Jazz Focus

Epizódy

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  Morning with Pops - Louis and the Big Band 1937-40 17.08.2026 28min

  Great sides recreating some of Louis' earlier recorded hits - with JC Higginbotham (tbn), Charlie Holmes (alto), Bingie Madison (clt), Joe Garland (tenor), Luis Russell (p), Pops Foster (bass), and Sid Catlett (drums)
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  Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers 1938-40 17.08.2026 29min

  Chamber jazz with Louis Armstrong featured with the classic Mills Brothers!
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  Allan Eager - Savoy recordings 1946, 47 17.08.2026 56min

  Tenor sax player with Woody Herman and Buddy Rich - Eager became known as a highly original soloist although one who used the sound and light attack of Lester Young.  Here his three sessions under his own name and one by Teddy Reig feature Kai Winding (valve trombone!), Doug Mettome (trumpet), Terry Gibbs (vibraphone), Duke Jordan, Ed Finkel, George Wallington, Marty Napoleon (piano), Curly Russell, Leonard Gaskin, Eddie Safranski, Bob Carter (bass), Max Roach, Stan Levey and Shelly Manne (drums)
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  Sharkey Bonano and Harry Shields . .New Orleans Revival! 10.08.2026 1h 12min

  Bonano was a somewhat antic trumpet player who nevertheless always fronted excellent bands and usually played well himself.  This selection of recordings from 1951-58 feature the clarinetist Harry Shields (brother of Larry) along with Julian Lane, Bob Havens and Emile Christian on trombone, Stanley Mendelsohn and Armand Hug on piano, Joe Capraro on banjo, Chink Martin on tuba and bass, Johnny Castaing and Monk Hazel on drums and Hazel on mellophone.
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  Show- Early Lucky Thompson 1945-47 10.08.2026 56min

  Swing/Bop Tenor player Lucky Thompson with a series of small groups - His own all-stars and Freddie Green's Orchestra with Basie musicians (Buck Clayton, Karl George, J.J. Johnson, Rudy Rutherford, Bill Dogett, Shadow Wilson, Rodney Richardson) and under his own name with Dodo Marmarosa, Red Callendar and Jackie Mills.  The last session has a true all-star group with Neal Hefti and Benny Carter!
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  Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong plays King Oliver (1960) 03.08.2026 29min

  One of the stranger albums of his career, Louis Armstong's "tribute" to his mentor King Oliver features very few tunes Oliver ever recorded or possibly even played.  Nevertheless, the 1959 sessions feature some of Louis' best late period playing along with Trummy Young, Peanuts Hucko, Billy Kyle, Mort Herbert and Danny Barcelona
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  Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith 03.08.2026 27min

  1925 sessions featuring Armstrong backing up the Empress of the Blues - Bessie Smith along with Fred Longshaw, Charlie Green and Fletcher Henderson
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  Show- Louis Armstrong and The Dukes of Dixieland 03.08.2026 57min

  1959 and 1960 sessions for Audio Fidelity featuring the popular New Orleans band (Frank Assunto, Fred Assunto, Papa Jac Assunto, Jerry Fuller, Stanley Mendelsohn, Lowell Miller, Rich Matteson and others) with the greatest jazz musician of all time - Louis was at a late peak of his abilities and he drives the band to great heights!
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  Hi Hat Live! Recordings by Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, Charlie Parker, Serge Chaloff, Miles Davis and Allen Eager 28.07.2026 1h 1min

  The Hi Hat was a legendary club in Boston during the 1950's, featuring what was then known as "modern Jazz" - here are live dates featuring many local musicians (Dean Earl, Bernie Griggs, Jimmy Woode, Jimmy Zitano, Marquis Foster, Dick Twardzik, Herb Pomeroy, Jay Migliori and others) backing up the likes of Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer, Sonny Stitt, Allen Eager, Serge Chaloff, Miles Davis and even Charlie Parker!
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  Show - Yank Lawson 28.07.2026 59min

  The trumpeter Yank Lawson was best known for playing with Bob Crosby's band and later in his own groups.  Here he is heard as a sideman with several groups - the Mound City Blues Blowers (with Eddie Miller, Bob Haggart, Nappy Lamare, Ray Bauduc and Red McKenzie), Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (with Johnny Mince, Babe Russin and Moe Purtill), Eddie Condon's Town Hall All-Stars (with Hank D'Amico, Jess Stacy and Lou McGarity), Bud Freeman's Orchestra (with Peanuts Hucko, Vernon Brown, Bill Mustarde, Dave Bowman, Ray McKinley), Deane Kincaide's Orchestra (with Paul Ricci, Hucko and others), and Eddie Condon's Orchestra (James P. Johnson, Gene Schroeder, Pee Wee Russell, Brad Gowans, Edmond Hall, Cutty Cutshall).
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  Morning with Pops - Louis with Earl Hines 1928 20.07.2026 28min

