1: How Come You Do Me Like You Do?
2: Sugarfoot Strut
3: I Got Rhythm
4: The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise
5: Corrine Romp
6: Bluesiana
7: Original Stomp
8: New Orleans Blues
9: Body and Soul
10: You Took Advantage of Me
11: The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise
12: Have You Ever Felt That Way
13: Oh, Lady Be Good
14: Bud's Blues
15: Boy in the Boat
16: Little Sound on Schiller Street
17: If You're a Viper
18: Rosetta
Frank Melrose – Piano, violin
Pete Daily - Cornet
Bill Helgart – Trombone
LeRoy Smith – E-flat clarinet
Boyce Brown – Sax
Jack Dailey – Guitar, banjo
Willie Sherman – Bass
Harold "Sleepy" Kaplan – Drums
June Davis – Vocals (tracks 6, 12, 17)
This
album was recorded in 1940 (the year before
Frank Melrose died) in Chicago, the city where
he mainly worked as pianist and bandleader.
He sometimes called himself Kansas City Frank
(or even the less politically-correct Broadway
Rastus!), which explains why he is so titled
on this CD. He was friendly with Jelly Roll
Morton and some of his early piano discs were
mistaken for Morton recordings. But this set
exhibits Frank Melrose playing in a variety
of styles.
Body
and Soul and Boy in the Boat are
piano solos – the latter a stride piano performance
which sounds like a much older recording than
the gently thoughtful Body and Soul.
Most of the tracks have Frank leading a Dixieland
band notable for the extrovert cornet of Pete
Daily and the serpentine saxophone of Boyce
Brown. Their version of Oh, Lady Be Good
is particularly exhilarating. Three tracks
have bluesy vocals by June Davis.
The
recording quality is often quite good for
the period, although some tracks sound as
if they were recorded at different times under
different conditions. However, these previously
unknown recordings are of historical as well
as musical interest.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Delmark DE
245
