) Pagin' Mr Page - Hot Lips Page & His Hot Seven
04) I Keep Rollin' On - Hot Lips Page & His Hot Seven
05) I Got What It Takes - Hot Lips Page Band
06) Good For Stompin' - Hot Lips Page Band
07) Lip's Blues - Hot Lips Page Band
08) Blooey - Hot Lips Page Band

Side 3:
01) Honeysuckle Rose - Ben Webster
02) I Surrender Dear - Ben Webster
03) Blue Skies - Ben Webster
04) Run Down - Herbie Fields
05) Nuts To Notes - Herbie Fields
06) Groovin' With Grimes - Tiny Grimes
07) I'll Always Love You Just The Same - Tiny Grimes
08) Romance Without Finance - Tiny Grimes

Side 4:
01) Bye Bye - Miss Rhapsody
02) My Lucky Day - Miss Rhapsody
03) Hey Lawdy Mama - Miss Rhapsody
04) Groovin' The Blues - Miss Rhapsody
05) Smack That Mess - Joe Gregory
06) Dee Dee's Dance - Clyde Hart
07) Little Benny - Clyde Hart
08) Shoot The Arrow To Me Cupid - Joe Gregory

The Changing Face Of Harlem (Mega)

The Changing Face Of Harlem (Zippy)

Founded by local entrepreneur Herman Lubinsky in Newark, New Jersey, in 1942, Savoy Records went on to become one of the USA's most important labels in jazz and R&B. The label didn't really take off until mid 1944 when it started recording musicians from the vibrant club scene in NYC, both from Harlem and 52nd Street. Savoy was one of a number of small labels in the New York area which picked up on the changes taking place in jazz at that time with other examples being Keynote, Blue Note, Beacon, Manor and National.

This two LP set compiles sides mostly recorded in 1944 with the exception of some Herbie Fields sides from May 1945. The dominant style is small group swing with only the faintest hint of the be bop to come with Charlie Parker's appearance on a couple of the Tiny Grimes tracks.

The full line ups on these tracks can be found in the session details on the back cover of this set and fans of R&B or to be more precise, the area where jazz and R&B intersect will be familiar with quite a few of the names including Tiny Grimes, Earl Bostic, Ike Quebec, Ben Webster, Slam Stewart, Hot Lips Page, Don Byas, Jack "The Bear" Parker, heck just read it for yourselves.

Dan Morgenstern's terrific notes both set the scene and provide a running commentary on the tracks and are a model for what such an essay should be. He calls the music here "Harlem jump" which sums it up admirably. These tracks are contemporaneous with the rise to immense popularity of Louis Jordan's brand of jump blues and while they differ slightly from Jordan's style they encapsulate the music scene which would soon give rise to be bop, dynamic small group swing based jazz, and eventually to rhythm and blues.

I've been fascinated for many years by the Savoy Record label, ever since I acquired the cassette "Jumpin' at The Savoy" from the New Musical Express back in the early 1980s. Indeed that cassette was the first music I posted on Be Bop Wino back in September 2007. Follow the trail - there's a working Megaupload link on the post!

Over the years Savoy has featured on numerous posts on the blog, with the most recent example perhaps being a cross-blog collaboration on posting the complete "Savoy Roots Of Rock'n Roll" series. I have a few sets from the "Savoy Sessions" series which concentrates on the jazz side of the label, so you can expect more of these to appear on the blog along with other material from the New York scene of the 1940s.

Billboard, 19th August 1944

Original Issues:

Buck Ram's All Stars:

Swing Street / Twilight In Teheran - Buck Ram's All Stars - Savoy 572 - February 1946

Morning Mist first released on this LP. 

Ram Session first released on LP Savoy MG 9030 "Jam Session At Savoy" in 1953.

Pete Brown Quintette:

Pete Brown's Boogie / Bellevue For You - Pete Brown Quintette - Savoy 522 - August 1944

Ooh-Wee / Moppin' The Blues - Pete Brown Quintette - Savoy 523 - November 1944

Hot Lips Page: 

Uncle Sam Blues / Paging Mr. Page - "Hot Lips" Page's Swing Seven - Savoy 520 - August 1944

Dance Of The Tambourine / I Keep Rollin' On - "Hot Lips" Page's Hot Seven - Savoy 521 - August 1944

Lips Blues / I Got What It Takes - Hot Lips Page and Orchestra (?) - Savoy 529 - (?) 1944 (?)