  Part of the Hot Five recordings for OKeh, these are the ones usually called "The Savoy Ballroom Five" and include seven pieces - Armstrong, Fred Robinson (tbn), Jimmy Strong (clt/ts), Don Redman (as), Earl Hines (p), Mancy Carr (bjo) and Zutty Singleton (d).  With Redman's arrangements (some adapted from his charts for McKinney's Cotton Pickers) and playing, the small group takes on a big band feel.
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  Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong with Bing Crosby II 20.07.2026 27min

  More broadcast recordings from Crosby's CBS radio show between 1949 and 51 - these feature the "jazzier" sides and have Jack Teagarden, Joe Venuti, Matty Matlock, Buddy Cole, Nick Fatool and Dinah Shore helping out as well!
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  Show - Allen Eager with Tadd Dameron, Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Bothwell and the 52nd Street All-Stars 20.07.2026 55min

  Allen Eager was recognized by Lester Young to be the best of the young white jazz players following in his style.  More Bebop-influenced than most of his contemporaries, Eager was able to record with Tadd Dameron (with Fats Navarro and Wardell Gray), Gerry Mulligan (with Nick Travis, Lee Konitz, Al Cohn and Zoot Sims), Johnny Bothwell (with Harry Carney and Ray Nance) and the 52nd Street All-Stars with Mary Osbourne, Jimmy Jones, Kenny Clarke and Pete Brown . . .quite a range!
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  Bud Freeman - 1944, 45 14.07.2026 1h 3min

  Great small group sessions led by the Chicago tenor player Bud Freeman shortly after the end of WWII.  Recorded for Keynote, Majestic and V-Disc, these sessions feature Charlie Shavers, Wild Bill Davison, Billy Butterfield, Vernon Brown, Lou McGarity, Bill Mustarde, Ernie Caceres, Edmond Hall, Peanuts Hucko, Joe Sullivan, Gene Schroeder, Carl Kress, Carmen Mastren, Trigger Alpert, John Simmons, Bob Haggart, Ray McKinley, Dave Tough and George Wettling
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  Show - Lucky Thompson in Paris 1956 14.07.2026 57min

  Several sessions done by the visiting Thompson with the Dave Pochonet All-Stars for a variety of Parisian record labels - with Charles Verstraete on trombone, Michel du Villiers on baritone sax, Martial Solal on piano, Jean-Pierre Sasson on guitar, Benoit Quersin on bass and Pochonet on drums.  Late Swing meets Bebop.
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  Show - The Dave Pell Sextet and Orchestra - small groups! 06.07.2026 57min

  Pell made two albums in 1959 and 1960 in tribute to the John Kirby Sextet and some other small groups of the Swing and Cool eras . . featuring Cappy Lewis, Ray Linn, Jack Sheldon (tpt), Hoyt Bohannon, Bob Enevoldsen (tbn), Abe Most and Dave Pell (clarinet), Benny Carter and Art Pepper (alto), Pell (tenor and baritone), Ronnie Lang, Marty Berman and Pell (baritone), John Williams (p), Tony Rizzi (guitar), Red Mitchell (bass), Frank Capp (d)...great playing, especially by the leader on some of his few appearances on clarinet!
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  Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong with Bing Crosby I 06.07.2026 28min

  Live recordings from the Bing Crosby radio show on CBS between 1949 and 51 - mostly Louis' pop records of the time with a few surprises thrown in!
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  Morning with Pops - Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, 1925 06.07.2026 28min

  Classic blues recordings featuring the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith accompanied by a very young Louis Armstrong.
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  Yank Lawson - 1943, 44, 45 29.06.2026 1h 2min

  Former trumpet soloist with Ben Pollack, Bob Crosby and Tommy Dorsey, Lawson was a powerful player devoted to the New Orleans/Chicago style of Dixieland.  Here, his groups recording for Signature (Ward Silloway, Brad Gowans, Lou McGarity, Miff Mole, Pee Wee Russell, Rod Cless, Bill Stegmeyer, Joe Marsala, Dave Bowman, James P. Johnson, Eddie Condon, Bob Haggart, Johnny Blowers and George Wettling) and a big band for VDisc (Ray Eckstrand, Vernon Brown and Nick Caiazza with Blowers, Bowman, and Haggart) show off his range and sound.
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  Show- Sonny Stitt at the Hi Hat 1954 29.06.2026 55min

  One day (February 11th) in 1954, Stitt played a gig at the HI Hat in Boston with a local rhythm section (Dean Earl, Bernie Griggs, Marquis Foster) and Roulette recorded the whole thing . . Two cds include the entirety of the date with Stitt featured equally on alto and tenor with several baritone sax tracks (about his last on that instrument) thrown in for good measure.