Don Everly Brother Juke Box

The seven compositions on this recording where composed with an idealized Juke Box in mind, where any kind of music might show up from any culture or time and be combined for the next "Play". My music listening has been informed by the spirit and work of Alan Lomax, from blues to raga, ragtime to avant-garde, pygmy chants to Korean court music, following styles and esthetics as they rubbed up against each other in the mingling of culture that was made available by intrepid searchers of music. The "sides" aren't a direct borrowing but a weaving of the common threads that occur in all musics.

His recording career as a leader in the United States lasted for about two years, from 1944-46. In the autumn of 1946 Don Byas left for Europe touring with the Don Redman Band; essentially, from that point on he simply stayed in Europe until his death in 1972. Considering the time period, and the extent of his talent, expatriation was a doubtful career move if he was concerned with his place in the contemporary jazz scene and ultimately his place in jazz history.
This four disc set, Don Byas: Complete American Small Group Recordings, documents Byas’ recordings as a leader prior to his emigration, with one disc documenting his work as a sideman in a variety of bands. Although he was later to record extensively in Europe, Byas should be established as a major tenor saxophonist based on this four disc set alone.

Anointed "Queen of the Blues" by Leonard Feather, Dinah Washington made a number of live performances during the height of her career at New York's Birdland, Royal Roost, and Basin Street clubs. These performances, along with a couple of cuts from the soundtrack to the Harlem Variety Review, have been captured by Ted Ono's Baldwin Street Music label. During this period, many of Washington's recordings consistently appeared at the top of the R&B charts, although it wasn't until her breakthrough "What a Difference a Day Makes" that she made it to the pop charts. The first performance on this CD is from 1948 with Dizzy Gillespie & the Orchestra and the last is from 1955 with Wynton Kelly…