"Lips Blues" rereleased as "Double-Trouble Blues" on Savoy 700

"Blooey"; "Good For Stompin'" - first released on this LP.

Ben Webster

"Honeysuckle Rose"; "I Surrender Dear"; "Blues Skies" are unissued alternate takes.

I Surrender Dear / Blues Skies - Ben Webster Quartet - Savoy 505 - (?) 1944.

Honeysuckle Rose / Kat's Fur - Ben Webster Quartet - Savoy 506 - (?) 1944

The released versions are on the Savoy 2LP set "The Tenor Sax Album" which will be posted on the blog.

Herbie Fields

Run Down / Camp Meeting - Herbie Fields Hot Seven - Savoy 591 - February 1946

Nuts To Notes first issued on this LP.

Tiny Grimes

Groovin' With Grimes first released on this LP

I'll Always Love You Just The Same; Romance Without Finance are alternate takes of sides released on Savoy 526 (b/w Tiny's Tempo) and Savoy 532 (b/w Red Cross) respectively.

Miss Rhapsody

Bye Bye Baby / My Lucky Day - Rhapsody with June Cole's Orchestra - Savoy 5510 - August 1944

Hey Lawdy Mama / Groovin The Blues - Rhapsody with June Cole's Orchestra - Savoy 5511 - November 1944

Clyde Hart

Smack That Mess / Shoot The Arrow To Me Cupid - Joe Gregory - Savoy 542 - possibly unreleased?

Dee Dee's Dance / Little Benny - Clyde Hart's Hot Seven - Savoy 598 -  May 1946

Elsewhere On The Web

Small Independent Rockin' 45rpm Labels by Apesville has recently completed a project to compile a complete collection of Savoy singles. Start here and work your way through an absolutely gobsmacking series of posts. Sheer heaven for fans of Savoy.

Big Sound Tenors re-upped

Side A:

1. Creamin' Boogie - Julian Dash

2. For Squares Only - Julian Dash

3. Devil's Lament - Julian Dash

4. Dance of the Mother Bird - Julian Dash

5. Long Long Ago - Al Sears

6. Searsy - Al Sears

7. Tweedle Dee - Al Sears

8. So Glad - Al Sears

Side B:

1. Walkin' Home - Eddie Chamblee

2. Goin' Long - Eddie Chamblee

3. Back Up - Eddie Chamblee

4. Lazy Mood - Eddie Chamblee

5. Time Out For The Blues - Ben Webster

6. Cotton Tail - Ben Webster

7. Surf Board - Ben Webster

8. You Are Too Beautiful - Ben Webster

Download from:

http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/bKVFnCcY/file.html

Original post (17th July, 2010):

http://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/big-sound-tenors.html

In response to a re-up request here's a fine tenor sax compilation which was donated by Big Al (The Bloggers' Pal) nearly 6 years ago. The original post (follow the above link) has extensive background information on the above tracks and artists. This is where swing, R&B, jazz and even rock and roll meet. My kinda music!

Swingin' Saxophones

Side One
1. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
2. Flying Home No 2 - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
3. Honeysuckle Rose - Ben Webster
4. Blowing The Blues Away - Billy Eckstine & His Orchestra
5. Lunatic - John Hardee
6. IQ Blues - Ike Quebec

Side Two
1. Riffin' At 24th Street - Illinois Jacquet
2. I'm Confessin' - Lester Young
3. The Spider - Joe Morris
4. Long Tall Dexter - Dexter Gordon
5. Hot In Harlem - Tiny Grimes
6. Cole Slaw - Frank Culley

My thanks to the anonymous donor who sent in this comp. It’s a good collection of 1940s tenor sax sides, beginning with some big band swing, and ending with some jazzy R&B combos via detours into boppish small group jazz. However you want to label it, it makes for some mighty fine listening. In fact never mind the label thing, just call it good music.

The sleeve notes are pretty uninformative as you would expect from a bootleg. I’ve looked up the recording details of all the tracks on the LP and listed them at the end of the post. Ben Webster is the soloist on “Cottontail,” Arnett Cobb is on “Flying Home No. 2” and Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons serve up an early example of a tenor sax “chase” on “Blowing The Blues Away.”

