Steps Ahead Steppin' Out

Grandpa Jones - Steppin' Out Kind (2006) {Ace Records CDCHD1098 rec 1945-1952}
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© 1945-52, 2005 King Records / Ace Records | CDCHD 1098 | The King & DeLuxe Acetate Series
Country / Old-Timey / Country Gospel / Traditional Country

Although Louis Marshall Jones was only around 30-years-old when he cut his first acetate for Syd Nathan's fledgling Dayton, Ohio-based King Records in 1943, he was already known as Grandpa Jones, earning the nickname because he supposedly sounded like an old man when he spoke on the radio (over his half-century career, Jones grew into the physical aspect of the name, as well). This interesting collection, Steppin' Out Kind, gathers the best of the surviving acetates Jones cut for Nathan during his initial nine-year run with King, and these sides will be revelatory for those who are only familiar with the latter-day Jones through his appearances on the Hee Haw television show in the early '70s.

The Braxton Brothers' debut album, Steppin' Out, tends to be a little bit too slick to actually qualify as improvisatory jazz, but the duo is a fine smooth jazz outift, working polished grooves that fuse light funk and soul with jazzy chords and pop melodies. The duo shows enough instrumental potential to suggest that they could craft a more adventurous album if they were willing to take the risk, but Steppin' Out is a pleasant listen in its own right.

Reissue of the rare jazz, funk and fusion Library LP "Four Corners" by Second Direction. A project of the saxophonist and flutist Fritz Münzer, produced in 1976 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg. The new release includes six additional recordings from the band's second unreleased album from 1978, entitled "Steps Ahead", recently pulled from the archives of producer and "Joy Unlimited" founder Klaus R. Nagel.

Steppin' Out is the second studio album released by soprano saxophonist George Howard. It was first released as an LP record in 1984 by Palo Alto Records and reached as high as #9 on the Billboard magazine Top Jazz Albums list for that year. This CD from 1984 has lively and complex sax sounds. When Howard rejoined GRP Records in 1990, they acquired the rights to previous albums by him and released this album on compact disc in 1992.

The Pasadena Roof Orchestra was formed in Nov. 1969 by Johnny Arthy, a lover of 1920's jazz who sought to lead a dance-oriented jazz-influenced big band specializing in music from the 1923-37 period. The British band gained its name because Arthy liked the obscure song "Pasadena." The orchestra had its first gig in April 1970 and soon Arthy came across a windfall, 1, 500 original arrangements from the 1920's practically given away by an elderly lady whose father had been musical director of a dance band in the twenties. The P.R.O. started out playing once a week but, after the success of their first album in 1974, they turned professional and began working much more often.

Smokin' Joe Kubek's debut album is a delight. Kubek leads his band through a set of smoking hot Texas and Memphis blues, delivered with passion – they can play this music with precision, but they choose to be looser and more fun than most traditionalists. Kubek's a skillful guitarist and B'Nois King, his vocalist and rhythm guitarist, can play nearly as well and their duels are the high watermark of an already wonderful album.