Jay Mcshann

The great veteran pianist Jay McShann (also known as Hootie) enjoyed a long career and it is unfair to primarily think of him as merely the leader of an orchestra that featured a young Charlie Parker. He was mostly self-taught as a pianist, worked with Don Byas as early as 1931 and played throughout the Midwest before settling in Kansas City in 1936. McShann formed his own sextet the following year and by 1939 had his own big band.

Featuring 50 original recordings from John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, Dee Clark. Memphis Slim and many more, this 2CD compilation celebrates the best from Vee-Jay Records…

Various Artists - Chicago Hit Factory: The Vee-Jay Story 1953-1966 (2014) {10CD Set Charly Records CHARLY 915 B}
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© 1953-66, 2014 Charly Records / Vee-Jay | CHARLY 915 B
Rhythm & Blues / Doo-Wop / Blues / Soul / Gospel / Jazz

Celebrating sixty years since the launch of one of the most successful independent record labels in US Popular music. Received wisdom would have us believe that before Motown, no black-owned record company had made a significant impact on the US mainstream. However, the actuality is something else entirely. Way back in the early 50s, long before Berry Gordy had written his first song, VEE-JAY RECORDS - a black, family owned and run, Chicago-based label - was establishing itself via a steady stream of Blues, R&B, DooWop and Gospel hits.

Jays Blues is a fine collection of early-'50s jump blues sides that Jimmy Witherspoon cut for Federal Records. This 23-track collection offers a good retrospective of one of Witherspoon's most neglected – and admittedly, uneven – periods.

Various Artists - The Complete Master Jazz Piano Series (1992) {4CD Box Set Mosaic MD4-140 rec 1969-74}
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© 1969-74, 1992 Mosaic Records | MD4-140
Jazz / Bop / Stride / Swing / Piano

During a five-year period the Master Jazz label recorded 11 swing-based pianists in solo settings. Although the label went under later in the decade, the recordings were treasured by collectors. Mosaic, on this four-CD set, brought back all of the music from the original five-volume Master Jazz Piano series, adding two unissued selections and a full album released separately of Ram Ramirez's playing. In addition to Ramirez (who is heard on 13 numbers), there are 13 performances by Earl Hines, four apiece from Claude Hopkins, Cliff Jackson, Keith Dunham, Sonny White, Teddy Wilson, Cliff Smalls and the obscure Gloria Hearn, eight by Jay McShann and two from Sir Charles Thompson. Most of these pianists (other than Hines and Wilson) rarely recorded during this period in their careers, making this box very important both musically and historically.

Charlie Parker - Intégrale Charlie Parker, Vol. 1, "Groovin' High", 1940-1945 (2010) {3CD Set Frémeaux & Associés FA1331}
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© 1940-45, 2010 Frémeaux & Associés | FA 1331
Jazz / BeBop / Bop / Saxophone

Charlie ‘Yarbird’ Parker should need no introduction; recognised as one of the twentieth century’s true musical greats, he revolutionised saxophone playing in the forties. The recordings on these three CDs capture him in the very act, and additionally present jazz at a crucial time, when swing was shortly to give way to bebop, and when the blues could be played with a big band before r&b took over. Many of the recordings here were not made commercially - some are from radio broadcasts, some were made in concert, and a few, such as the fascinating opener, just Bird and his sax tackling ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ and ‘Body And Soul’, were never intended to be heard outside of the immediate circle.

A magnificent documentary on a fabled time and place in American musical history, an "open city" with a wild and woolly nightlife of booze, gambling and prostitution, supported by the mayor who took his city and said "to hell with prohibition, let's party." This musical documentary chronicles the Kansas City blues and jazz scene, and includes interviews and archival footage of many of the greats, notably, the big-band sound of Count Basie and his Orchestra, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and his Quintet, and Ernie Williams, who called himself "the Last of the Blue Devils."