Showing posts with label Chick Webb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chick Webb. Show all posts

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Chick Webb - The Best of Chick Webb

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:14
Size: 141,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:03)  1. A Little Bit Later On
(4:12)  2. Breakin' 'Em Down
(3:11)  3. By Heck
(2:23)  4. Go Harlem
(3:13)  5. I Let a Tear Fall In the River
(3:23)  6. If Dreams Come True
(2:59)  7. If You Can't Sing
(3:16)  8. It's Over Because We're Through
(3:10)  9. King Porter Stomp
(2:48) 10. Liza
(2:54) 11. On the Sunny Side of the Street
(3:11) 12. Stompin' at the Savoy
(2:26) 13. The Dipsy Doodle
(2:32) 14. Vote for Mr. Rhythm
(2:58) 15. What a Shuffle
(3:19) 16. You Showed Me the Way
(2:51) 17. A Tisket, A Tasket
(2:36) 18. Sing Me a Swing Song
(3:12) 19. Tain't What You Do
(3:29) 20. Keeping Out Of Mischief Now

“The King of the Savoy” reigned supreme over jazz drummers in New York in the 1930’s. He was the consummate showman and with his fluid and rhythmic style, was perfectly suited for the swing era. He raised the standard for drummer awareness, and paved the way for drummer led bands. Born in Baltimore, Feb. 10, 1909, William Henry Webb, was an unlikely candidate to become a jazz drummer. Stricken with spinal tuberculosis, he was left with a hunched back, and little use of his legs. He took up drumming as a way to relieve joint stiffness, and never stopped. He saved enough to buy a drum set which he had fit with special pedals for his legs. He joined local band the Jazzola Orchestra, then in 1925 decided to try New York City. He sat in on sessions with Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, and Duke Ellington, after settling in by 1926 he had his own quintet, and played for five months at the Black Bottom Club. He formed an eight piece band, playing the Paddock Club, moving next to the Savoy with his now called Harlem Stompers, and setting up there in 1927. This band grew to eleven members, and by the end of the ‘20’s they were gigging at all the major jazz clubs in the city as the Cotton Club, the Roseland, and the Strand Roof. In 1930 they toured with the “Hot Chocolate Revue”. By 1931 the band was on an extended engagement contract at the Savoy, which would last for the next five years. They also did road tours and other dates at clubs such as the Casino de Paris, but it was the Savoy where they would get a name. Chick Webb had himself become quite a star, known for his power drumming and showmanship, he decided to name the band the Chick Webb Orchestra. The lineup at the time included Benny Carter, Louis Jordan, Don Redman, and Mario Bauza. This band was actually feared in the Harlem club circles, as they were known to blow any other band off the stage. There are many stories about the long line of musicians that left the Savoy with their tails dragging in the ground after being ‘cut’ by Chick Webb. Their theme song and the one that is associated with the Chick Webb Orchestra, was “Stomping at the Savoy”. Which is what they did best, flat out swingin’ man! The band was to enjoy a long run at the Savoy then when things couldn’t seem to get better, he replaced his longtime vocalist with a young Ella Fitzgerald in 1935. The band had a string of hits on the Decca label that was capped off by their biggest ever when Ella wrote “A Tisket A Tasket” in 1938. By 1938 Chick’s health started to take its toll but he continued with the band through that year. In June of 1939 he entered John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for a major operation, he never recovered; his mother was at his side when he died. Ella Fitzgerald went on to front the band until 1942. Chick Webb was “The Man” for all the drummers in that era, including rivals Art Blakey and Gene Krupa, and would go on to influence drummers as Buddy Rich, who studied Webb intensely, and Louie Bellson. His spectacular technique and wide dynamic range were never captured properly on any of his recordings, but as legend has it he was something to behold when he held court at the Savoy. https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/chickwebb

