Kathleen

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52 plays

Joe Venuti & Earl Hines > C Jam Blues
Composed by Duke Ellington

It was pretty clear to me in the last post that Hank had a hard time picking a favorite Joe Venuti track, so I figured I’d play the second one too. A classic in many ways.

Violin Week #4
Legends of the Violin #3
Legends of the Piano #11
Legends of Swing #5 & #6

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40 plays

Joe Venuti & Dave McKenna > At the Jazz Band Ball
Composed by Larry Shields & Nick LaRocca

Back in the day I spend some time around Chiaroscuro Records but was too self involved to realize the grandeur of the music going on around me. I’m making up for lost time which includes some bon bons by the great Joe Venuti. Being severely undereducated I asked Chiaroscuro owner/producer Hank O’Neal to suggest some tracks. This one caught my ear. From Hank:

“I’d take ‘C Jam [Blues]’ on the one with Earl [Hines] and ‘At the Jazz Band Ball’ on the McKenna. Both were remarkable dates for a lot of reasons. I just wish I’d had the opportunity to do more work with all of them, particularly Joe. I guess I was lucky to have gotten what I did.”

Violin Week #3
Legends of the Violin #3
Legends of the Piano #10
Legends of Swing #5

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37 plays

Ella Fitzgerald > Get Ready
Composed by Smokey Robinson

By the end of the 60s the jazzbos were in a complete panic and would cover anything that would seem to make them relevant again. Luckily, the fear would subside within a couple of years and they great could resume being great.

Here’s the original.

What Was That? Week #1
Legends of Swing #3
Cover #50
Legends of Songwriting #18

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63 plays

Duke Ellington > Solitude
Composed by Duke Ellington, Eddie DeLange & Irving Mills

Not being particularly a big band fan, and stereotyping much too easily without enough information, I never gave Ellington a tumble. Until I got older and wanted quieter music in my diet. This whole album turned around my Duke-ness.

(By the way, I realize it’s ridiculous to characterize Ellington as merely a Legend of Swing, but I couldn’t figure out anything else that would be more appropriate, except maybe Legend of Jazz. And almost every jazzbo here would qualify for that too.)

Ballads Week #1
Legends of Swing #3
Ballad #31