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.

Hot Lips Page - Lip's Blues

Side 1:
01. Dance Of The Tambourine
02. Uncle Sam Blues
03. Pagin' Mr Page
04. I Keep Rollin' On

Side 2:
01. I Got What It Takes
02. Good For Stompin'
03. Lip's Blues
04. Blooey

Download from here:

http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/HV5KcI8P/file.html

On with the Savoy homemade comp series. With this collection we step back to 1944 which is the year when the Savoy recording operation really started to take off, with Buck Ram producing sessions by jazz musicians from the clubs of 52nd Street and Harlem. Among the artists recorded that year were Tiny Grimes, Lester Young, Pete Brown, Ben Webster, Helen Humes, Viola Wells (Miss Rhapsody), The Five Red Caps (in disguise as The Toppers), Don Byas, Clyde Hart and Earl Warren (really the Count Basie Band minus Basie).

Texas born trumpeter and singer Oran "Hot Lips" Page started his professional music career in the 1920s with Ma Rainey's band, gaining a deep grounding in blues and jazz not only accompanying Rainey but also touring with Ida Cox and Bessie Smith. He was in Walter Page's Blue Devils, a band which originated in Oklahoma but which gravitated towards the wide open scene of Kansas City at the start of the 1930s. Following in the footsteps of Count Basie, Hot Lips Page and Jimmy Rushing left The Blue Devils for another KC band, that of Bennie Moten. When Moten died in 1935 Basie took over as band leader. In 1936 Lips went solo, leaving the Basie band just as it was about to achieve national fame.

Somehow despite his abilities both as a trumpet player and blues singer Hot Lips Page never quite reached the heights that seemed to be his for the asking. He moved to New York, played an important part in the live jazz scene and recorded sides for Decca and Bluebird with small group and big band backing. In the early forties he was with the Artie Shaw band and by 1944 his live club work led to recording sessions for Commodore and Savoy.

The first Savoy session in June 1944 was with a small group which included Harlem and 52nd Street regulars like Don Byas and Big Sid Catlett. For the second Savoy session in September 1944 the backing band was expanded with the addition of such notables as Ike Quebec, Earl Bostic and Tiny Grimes. The eight tracks are good examples of what came to be known retrospectively as "Harlem Jump" i.e. an immediate predecessor of jump blues and R&B which retained a heavy swing influence.

A few years further down the line and we find Lips' bands playing in a more R&B style, especially in the December 1947 sessions for King which included backing Wynonie Harris on numbers like "Blow Your Brains Out," "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "Lollipop Mama." A 2009 CD on El Toro collects sides from various labels including King, Apollo, RCA Victor and Columbia. Entitled "Roll Roll Roll (The R&B Years)", it's worth a punt if you can find a reasonably priced copy.The opening track "Last Call For Alcohol" is perhaps one of the most frantic sides I've ever heard. It's a sort of supercharged amalgam of swing, R&B and even 1920s hot jazz.

Background info on the tracks on "Lip's Blues":

"Dance Of The Tambourine," "Uncle Sam Blues," "Pagin' Mr Page" and "I Keep Rollin' On" recorded in NYC on June 14th, 1944. Personnel: Hot Lips Page (trumpet, vocals); Floyd "Horsecollar" Williams (alto, tenor sax); Don Byas, George Johnson (tenor saxes); Clyde Hart (piano); John Simmons (bass); Sidney Catlett (drums).

Uncle Sam Blues / Paging Mr. Page released on Savoy 520 in August 1944.

Dance Of The Tambourine / I Keep Rollin' On released on Savoy 521 in November 1944.

The above singles by Hot Lips Page's Swing Seven.

"I Got What It Takes," "Good For Stompin'," "Lip's Blues" and "Blooey" recorded in NYC on September 12th, 1944. Personnel: Jesse Brown, Joe Keyes (trumpets); Hot Lips Page (trumpet, vocals); Vic Dickenson (trombone); Earl Bostic, Floyd "Horsecollar" Williams (alto saxes); Don Byas, Ike Quebec (tenor saxes); Clyde Hart (piano, celeste); Tiny Grimes (guitar); Al Lucas (bass); Jack Parker (drums).

Lip's Blues / I Got What It Takes released on Savoy 529 in December 1944. This single was re-released on Savoy 700 as Double Trouble Blues / I Got What It Takes in August 1949.

"Good For Stompin'" and "Blooey" were unreleased until Savoy LP "The Changing Face Of Harlem" (SJL 2208) in 1976.

Hot Lips Page died in New York in 1954 aged 46, following a heart attack.

Ike Quebec - Tenor Sax (Savoy XP 8083)

Cover shot: birkajazz.com

Side A:
1. Girl Of My Dreams
2. Jim Dawgs

Side B:
3. Scufflin'
4. I.Q. Blues

Download from here:

Ike Quebec - Tenor Sax (Mega)

This is another "reconstruction" of an original Savoy release - the 1954 EP "Tenor Sax" by Ike Quebec. I've used vinyl rips plus a cover image downloaded from the Birka Jazz archive of vintage album covers. This is a site I highly recommend for its visual feast of covers from "back in the day."

The tracks were recorded in New York on August 7th, 1945. Personnel: Ike Quebec (tenor sax); Johnny Guarnieri (piano); Bill De Arango (guitar); Milt Hinton (bass); J.C. Heard (drums).

Jim Dawgs / I.Q. Blues was released on Savoy 570 in September or October 1945.

Label shots from ebay

"Girl Of My Dreams" was first released as the B-Side of "Don't Blame Me" by Illinois Jacquet on Savoy 620 in August 1946.

"Scufflin'" was first released on this EP.

Savoy Records was founded in Newark, New Jersey in 1942 by Herman Lubinsky. A succession of first class A&R men / producers, plus the proximity of a thriving jazz club scene on New York's 52nd Street, meant that when recording sessions got properly under way in 1944, Savoy had access to top jazz musicians such as Pete Brown, Hot Lips Page, Don Byas, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Tiny Grimes, Johnny Guarnieri and Ike Quebec. Early sessions were produced by Buck Ram, with Teddy Reig joining the company in 1945 and Fred Mendelsohn and Lee Magid joining later. When Savoy expanded its operations to the West Coast they were able to recruit Ralph Bass as producer / A&R man.

The changes which jazz was undergoing in the mid 1940s were reflected in the music put out by Savoy as small group swing shifted to bebop around 1945, and saxophone driven R&B began to dominate the jukeboxes from 1947 onwards.

Ike Quebec's session for Savoy in August 1945 was a one-off as his other small group sides were recorded for Blue Note from 1944-46. "I.Q. Blues" is something of a rerun of his brilliant "Blue Harlem" which he recorded with Tiny Grimes for Blue Note in 1944.

Drug problems saw Ike's career wind down for much of the 1950s but at the close of the decade he was back with Blue Note for whom he recorded a series of classic albums including "Heavy Soul" (with Freddie Roach on organ) and "Blue And Sentimental" (with guitarist Grant Green). Ike Quebec passed away in January 1963, aged 44.

Recommended listening (if you can find it):

"A Proper Introduction To Ike Quebec - Blue Harlem" (Proper CD 2004). 22 tracks including the Savoy session plus all the Blue Note sides recorded in 1944 - 46. Issued in 2004. I managed to find a cheap copy online a couple of weeks ago.

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.