The Best of Chick Webb

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Benny Carter - All Of Me

Styles: Saxophone, Clarinet And Trumpet Jazz 
Year: 1991
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:16
Size: 147,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:22)  1. All Of Me
(2:46)  2. Cuddle Up
(3:16)  3. Ev'ry Goodbye Ain't Gone
(3:09)  4. Babalu
(3:20)  5. Midnight
(3:08)  6. My Favorite Blues
(3:10)  7. Lullaby To A Dream
(3:04)  8. What A Difference A Day Made
(2:47)  9. Sunday
(3:05) 10. Ill Wind [alt. take]
(2:56) 11. Back Bay Boogie
(2:51) 12. Tree Of Hope
(2:52) 13. 35th And Calumet
(2:56) 14. The Sheik Of Araby
(2:46) 15. Push Out
(3:22) 16. Confessin'
(3:17) 17. Boulevard Bounce
(3:40) 18. The Lonely Beat
(2:05) 19. The Mugger
(2:28) 20. The Jukebox
(2:46) 21. Phantom Raiders

A strong sampling of Benny Carter's music is heard in this hodgepodge CD reissue. Twelve of the altoist's 16 Bluebird big-band recordings of 1940-41 (including a previously unissued version of "Ill Wind") precede nine titles gathered from a wide variety of sessions with one song apiece taken from dates led by Mezz Mezzrow, Willie Bryant, Ethel Waters, Artie Shaw and Lucky Thompson and four performances reissued from Carter's soundtrack album of his score for the M Squad in 1959. Obviously not a set recommended to completists (the European Classics series is much preferred), the high quality of the music ("All of Me" has a classic Carter arrangement) makes this a worthwhile purchase for more casual collectors. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/all-of-me-mw0000674400

Personnel: Benny Carter (alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet), Ethel Waters (vocals), Bud Freeman, Ben Webster, Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone), Doc Cheatham, Henry "Red" Allen (trumpet), Teddy Wilson (piano), Barney Kessel (guitar), Red Callender, Milt Hinton (bass), Chick Webb (drums).

All Of Me

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Webb & His Orchestra - Swingsation

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:21
Size: 119.9 MB
Styles: Swing, Vocal jazz
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[2:33] 1. Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)
[3:00] 2. Blue Minor
[2:27] 3. When I Get Low I Get High
[3:00] 4. A Little Bit Later On
[2:32] 5. Don't Be That Way
[2:24] 6. Vote For Mr. Rhythm
[2:47] 7. Organ Grinder's Swing
[2:59] 8. Blue Lou
[2:40] 9. Take Another Guess
[4:28] 10. I Want To Be Happy
[2:26] 11. Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie
[2:36] 12. A-Tisket, A-Tasket
[3:13] 13. I'm Just A Jitterbug
[3:14] 14. Harlem Congo
[3:00] 15. Wacky Dust
[3:21] 16. Undecided
[2:56] 17. 'tain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)
[2:37] 18. Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away)

A collection of 18 tracks from Ella Fitzgerald's beginnings as a performer, these songs have her in front of Chick Webb's orchestra. For those discovering the First Lady of Song, this is an excellent place to start. You'll hear the voice of a young Fitzgerald on some of her goofiest jive numbers like "When I Get Low I Get High," "Vote for Mr. Rhythm," "Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie," her immortal signature tune "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and "'Tain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)," among others. To find this is to discover a treasure that should lead you to the Classics label recordings of Ella and her early-period fellas. ~Michael G. Nastos

Swingsation

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Chick Webb - Strictly Jive

Styles: Jazz, Big Band, Swing
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:16
Size: 174,7 MB
Art: Front + Back

(2:53)  1. Down Home Rag
(2:32)  2. Facts and Figures
(2:21)  3. Go Harlem
(2:33)  4. Sing Me a Swing Song
(2:36)  5. Gee, But You're Swell
(3:05)  6. Rusty Hinge
(2:29)  7. Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie
(2:59)  8. That Naughty Waltz
(3:16)  9. Strictly Jive
(3:06) 10. Squeeze Me
(2:34) 11. If Dreams Come True
(3:11) 12. Harlem Congo
(4:18) 13. I Want to Be Happy
(2:29) 14. Midnite in a Madhouse
(3:06) 15. Azure
(3:00) 16. Spinnin' the Webb
(2:44) 17. Liza
(3:05) 18. Macpherson Is Rehearsin' (To Swing)
(2:45) 19. Ella
(2:49) 20. Who Ya Hunchin'
(2:58) 21. 'Tain't What You Do
(2:38) 22. In the Groove at the Grove
(2:45) 23. Lindyhopper's Delight
(2:52) 24. Take It from the Top
(3:12) 25. Jubilee Swing
(2:50) 26. Untitled

