Youtube Jazz Links
On this page you will find links for recommended listening at Youtube. There will be a new link from time to time. Don't forget that you can see the band's own videos on the VIDEOS page. And, there is a new Youtube Ragtime page here, dedicated solely to ragtime.
Documentary on New Orleans Jazz (part 2)
Starts with Ken Colyer and shows the influences. Narrated by George Melly.
Documentary on New Orleans Jazz (part 1)
Starts with Freddy Keppard (cornet player) and continues with many other artists. Essential listening/viewing.
Valaida Snow: "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me"
This is a fine example of Valaida's pre-war singing and trumpet playing. She seems to be inspired by Herman Autrey, the great trumpet player who recorded so often with singer/pianist Fats Waller. Indeed, her singing is often reminiscent of Fats Waller, and that is no bad thing. Valaida was a true hero among musicians: she worked hard, learning to play many instruments while touring with the family road show. Her later career included much trajedy. She developed a morphine addiction while in Denmark, and then she was captured by the nazis in Norway during the second world war, and was temporarily placed in a concentration camp. She was lucky enough to be released on a prisoner exchange, but she was traumatized and never recovered her career.
Mildred Bailey: "Georgia On My Mind" 1941
This sublime interpretation by Mildred Bailey and The Delta Rhythm Boys gives us a rare chance to hear the verse (as well as the chorus) of Hoagy Carmichael's masterpeice Georgia On My Mind. Some other interesting interpretations include Hoagy himself (with Bix Beiderbecke) Django Reinhardt (with Stephane Grapelli) Red McKenzie (with Coleman Hawkins and Muggsy Spanier). They can be found easily on Youtube.
Louis Armstrong: "West End Blues" (2 versions & a Jelly Roll version)
Composed by King Oliver, and played together and separately by Louis Armstrong and Oliver, this tune soon became a war horse of Louis Armstrong's repertoire, and is now mainly associated with him. It seems that he added the famous solo introduction plus the final chorus with four bars of "top C" and a cadenza. Louis' versions of West End Blues may have had more impact on jazz lovers than anything else in jazz history, so if we had to pick ten tunes to represent all the jazz in the world, this would be one of them. Here we have three versions of West End Blues (1) Louis' brilliant and inspired version from 1928 with his "Hot Five", which was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame (2) Louis' sublime and mature "live" version from 1955 with the "All Stars" and (3) Jelly Roll Morton's intriguing version from 1939. Choose which version you like best.
Louis' life story is one of the happiest in jazz history. Despite being born in a slum in New Orleans, and not even knowing his father, his luck, energy, patience and talent helped him have a long and successful career. Though he was a great musician and showman, he always displayed tremendous humility. He was even chosen to be a cultural ambassador for The United States. It is said that he was a one-man cultural revolution for America.
The Jubilee Jazz Band performed and recorded West End Blues as a tribute to Louis Armstrong in its January 2010 concert at the Casa de Cultura in Alcoy, Spain. See Videos. In March 2012 it recorded West End Blues and eleven other tunes on another concert at the same venue. This time a special team recorded the concert and an album has been produced on CD. See recordings.
Louis' life story is one of the happiest in jazz history. Despite being born in a slum in New Orleans, and not even knowing his father, his luck, energy, patience and talent helped him have a long and successful career. Though he was a great musician and showman, he always displayed tremendous humility. He was even chosen to be a cultural ambassador for The United States. It is said that he was a one-man cultural revolution for America.
The Jubilee Jazz Band performed and recorded West End Blues as a tribute to Louis Armstrong in its January 2010 concert at the Casa de Cultura in Alcoy, Spain. See Videos. In March 2012 it recorded West End Blues and eleven other tunes on another concert at the same venue. This time a special team recorded the concert and an album has been produced on CD. See recordings.
Duke Ellington: "Swampy River" 1928
Edward
Kennedy "Duke Ellington was born in Washington D.C. in 1899, and had a
long career as a jazz musician/leader/composer. His first influences were the ragtime pianists, but he soon established himself as a leader of
jazz ensembles. Later, and bit by bit, Ellington transformed jazz music
into a highly sophisticated and profound art form. For this, perhaps we
can say that Ellington is the most respected musician in all the history
of jazz. He had an excellent manner of choosing musicians, inspiring
them and avoiding conflicts. The result was the most stable, potent and
interesting jazz orchestra possible, an orchestra which was fundamental
in the development of the style/movement called "swing". But not all the
Ellington recordings are of his orchestra. Recorded in New York 1928,
this interpretation of Swampy River is a swell example of Ellington going it alone on the piano. And it's great to hear (for a change) his vintage style, a style which has more than a touch of ragtime.
Bessie Smith: "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out"
Bessie Smith was born in
Chattanooga in 1894. She was an original blues artist. This song is one
of the few which she recorded with the benefit of electricity, and the
superior quality is notable, although it is still a primitive recording.
As we can hear, Bessie has an enormous voice here, but we can only
imagine how much more voice she had in reality. Bessie's music reflects
the trajedy of her life and times, more in its sound than in the exact
lyrics. She was extremely brave despite being a frequent victim of
chauvanism and rascism.
Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke: "Singing The Blues"
Here is the first of the Youtube videos links offered to fans as a thank you for visiting the site. Leon Bix Biederbecke was born in Davenport in 1903. He has always been loved by musicians and jazz fans. He was a good friend of Hoagy Carmichael and worked a lot for Paul Whiteman. His very special cornet sound has been an inspiration for generations of musicians. Note that he often played the Conn Victor cornet, and (largely) because of him this has become a legendary and much sought-after instrument. The recording starts with Frankie Trambauer playing his c-melody saxophone. The guitarist is the incredible Eddie Lang. Though his real friends, such as Hoagy Carmichael and Paul Whiteman tried to save him, many times, Bix was always the toast-of-the-town and easily led astray, so he died of alcoholic poisoning aged 28.