Word: jazzed
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Raymond Scott-brother of Hit Parader Mark Warnow-began his career with a "Quintet" which contained six players, wrote brittle, sophisticated jazz pieces with titles like Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals. In the past year Leader Scott has had a dance band, has toured up & down the land, is proud that he knows how to pronounce names like Manitowoc, Wis. His tour has also taught him how to drive an automobile blind: to take one look at a parking space, back into it without taking another; to memorize a turn the first time, drive it shut-eyed...
Last week, when I mentioned Roscoe McRae at the Savoy, I merely touched on a subject which should have been given thorough treatment long ago, namely jazz in Boston. Not that there's an awful lot of it running around in this town, for it appears that every type of interest in hot music has been discouraged by a Beantown public whose taste for swing is at least negligible and at the utmost hostile. That's their business, of course. If the majority prefers Ruby Newman and Jack Marshard, and tolerates an occasional Count Basie one-nighter, then...
...tunes Bobby plays are the old ones, Muskrat Ramble, At the Jazz Band Bali, Sugar and the like, and if anybody knows how to make those old numbers really kick, it's Hackett. Furthermore, there's Brad Gowans (valve trombone), the one musician Bobby brought with him from New York. It's not the kind of smooth staff which generally achieves public acclaim, but then Tommy Dorsey never played hot. Take your choice. Finally, it's pleasant to learn that the Versailles will have its first Sunday evening jam session tomorrow. Bobby will M.C., and Pee Wee Russell...
...second band is the Jones Brothers, which I wrote about in regard to Roscoe. Besides playing the right kind of jazz, these boys are really top-notch showmen, and their novelty numbers--which incidentally have been featured with Harry James and Duke Ellington--have that element of spontaneity and life which you'll only find in colored entertainment, and which is sadly lacking in the run-of-the-mill Boston floor show. Last week I went overboard for Roscoe's tenor work. I've heard him several times since then and still haven't eaten my words...
NEWS AND NEW RELEASES. Record of the week is a fast blues duet by Ray McKinley (drums and vocal) and Freddie Slack (piano). It's called Southpaw Serenade, and gives the two musicians an opportunity to get out of the Will Bradley rut and really play some jazz. Freddie Slack's boogie-woogie shows the strong influence of Albert Ammons, plus an amazing talent for employing highly original bass figures. Top honors, however, go to McKinley's vocal. For a change he sings authentic blues, with a dirty old rasp in his voice which is pleasant to hear after...