On Side Two, Johnny Griffin delivers the most frantic performance of the set on “The Spider” while Red Prysock is the tenor man on “Hot in Harlem.” Ike Quebec’s “I.Q. Blues” on Savoy is really just another version of “Blue Harlem” which he had previously recorded for Blue Note in July 1944. I think I actually prefer the Savoy version for its gorgeous piano break by Johnny Guarnieri. The Blue Note original does have some nice guitar from Tiny Grimes, though.

As for the origins of this comp – there is no label number on the front or back cover, although the back cover does bear the legend “Bop u Rhythm Schallplatten, Saarland.” The sleeve notes are written pseudonymously and claim to date from 1952. I think this is probably a bootleg of a bootleg, or a reissue of an album which originally appeared in the mid to late 1950s on the legendary Bop-Rhythm label. I’m sure that the original release would have had a different front cover from the one which was sent to me. It doesn’t look like a 1950s style cover at all.

Bop-Rhythm was a strictly “underground” label whose issues of jazz, R&B and even some early rock and roll were much coveted by hopheads and beatniks around Europe. Their operation was based in the Saarland which for much of the 1950s was detached from the German Federal Republic and thus provided a haven for a motley group of jazz fanatics and dope fiends who were zealous spreaders of the gospel of groove. They took advantage of the Saarland’s unique status of being beyond the reach of German civil law and set up a record pressing plant from which they distributed all kinds of bopmungous vinyl goodies to adjacent countries. The music was sourced from records provided by American service personnel based in West Germany.

When the Saarland was incorporated into West Germany in 1957, Bop-Rhythm Records was doomed, although they managed to keep going until 1960 when their pressing plant (situated in the basement of a house of ill repute in Fraulautern, Saarlouis) was raided by an Interpol organised task force of police from three different countries – France, Germany and Belgium – plus a contingent of US Military Police. I hope that at the last, the stoned jazzers of Bop-Rhythm went down swinging as the forces of law and order stormed into their HQ.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www29.zippyshare.com/v/7xovktql/file.html

Recording Details:

1. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra

Recorded in Hollywood CA, 4th May, 1940. Released on Victor 26610
Personnel: Rex Stewart (cnt) Cootie Williams, Wallace Jones (tp) Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown (tb) Barney Bigard (cl,ts) Johnny Hodges (as,sop) Otto Hardwick (as, bassax) Ben Webster (ts) Harry Carney (bar,as,cl) Duke Ellington (p) Fred Guy (g) Jimmy Blanton (b) Sonny Greer (d )

2. Flying Home No 2 - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 2nd March, 1944. Released on Decca.
Personnel: Cat Anderson, Lamar Wright Jr., Roy McCoy (tp) Joe Morris (tp,arr) Al Hayse, Michael "Booty" Wood, Fred Beckett (tb) Earl Bostic, Gus Evans (as) Al Sears, Arnett Cobb (ts) Charlie Fowlkes (bar) Lionel Hampton (vib,p) Milt Buckner (p) Eric Miller (g) Vernon King (b) Fred Radcliffe (d)

3. Honeysuckle Rose – The Ben Webster Quartet

Recorded in New York City, 17th April, 1944. Released on Savoy 506.
Personnel: Ben Webster (ts) Johnny Guarnieri (p) Oscar Pettiford (b) David Booth (d)

4. Blowing The Blues Away - Billy Eckstine & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 5th September, 1944. Released on Audiolab.
Personnel: Dizzy Gillespie, Shorty McConnell, Gail Brockman, Boonie Hazel (tp) Gerald Valentine, Taswell Baird, Howard Scott, Chips Outcalt (tb) John Jackson, Bill Frazier (as) Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons (ts) Leo Parker (bar) John Malachi (p) Connie Wainwright (g) Tommy Potter (b) Art Blakey (d) Billy Eckstine (vcl)

5. Lunatic – The John Hardee Quintet

Recorded in New York City, November, 1947. Released on Savoy 703.
Personnel: Joe Jordan (tp) John Hardee (ts) Billy Kyle (p) John Simmons (b) Cozy Cole (d)

6. I.Q. Blues – The Ike Quebec All Stars

Recorded in New York City, 7th August, 1945. Released on Savoy 570.
Personnel: Ike Quebec (ts) Johnny Guarnieri (p) Bill De Arango (g) Milt Hinton (b) J.C. Heard (d)

