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Drop Me Off In Harlem A Vintage Jazz Portrait RETROSPECTIVE RTR 4247

1. Drop Me Off In Harlem - Adelaide Hall
2. Harlem Twist - Red Nichols
3. Harlem Fuss - Fats Waller
4. Jungle Nights In Harlem - Duke Ellington
5. Underneath The Harlem Moon - Fletcher Henderson
6. Old Man Harlem - The Dorsey Brothers
7. There’s A House In Harlem For Sale - Henry Red Allen
8. Harlem Joys - Willie The Lion Smith
9. Harlem Lullaby - Mildred Bailey
10. Go Harlem - Chick Webb
11. Echoes Of Harlem (Cootie’s Concerto) - Duke Ellington
12. Christmas Night In Harlem - Jack Teagarden & Johnny Mercer
13. Harlem Shout - Jimmie Lunceford
14. It Was A Sad Night In Harlem - Duke Ellington, With Ivie Anderson
15. Harlem Congo - Chick Webb
16. Reunion In Harlem - Joe Marsala
17. Bojangles Of Harlem - Fred Astaire
18. Harlem Air-Shaft - Duke Ellington
19. Harlem In My Heart - Elisabeth Welch
20. Harlem Rumbain’ The Blues - Hot Lips Page
21. I Dreamt I Dwelt In Harlem - Glenn Miller
22. Holiday In Harlem - Ella Fitzgerald, With Chick Webb
23. Harlem Hotcha - The Carnival Three, With James P. Johnson
24. Harlem Nocturne - Woody Herman, With David Rose
25. Fare Thee Well To Harlem - Jack Teagarden & Johnny Mercer

Recorded 1928-52 [77:50]

What a clever idea! Yes, every song has ‘Harlem’ in its title, and with a quarter of a century of recordings from which to choose one can be guaranteed some fine examples, and very little in the way of inferior material. Adelaide Hall, who joins Lucky Millinder and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band for the track that lends its name to the disc title, was an ever-inventive singer who alternated piping musical theatre with jungle roar. Red Nichols, neat and tidy, features Dudley Fisdick’s mellophone, one of those occasional aberrations that makes ensembles so interesting. Fats Waller’s Buddies include Charlie Gaines and Charlie Irvis in 1929, that’s to say before his Rhythm took over; together they unveil a straight ahead Blues, Harlem Fuss.

No disc of this stripe could be taken seriously if it didn’t include, invariably, Duke’s Jungle Nights in Harlem, and his stellar band alerts one to those others to be heard in this selection, notably Fletcher Henderson, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb and Jack Teagarden’s. Many of the most distinguished soloists are here, either leading the band – the Dorsey Brothers, Lips Page, Woody Herman – or with their orchestras. Red Allen’s powerfully descriptive lead is always a tonic as indeed is Willie The Lion Smith’s little band (the Cubs) and their dapper take on Harlem Joys, Smith’s co-composition with Clarence Williams and Wallace Bishop. There’s a congregation of the great and the good on Christmas Night in Harlem – Teagarden, with vocal and trombone, Johnny Mercer and Paul Whiteman’s orchestra.

Lunceford’s, as ever, was one of the swingiest of bands in the vernacular – Harlem Shout does just that – but Chick Webb’s Harlem Congo runs him close, complete with a long drum solo from the bandleader himself. I hadn’t heard Reunion in Harlem in years and yet what a refined band it was – that most elegant of trumpeters, Bill Coleman, clarinettist Joe Marsala, alto player Pete Brown, Leonard Feather at the piano and Carmen Mastren guitar – chamber jazz in embryo. Ellington’s immaculate three minute tone poem Harlem Air-Shaft is rightly included. Elizabeth Welch is joined by Eric Ansell and the New Mayfair Orchestra for an English dance band-like take on Harlem in My Heart. If you’ve not heard it, listen to Lips Page’s band play Harlem Rumbain’ the Blues – great little band with Eddie Barefield, Don Stovall, Don Byas and Pete Johnson in there.

Glenn Miller is not so bad in I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem but is rather eclipsed by the seldom-recorded The Carnival Three in Harlem Hotcha – the three incidentally were Omer Simeon (ex-Jelly Roll), James P Johnson, master of the Harlem Stride school, and bassist extraordinaire Pops Foster. Herman is backed by the lush, luscious David Rose Orchestra for Harlem Nocturne, and Herman plays alto not clarinet on this one, paying habitual homage to Johnny Hodges.

I’ve only managed to break this ice here – and it’s only a single, not a twofer. If you want a Harlem-themed album this is for you. If you’ve got a swathe of Lunceford, Webb, Duke and Tea, then proceed a touch more carefully. Transfers are reasonable, though a bit airless for my tastes.

Jonathan Woolf

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