J.c. Higginbotham

Although Alberta Hunter, who had briefly come out of retirement, gets first billing on this CD reissue, in reality she shares the spotlight with two other veterans of the 1920s: Lucille Hegamin and Victoria Spivey. Each of the singers is featured on four songs apiece while backed by such top players as clarinetist Buster Bailey, trombonist J.C. Higginbottham, and Cliff Jackson or Willie "The Lion" Smith on piano. Hunter is in superior form on such numbers as "You Gotta Reap Just What You Sow" and "I Got a Mind to Ramble," although she would soon be out of music for another 15 years, continuing her work as a nurse. Hegamin (who had not recorded since 1932) was having a brief last hurrah, despite sounding good, and Spivey, reviving her "Black Snake Blues," would soon be launching her own Spivey label. This is a historic and enjoyable set recommended to both classic jazz and blues collectors.

Chu Berry - Classic Chu Berry Columbia and Victor Sessions (2007) {7CD Set Mosaic MD7-236 rec 1933-1941}
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© 1933-41, 2007 Columbia / Victor / Sony BMG / Mosaic Records / BMG | MD7-236
Jazz / Swing / Tenor Saxophone

This is a comprehensive collection with countless pivotal sessions. It features 203 separate recordings on seven CDs and collects both the sessions led by Chu Berry and other sessions where he contributed significantly as a sideman. You can study his remarkable surefootedness as a soloist; remember an era where evolution in the music was running rampant and Chu Berry's tenor saxophone was one of the things making it run.

Bunk Johnson & Louis Armstrong - Bunk & Louis (2002) {GHB Records BCD-101 rec 1938-1945}
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© 1938-45, 2002 GHB Records | BCD-101
Jazz / Early Jazz / New Orleans Jazz / Trumpet

This is the Bunk Johnson World Transcription session, beautifully recorded in World's superior recording studios. It's not a typical Bunk session with George Lewis and Jim Robinson, but a West Coast studio session with well-known artists such as Floyd O'Brien, Wade Whaley, Frank Pasley, Red Callender and Lee Young (includes alternate and incomplete takes). This CD also includes tracks by the man who learned the art of playing the blues by absorbing everything Bunk played…Louis Armstrong. With him are J.C. Higginbotham, Jack Teagarden, Sidney Bechet, Bud Freeman, Fats Waller, Al Casey, Paul Barbarin and others. Includes material from the Second Esquire Jazz Concert, Louis' only recording with Bunk, and a 1938 Saturday Night Swing Club broadcast.

The third "complete" Pete Johnson CD put out by the European Classics label features the great boogie-woogie pianist in three different settings. There are eight formerly rare piano solos from 1944 that cover a variety of moods, five selections with a hot Kansas City octet which includes trumpeter Hot Lips Page, tenorman Budd Johnson and two vocals from the young Etta Jones, and eight intriguing numbers in which Johnson is gradually joined by an additional musician on each track. "Page Mr. Trumpet" is an exciting outing for Hot Lips, and the other top players include clarinetist Albert Nicholas, trombonist J.C. Higginbotham and tenorman Ben Webster. A particularly exciting release.

This 2-CD set presents the legendary valve trombonist acting as co-leader with Zoot Sims on the January 1956 album "Tonite's Music Today" and as leader of three separate studio groups on the self-titled "Brookmeyer" from October of the same year. He's leader of the BB Quartet on "The Blues - Hot and Cold" from June 1960, and finally shares leadership on "Stan Getz/Bob Brookmeyer" from September 1961.

Jimmy Witherspoon - Goin' To Kansas City Blues (1957) {RCA Victor–Mosaic MCD-1011 rel 2007}
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© 1957, 2007 RCA Victor / Mosaic Records / Sony BMG | MCD-1011
Jazz / Jazz Blues / Jump Blues / Vocal / Urban Blues

A reunion of sorts with McShann, with whom Witherspoon had sung for four years in the late '40s. A relaxed, swinging set that bisects jazz and blues, it holds no great surprises, but 'Spoon fans will find this an enjoyable and accomplished record. About half of the material was penned by McShann or Witherspoon, including "Blue Monday Blues" (Witherspoon's adaptation of "Kansas City Blues") and a remake of "Confessin' the Blues."

The second of five CDs put out by the European Classics label that document trumpeter Red Allen's 1929-41 recordings has three titles from a session co-led with tenor-saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, eight songs from 1934 and a dozen from the following year. Allen takes vocals on most of the tracks and, even if not all of the songs are gems, there are many highlights including "Pardon My Southern Accent," "Rug Cutter Swing," "Believe It, Beloved," "Rosetta" and "Truckin'." The strong supporting cast includes trombonists Dickie Wells and J.C. Higginbotham, clarinetists Buster Bailey and Cecil Scott and, on one date, tenorman Chu Berry.