Chicago Style: (Vol.7)

1. MUGGSY SPANIER’S Stomp Six; Why Couldn’t It Be Poor Little Me (2:35)

2. BIX BEIDERBECKE: Royal Garden Blues (2:50)

3. THE WOLVERIENS: When My Sugar Walks Down the Street (2:58)

4. CHARLES PIERCE Orch.: China Boy (2:24)

5. JUNGLE KINGS: Friars Point Shuffle (2:56)

6. WINGY MANNONE: Up the Country (3:02)

Harlem; (Vol.8)

1. JAMES P. JOHNSON: Harlem Strut (2:21)

2. FATS WALLER: Mama’s Got the Blues (2:50)

3. CLIFF JACKSON: Hock Shop Blues (4:21)

4. CLARENCE WILLIAMS Orch.: Midnight Stomp (3:00)

5. DUKE ELLINGTON’S Washingtonians: Rainy Nights (3:24)

6. FLETCHER HENDERSON Orch.: Hop Off (3:19)

　　　That portion of the vast body of jazz that can properly be designated as “classic” makes up a rich and glorious musical heritage. It stretches over many years and much geography: from the work songs and Negro church music that preceded jazz; through ragtime and the early blues; through the great formative years of New Orleans jazz and the “Golden Age” of jazz in Chicago; embracing elements as diverse as barrelhouse “boogie woogie” piano and the music of the white Chicagoans; on through the romping rent-party piano men of Harlem; the birth of big-band jazz; up to present-day Dixieland and the “revivalists” who re-create and adapt the earlier styles.

　　　All of this is copiously represented on records – but in many cases on records that have long been obscure, virtually unobtainalbe rareties. Riverside has, through its: Jazz Archives” series of reissues, made available much of this great traditional jazz. The History of Classic Jazz is in a sense the culmination of this unparalleled reissue program, using outstanding examples of the work of the greats (Louis, Basie, Bix, Fats, Jelly Roll and many others) and of numerous less famous but highly significant figures to build a vital panorama that reaches from pre-jazz to the present.

　　　Each of the five LPs that make up the History is complete in itself, containing two unified “volumes.” But those who find this album a valuable and enjoyable listening experience will surely want to include in their jazz libraries its four companion LPs –

Backgrounds / Ragtime (Vols, 1 & 2): Blind Lemon Jefferson, Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, etc. (RLP 12-112)

The Blues / New Orleans Style (vols. 3 & 4): Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, etc. (RLP 12-113)

Boogie Woogie / South Side Chicago (vols. 5 & 6): Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, Johnny Dodds, Freddie Keppard, etc. (RLP 12-114)

New York Style / New Orleans Revival (vols. 9 & 10): Red Nichols, Bunk Johnson, Kid Ory, George Lewis, Lu Watters, etc. (RLP 12-116)

　　　*The original edition of the History of Classic Jazz is still available as a single complete five-LP unit, in a sealed, deluxe album package – Riverside SPD-11 – which also contains jazz histoiran Charles Edward Smith’s 20,000-word essay; “An Introduction to Classic Jazz.”)

Chicago Style:

　　　STOMP SIX: Why Couldn’t It Be Poor Little Me. Muggsy Spanier (cnt) Guy Carey (tb) Volly de Faut (cl) Mel Stitzel (p) Marvin Saxbe (bj) Joe Gish (tu)

Chicago; probably Nov., 1924 (Autograph 626; master number 148) Among the very earliest of recordings by young men who were molded by the New Orleans emigrants, featuring the then-17-years-old Spanier, a brilliant follower of the Oliver-Armstrong tradition.

　　　BIX BEIDERBECKE and THE WOLVERIENS: Royal Garden Blues. Bix Beiderbecke (cnt) Jimmy Hartwell (cl) George Johnson (ts) Dick Voynow (p) bob Gillette (bj) Min Leibrook (tu) Vic Moore (drs) Richmond; June 20, 1924 (Gennett 22062l; mx.no. 11931)

WOLVERINES (“Original Wolverines”): When My Sugar Walks Down the Street. Jimmy McPartland (cnt) replace Berderbecke; Leibrook plays bass sax; other the same as above. New York; Dec. 10, 1924 (Ge 5620; mx.no. 9218)

　　　The first Wolverines selection offers the soaring tones of the immortal Bix, with the Midwestern band that was his springboard to fame. After his departure, the tough job of trying to fill his shoes went to a young Chicagoan also destined for stardom; Jimmy McPartland.