7. Riffin' At 24th Street - Illinois Jacquet & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 18th December, 1947. Released on Victor 20-2702.
Personnel: Joe Newman (tp) Russell Jacquet (tp) Jay Jay Johnson (tb) Illinois Jacquet (ts) Leo Parker (bar) Sir Charles Thompson (p) John Collins (g) Al Lucas (b) Shadow Wilson (d)

8. I'm Confessin' - Lester Young & His Band

Recorded in New York City, 2nd April, 1947. Released on Aladdin 212.
Personnel: Shorty McConnell (tp-1) Lester Young (ts) Argonne Thornton (p) Nasir Barakaat (g) Rodney Richardson (b) Lyndell Marshall (d)

9. The Spider - Joe Morris & His Orchestra

Recorded in New York City, 23rd December, 1947. Released on Atlantic 859.
Personnel: Joe Morris (tp) Johnny Griffin (ts) Bill McLemore (bar) Wilmus Reeves (p) George Freeman (g) Emmett Dailey (b) Leroy Jackson (d)

10. Long Tall Dexter – The Dexter Gordon Quintet

Recorded in New York City, 29th January, 1946. Released on Savoy 603.
Personnel: Leonard Hawkins (tp) Dexter Gordon (ts) Bud Powell (p) Curly Russell (b) Max Roach (d)

11. Hot In Harlem – The Tiny Grimes Quintet

Recorded in Cleveland, 1st May, 1948. Released on Atlantic 869.
Personnel: Red Prysock (ts) Jimmy Saunders (p) Tiny Grimes (g) Ike Isaacs (b) Jerry Potter (d)

12. Cole Slaw - Frank “Floorshow” Culley

Recorded in New York City, 17th January, 1949. Released on Atlantic 874.
Personnel: Frank Culley (ts) Harry Van Walls (p) Tiny Grimes (g) unknown b and d.

Big Sound Tenors

Side A
1. Creamin' Boogie - Julian Dash
2. For Squares Only - Julian Dash
3. Devil's Lament - Julian Dash
4. Dance of the Mother Bird - Julian Dash
5. Long Long Ago - Al Sears
6. Searsy - Al Sears
7. Tweedle Dee - Al Sears
8. So Glad - Al Sears

Side B
1. Walkin' Home - Eddie Chamblee
2. Goin' Long - Eddie Chamblee
3. Back Up - Eddie Chamblee
4. Lazy Mood - Eddie Chamblee
5. Time Out For The Blues - Ben Webster
6. Cotton Tail - Ben Webster
7. Surf Board - Ben Webster
8. You Are Too Beautiful - Ben Webster

Big Sound Tenors (Mega)

Big Sound Tenors (Zippy)

Thanks to Big Al (The Bloggers’ Pal) here’s a real gone treat for the folks who move their feet to the saxlicious sound of the big beat.

This is one tremendous LP of sides recorded mostly by jazz / swing veterans but aimed mostly at the R&B market. There aren’t any squealing histrionics in the Big Jay McNeely or Joe Houston style, but what we have here is the very stuff of the Be Bop Wino blog – that grey area where jazz, swing, R&B and even rock ‘n’ roll all meet together. The very first track “Creamin’ Boogie” absolutely nails it for me with the deep down and dirty tone of Julian Dash set against a chugging boogie woogie piano. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

Julian Dash was a veteran of the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, all the way back to when the band was known as the ‘Bama State Collegians in the late 1930s. He is credited with co-composing the Hawkins signature tune (and smash hit for Glenn Miller) “Tuxedo Junction.” Dash remained in the Hawkins outfit until the mid 1950s, but coinciding with the band’s longstanding Victor contract coming to an end, he recorded under his own name with small groups for labels like Sittin’ In With, Mercury and Vee-Jay from 1950 – 1955.

The personnel of these groups was made up of fellow members of the Hawkins Orchestra (which was also doing some label hopping at the time), such as Haywood Henry, Bobby Smith, Lee Stanfield, Leroy Kirkland and Sonny Payne. A similar line up was simultaneously recording for Apollo under Bobby Smith’s name.


“For Squares Only” and “Creamin’ Boogie” were recorded in New York City in March 1951 and released on Sittin’ In With 614.

