"Let's Face the Music" (Sept. 23, 2005)

(Week 11)

Here is the tentative playlist for tonight's program. The actual show will contain more music, since I'm signing off tonight--it should run until 10:30-10:45. Enjoy!

Fred Astaire – Let’s Face the Music and Dance – NAXOS Nostalgia CD 8.120718
Jack Crawford and his Orch. – Hurricane – Timeless CBC 1-072 JAZZ
Anonymous Ocarina Player – William Tell Overture – Columbia 78
The Little Ramblers – Cross Words Between My Sweetie and Me – Timeless CBC 1-037 JAZZ
Bubbling Over Five – Get Up Off that Jazzophone – Timeless CBC 1-048 JAZZ
Syd Valentine’s Patent Leather Kids – Patent Leather Stomp – Jazz Oracle BDW 8009
Atilla the Hun – Treasury Scandal – Arhoolie Folklyric 7004
Lionel Belasco and his Orch. – The Treasury Fire – Rounder CD 1142
The Caresser – The More They Try to Do Me Bad – Rounder CD 1054
Irving Mills and his Hotsy-Totsy Gang – Stardust – Sensation 769 748 025-2
Frank Trumbauer and his Orch. – Singin’ the Blues – Sony RD 033-1 A5 19477
Bee Palmer – Singin’ the Blues – The Old Masters mb107
Paul Whiteman and his Orch. – The Man I Love – The Old Masters mb 107
Ben Selvin and his Orch. – I Can’t Give You Anything but Love – ASV CD AJA 5318
Vaughn de Leath – Blue Skies – Pro Arte Digital CDD 483
Ted Weems and his Orch. – Miss Annabelle Lee – BMG DMK 12725
The Chocolate Dandies – That’s How I Feel Today – ASV CD AJA 5110
Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orch. – South – Bluebird 3139-2-RB
Mills’ Blue Rhythm Band – Futuristic Jungleism – Hep CD 1008
Annette Hanshaw – Who-oo? You-oo, That’s Who-oo! – Jasmine JASMCD 2542
Sophie Tucker – Oh! You Have No Idea! – ASV CD AJA 5017
Irving Kaufman – Masculine Women, Feminine Men – Take Two TT503CD
Red Nichols’ Stompers – Make My Cot Where the Cot-Cot-Cotton Grows – T. O. M. mb107
R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders – Make My Cot Where the Cot-Cot-Cotton Grows – Shanachie 6002
West End Jazz Band – Make My Cot Where the Cot-Cot-Cotton Grows – Legacy 101
Guy Lombardo and his Orch. – Puh-leeze! Mister Hemingway! – Sony CCM-229-2
Benny Goodman and his Orch/ – Keep On Doin’ What You’re Doin’ – Timeless CBC 1-065
Bessie Smith – Gimme a Pigfoot – Excelsior EXL-2-5317
Richard Tauber – Indian Summer – MasterSound 502262
Frank Crumit – Gum Tree Canoe – Pro Arte Digital CDD 3407
Jack Shilkret’s Orchestra – If You Knew Susie – Take Two TT502CD

"Latch On!" (September 16, 2005)

(Week 10)

Gremlins on the console notwithstanding, the new season is proceeding smoothly. This week I took note of the passing of Albert Casey, Fats Waller's guitarist from 1934-1943, and a true great in his every respect. The Fats Waller set was included as a tribute to Al, and features a few of his many wonderful performances with the Rhythm:

Victor Light Opera Company – Gems from “No, No, Nannette” – Victor 78
Romanian Ocarina Player – William Tell Overture – Columbia 78
Bill Haid’s Cubs – Shake it Down – Timeless CBC 1-076
The Little Ramblers – Could I? I Certainly Could – Timeless CBC 1-037 JAZZ
Charles Creath and his Jazz-O-Maniacs – She’s Crying for Me – Timeless CBC 1-036 JAZZ
Fats Waller and his Rhythm – Jitterbug Waltz – Giants of Jazz LP set (Time Life)
Fats Waller and his Rhythm – Latch On – Giants of Jazz LP set (Time Life)
Fats Waller and his Rhythm – Buck Jumpin’ – Giants of Jazz LP set (Time Life)
Johnny Hamp’s Kentucky Serenaders – Is it Possible? – Victor 78
George Olsen and his Music – Just a Little Thing Called Rhythm – Victor 78
Nat Shilkret and his Orch. – What Do We Do On a Dew, Dew, Dewy Day? – Victor 78
Wilmoth Houdini – Trinidad Hurricane – Rounder CD 1142
Atilla the Hun – Graf Zeppelin – Rounder CD 1039
King Radio – Sedition Law – Arhoolie Folklyric CD 7004
Charles W. Hamp – Heigh Ho! Ev’rybody, Heigh Ho! – Columbia 78
Irving Kaufman – I’d Climb the Highest Mountain – Perfect 78
Irving Kaufman – Wedding Bells are Breaking Up that Old Gang of Mine – 78
Lou Gold and his Orch. (vocal, I. Kaufman) – Climbing Up the Ladder of Love – Harmony 78
Quintet of the Hot Club of France – St. Louis Blues – Pro Arte Digital CDD 549
Dixieland Jug Blowers – Memphis Shake – Frog DGF6
West End Jazz Band – Zulu Wail – Legacy 101 CD
Green-Arden Orchestra – Marcheta – Victor 78
Waring’s Pennsylvanians – Since I found You – Victor 78
Johnny Johnson’s Statler Pennsylvanians – We (My Honey and Me) – Victor 78
Vernon Dalhart – Way Out West in Kansas – Edison Diamond Disc Record
Vernon Dalhart (as “Mack Allen”) – Farm Relief Blues – Harmony 78
Carson Robinson – 1942 Turkey in the Straw – Bluebird 78
Benny Goodman’s Boys – Blue (and Broken Hearted) – ASV Living Era CD AJA 5263
Joe Venuti’s Blue Four – Sweet Sue, Just You – JSP CD 3402
Ray Starita and his Ambassadors’ Club Orch – Wake Up! Chill’un, Wake Up! – AVID AVC539