　　　CHARLES PIERCE ORCHE.: China Boy. Muggsy Spanier, Dick Feigie (cnt) Frank Teschemacher (cl, sax) Ralph Rudder, Charles Pierce (saxes) Dan Liscomb (p) Stuart Branch (g) Johnny Mueller (b) Paul Kettler (drs) Chicago; Oct., 1927 (Paramount 12619; mx.no. 20399)

　　　JUNGLE KINGS: Friars Point Shuffle. Spanier (cnt) Teschemacher (cl) Mezz Mezzrow (ts) Joe Sullivan (p) Eddie Condon (bj)  Jim Lannigan (tu) George Wettling (drs) Vocal; by Red McKenzie Chicago; Nov., 1927 (Para 12654; mx.no. 20563)

　　　Very specifically, “Chicago style” meant the efforts of youngsters like Teschemacher, Bud Freeman, McPartland, Condon, etc. These two recordings – one with mostly obscure personnel, the other filled with stars-to-be – are recognized as among the very first in that style. They also have in common notable efforts by Spanier and the short-lived clarinet star, Teschemacher.

　　　WINGY MANONE: Up the Country. Wingy Manone, (tp, vcl) Miff Frink (tb) George Walters (cl) Maynard Spencer (p) Orville Haynes (b) Dash Burkis (drs) unknown (ts) and (bj) Richmond; Sept, 19, 1930 (Champion 116127; mx.no. GN 17058).

Manone, born in New Orleans and later noted for Swing Era jive, may not belong, strictly speaking, to this Volume: except that he, like most of the others represented here, was a key member of that second generation that inherited the spirit of the Negro and white jazz pioneer.

Harlem:

　　　JAMES P. JOHNSON: Harlem Strut. Piano solo New York; May 1921 (QRS piano roll 101014)

　　　FATS WALLER: Mama’s Got the Blues. Piano solo. New York; Augusts, 1923 (QRS piano roll 2322)

　　　CLIFF JACKSON:  Hock Shop Blues Piano solo New York; August, 1926 (QRS piano roll 3616)

　　　Three samples of hard-pounding, rollicking piano music in the Harlem rent-party spirit of the ‘20s. Johnson, the acknowledged leader of the ‘school’, was also a flawless technician and a writer of hit tunes (Charleston, Old Fashioned Love). Waller, James P.’s protégé, a major jazz pianist, was of course later reknowned for his devastating way with banal popular songs. Jackson can serve to indicate the high level of the “average” pianist of the day.

　　　CLARENCE WILLIAMS ORCH.: Midnight Stomp. Ed Allen or possibly King Oliver (tp) Charlie Irvis (tb) Ben Waters (cl, ts) Ben Whittet (as) Clarence Willimas (p) Buddy Christian (bj) Cyrus St. Clair (tu) New York; 1928 (QRS 7033; mx.no. 268)

Typical of the remarkable “small band jazz with a big band sound” produced during the ‘20s by pianist-composer-publisher-bandleader Williams. This selection may or may not include King Oliver, who did make some sides with Williams.

　　　DUKE ELLINGTON WAHSINGTONIANS: Rainy Nights. Bubber Miley (tp) Charlie Irvis (tb) Otto Hardwicke (as) Duke Ellington (p) Fred Guy (bj) Sonny Greer (drs) New York; 1926 (Blu-Disc 1002; mx.no. T2006). One of the earliest of Ellington recordings, in which a nucleus of the Duke’s stars foreshadow the greatness that was to come.

　　　FLETCHER HENDERSON ORCH. (“The Dixie Stompers “); Hop Off. Probably; Russell Smith, Joe Smith, Tommy Ladnier (tp) Charlie Green, Jimmy Harrison (tb) buster Bailey (cl) Don Pasquall (as) Coleman Hawkins (ts) Fletcher Henderson (p) Charlie Dixon (bj) June Coles (tu) Kaiser Marshall (drs). New York; early 1928 (Para 12550; mx.no. 2859). The highly influential sound of the first great arranged-jazz orchestra; played by a typically star-studded Henderson line-up.

LP produced by BILL GRAUER and ORRIN KEEPNEWS

Notes by ORRIN KEEPNEWS

These recordings from source material either owned by Bill Grauer Productions, Inc. or exclusively controlled by special arrangement

Tape editing by RAY FOWLER. Re-mastered by Reeves Sound Studios

(The slight surface noise audible on several of these selections is due to the limitations of early recording processes; it has not been entirely removed in order to preserve highest fidelity possible and to give more faithful reproduction of original tone qualities.)

Cover designed by PAUL BACON

RIVERSIDE RECORDS are produced by BILL GRAUER PRODUCTIONS, Inc.

553 West 51st Street New York 19, N.Y.