“Devil’s Lament” and “Dance of the Mother Bird” were recorded in New York City in July 1951 and released on Sittin’ In With 630.

Al Sears, or rather “Big” Al Sears, was a tenor sax player of remarkable longevity whose career spanned the early years of big band swing (he joined the Chick Webb band in 1928), the glory years of swing in the 1930s and 1940s, the rise of small group R&B, and even rock and roll. Among the bands he played for in the 1940s into the early 1950s were those of Andy Kirk, Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington (replacing Ben Webster.) In 1951 he was a member of the Johnny Hodges band and composed and soloed on their big hit on Mercury “Castle Rock.”

During the 1950s he recorded numerous tenor sax instros in New York for a succession of labels including King, Vic, Coral, Groove, Herald, Jubilee and Baton. He became a member of Alan Freed’s Rock and Roll Orchestra, playing numerous concerts and recording for Coral. Perhaps Big Al’s best recording for Freed was the aggressive stomper “Right Now, Right Now” which was featured in the film “Rock, Rock, Rock.”


“Long, Long Ago” and “Searsy” were recorded in New York City in 1945 and were first released as International 351/352.

“Tweedle Dee” was recorded in New York City in 1954 and first released on Herald 448.

“So Glad” was recorded in New York City in 1957 and first released on Jubilee 5303.

Eddie Chamblee belonged to a younger generation of sax players than the other three on this compilation and consequently received his grounding in the developing R&B scene of the mid to late 1940s rather than the swing era of the 1930s. Although born in Atlanta, his family relocated to Chicago where he eventually studied law at the University of Chicago. After playing for army bands during the war, he formed his own small group and signed up with Chicago indie label Miracle.

In 1948 Eddie was on one of the biggest selling R&B records of all time, playing tenor sax on Sonny Thompson’s two part instrumental “Long Gone.” The record (Miracle 126) was the 3rd biggest R&B seller of the year and shifted enough units to make Miracle the 4th biggest selling R&B label that year. None of the tracks Eddie recorded under his own name were to achieve anything like the success of “Long Gone” and his last session for Miracle was in 1949 including “Lazy Mood” which is featured here. Eddie recorded tracks for Coral in 1952 and United in 1953 – 54 before joining the Lionel Hampton band, staying until 1956. See the post “Live In Paris” to hear Eddie on a Hampton European tour.

In 1957 he married Ruth Jones, whom he had known when they both attended the same high school, and who was now enjoying enormous success as Dinah Washington. He recorded for the same label as Dinah – Mercury – with “Goin’ Long” and “Back Up” featuring here. And yes, he was still trying to revive that “Long Gone” groove on “Goin’ Long.” The post “The Rockin’ and Walkin’ Rhythm of Eddie Chamblee” is a good overview of his career.


“Lazy Mood” was recorded in Chicago in 1949 and first released on Miracle 133 and later released on Federal 12014.

“Walkin’ Home” was recorded in Chicago 1953 and released on United 160.

“Goin’ Long” and “Back Up” were recorded in Chicago in 1957 and released on Mercury 71107.

Ben Webster was a true giant of jazz tenor saxophone. Born in Kansas City in 1909, in the 1930s he worked with, among others, Benny Moten, Andy Kirk, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. However it is his work with Ellington in the early 1940s that is considered his most important. After leaving Ellington he worked mostly with his own small groups and also as a backing musician. R&B fans of course know that he was with Johnny Otis on Mercury in the early 1950s and he also recorded with Dinah Washington on the same label. In 1964 he moved to Europe where he was in great demand both as a live act and as a recording artist. The sides featured on this LP were recorded by Ben with Benny Carter and His All Stars for Modern.


“Cotton Tail” and “Time Out For The Blues” were recorded by Benny Carter and His All Stars in Los Angeles in May 1949 and first released on Modern 858 with dubbed on applause. “Time Out For The Blues” was retitled “Ben’s Mood” for the LP “Jazz Masquerade” (Modern 1209, Crown 5009) in 1956. It is likely that tracks credited to the “Jimmy Jackson All Stars” on singles released by RPM in 1952 are from this session.

“Surf Board” and “You Are Too Beautiful” were recorded by Benny Carter and His All Stars in Los Angeles in May 1949 and released on Modern 865.

Thank you Big Al!