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BIX BEIDERBECKE At The Jazz Band Ball Living Era CD AJA 5080

 

1	Fidgety Feet	12	Krazy Kat
2	Tiger Rag	13	Clementine
3	Flock O’Blues	14	At The Jazz Band Ball
4	I’m Glad	15	Jazz Me Blues
5	Toddlin’ Blues	16	Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down
6	Davenport Blues	17	San
7	Singin’ The Blues	18	From Monday On
8	I’m Coming, Virginia	19	Mississippi Mud
9	Way Down Yonder In New Orleans	20	Deep Down South
10	Ostrich Walk	21	For No Reason At All In C
11	Riverboat Shuffle	22	In A Mist

This compilation features original Mono recordings made by the Bix Beiderbecke between 1924 and 1930, from his earliest with the Wolverines to one of his last recordings with his own orchestra. Some of the finest musicians of the period are to be heard and they include Frankie Trumbauer, Benny Goodman, Adrian Rollini, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Don Murray, Eddie Lang, Miff Mole and Joe Venuti. Bix was a very lyrical player and possessed a clear unmistakable tone coupled with a great understanding of harmony. When required he could also employ a hard attack to his swinging solos. It is well documented that when it came to composing he was one of the first jazz musicians to be drawn to the harmonic ideas of Debussy. So, for anyone who is not already familiar with Bix’s work there could not be a better introduction than ‘At The Jazz Band Ball.’

Whilst Bix’s relationship with Paul Whiteman was often far from amicable some of his best solo work came about when he was with Whiteman – especially on ‘San’ and ‘From Monday On.’ Unfortunately there is only one track featuring the superb line-up that made up the Biederbecke Orchestra in 1930 - ‘Deep Down South.’ The final track is certainly Bix’s most famous composition ‘In A Mist’ which, as Vic Bellerby says in his accompanying notes, ‘was to have an influence on many jazz experiments to follow.’

Jack Ashby

 

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