Homage to New Orleans (September 9, 2005)

(Week 9)

This was a deeply emotional program for me, and that more than comes through toward the end of the broadcast. ("Over in the Glory Land" by Sam Morgan was the breaking point.) Here follows some of the best New Orleans jazz ever recorded, music by New Orleans musicians who "made good," and contemporary (1920s and 1930s) tributes to the City that was our Soul:


Frank Trumbauer and his Orch. – Way Down Yonder in New Orleans – Columbia CK45450 CD
Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orch. – New Orleans – Classics 591
Charles W. Hamp – Heigh Ho! Ev’rybody, Heigh Ho! – Columbia 78
Luis Russell and his Orch. – Louisiana Swing – JSP CD 308
Henry “Red” Allen and his N.Y. Orch. – Roamin’ – Classics 540
King Oliver and his Orch. – New Orleans Shout – JSP CD 3404
John Hyman’s Bayou Stompers – Alligator Blues – Frog DGF 2
Jones’ & Collins’ Astoria Hot Eight – Damp Weather – Frog DGF 5
New Orleans Owls – Meat on the Table – Frog DGF 2
Genevieve Davis – I Haven’t Got a Dollar to Pay the House Rent Man – Frog DGF 5
Lillie Delk Christian – Too Busy – Columbia/Legacy C4K 57176
Boswell Sisters – Shout, Sister, Shout – Col-CD-6461 Sony A-30320
King Oliver’s Jazz Band – Sobbin’ Blues – Yazoo 2025
Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five – Skid-Dat-De-Dat – Columbia/Legacy C4K 57176
Fletcher Henderson and his Orch. – Sugar Foot Stomp – Columbia/Legacy C4K 57176
Halfway House Orchestra – I Hate Myself for Loving You – Jazz Oracle BDW 8001
Oscar “Papa” Celestin’s Original Tuxedo Jazz Orch. – Ta Ta Daddy – Jazz Oracle BDW 8002
Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra – King Joe – King Jazz KJ 152 FS
Monk Hazel and his Bienville Roof Orchestra – Sizzling the Blues – Frog DGF 5
Sharkey and his Sharks of Rhythm – Mudhole Blues – Timeless CBC 1-001-JAZZ
Joseph Robichaux and his New Orleans Rhythm Boys – The Riff – Document DOCD-1016
Jelly Roll Morton and his Orch. – New Orleans Bump [Monrovia] – JSP CD 325
Jelly Roll Morton – Freakish – JSP CD 322
Jelly Roll Morton and his Orch. – Burnin’ the Iceberg – JSP CD 325
Henry “Red” Allen and his N.Y. Orch. – Make a Country Bird Fly Wild – Classics 540
Joseph Robichaux and his N. O. Rhythm Boys – Stormy Weather – Document DOCD-1016
Oscar Celestin’s Orig. Tuxedo Jazz Orch. – Papa’s Got the Jim-Jams – Jazz Oracle BDW 8002
Sam Morgan’s Jazz Band – Over in the Glory Land – Jazz Oracle BDW 8002
Louis Dumaine’s Jazzola Eight – Pretty Audrey – Frog DGF 5
Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orch. – Sweet Sue – King Jazz KJ 152 FS
Ray Starita and his Ambassadors’ Club Orch. – Wake Up! Chill’un, Wake Up! – AVID AVC-539

The Return of Radiola!

Dear Friends,

Nailed down to the floor, set in stone, immutable and inevitable, now it can be told: RADIOLA! returns to WHCL-FM 88.7 this Friday at 8 PM ET with a celebration of New Orleans Jazz.

I started Radiola! this summer with the intention of presenting a tangy miscellany of 20s and 30s jazz and popular music, with some ventures into early Calypso, the British Music Hall, and a few recordings that don't easily fit into any category. My objective is to keep the proceedings light and fun--the music shimmers with levity and wit and beats with the pulse of life. Radiola is a spirit medium for the raucous ghosts of voices from more than 70 years ago, communicating back to us the joy of being alive.

No city lived more fully than New Orleans. Throughout its history there was a sense of the sweetness and precariousness of life. The music reflected this deep joy, made all the deeper through its awareness that nothing is permanent. This is the spirit I hope to convey on this Friday's program, with recordings by Oscar Papa Celestin, The Halfway House Orchestra, The New Orleans Owls, Sam Morgan's Jazz Band, Louis Dumaine's Jazzola Eight, Joseph Robichaux's New Orleans Rhythm Boys, and many others.

So, to summarize--Radiola! this Friday (September 9) at 8 PM ET on WHCL-FM 88.7 and http://www.whcl.org.