Strictly Jive is the Hep label's 25-track salute to Chick Webb, a formidable percussionist who led one of the toughest big bands of the 1930s. Strictly Jive concentrates upon the years 1935-1940, a period of time that represents the second half of the ten-year Webb dynasty. The Chick Webb orchestra was a jazz incubator from which emerged seasoned instrumentalists like Taft Jordan, Sandy Williams, Garvin Bushell, Hilton Jefferson, and Eddie Barefield, as well as future bandleaders John Kirby and Louis Jordan, and renowned composer and arranger Edgar Sampson. Saxophonist Wayman Carver, one of the few flutists in jazz during the 1930s, was a featured soloist with Chick Webb and may be heard piping away in front of the band on Wilbur Sweatman's "Down Home Rag." 

Most people who have heard of Webb associate him with his star vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, a dynamic woman who assumed leadership of the band after 30-year-old Chick Webb succumbed to spinal tuberculosis on June 16, 1939 in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. ~ arwulf arwulf  http://www.allmusic.com/album/strictly-jive-mw0000245698

Personnel: Chick Webb (drums); Louis Jordan (vocals, alto saxophone); Ella Fitzgerald (vocals); Chauncey Houghton, John Trueheart, Bobby Johnson (guitar); Wayman Carver (flute, tenor saxophone); Garvin Bushell (clarinet, alto saxophone); Pete Clarke, Eddie Barefield, Edgar Sampson, Hilton Jefferson (alto saxophone); Elmer "Skippy" Williams, Sam Simmons, Teddy McRae (tenor saxophone); Irving "Mouse" Randolph, Mario Bauzá, Taft Jordan, Dick Vance, Bobby Stark (trumpet); Nat Story, George Mathews, Sandy Williams , Claude Jones (trombone); Tommy Fulford, Don Kirkatrick (piano); Bill Beason (drums).

Strictly Jive

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Chick Webb & His Orchestra - Spinnin' The Webb

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:35
Size: 129.6 MB
Styles: Swing, Big band
Year: 1994
Art: Front

[2:36] 1. Dog Bottom
[3:12] 2. Jungle Mama
[3:06] 3. Heebie Jeebies
[3:06] 4. Blues In My Heart
[2:44] 5. Lona
[3:01] 6. Blue Minor
[2:32] 7. Don't Be That Way
[2:50] 8. What A Shuffle
[2:59] 9. Blue Lou
[2:18] 10. Go Harlem
[2:26] 11. Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie
[2:54] 12. That Naughty Waltz
[2:30] 13. I Got Rhythm
[3:06] 14. Squeeze Me
[3:14] 15. Harlem Congo
[2:29] 16. Midnight In A Madhouse
[3:00] 17. Spinnin' The Webb
[2:37] 18. Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away)
[2:50] 19. Who Ya Hunchin'
[2:54] 20. That Naughty Waltz

Though Chuck Webb is most frequently cited as the bandleader who gave Ella Fitzgerald her start, he was a spectacularly creative drummer as well. He led one of the most energetic bands of the swing era before his death at age 30, in 1939, from spinal tuberculosis. This compilation of Webb's Decca recordings covers his career from its beginnings in 1929 and emphasizes his band's instrumental prowess. Arrangements by the altoists Benny Carter and Edgar Sampson gave the band a style that was advanced for the day, while Webb's brilliant sense of swing cemented the ensemble's popularity with dancers and made him the model for drummers such as Jo Jones and Gene Krupa. The tightly rehearsed band explodes with precision on the leader's feature, "Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie," and the charging "Harlem Congo." ~Stuart Broomer

Spinnin'The Webb