this quartet has provided extremely good CHARLIE SHAVERS on which the Kirby band shared the spot- samples of these two extremes of the Flow Gently, Sweet Rhythm. light with while the late spectrum with Hyman demonstrating an Pastel Blue; Rose Room; Flow Gently, Sweet Canada Lee read aptly atmospheric intro- awesome pianistic catholicity. The group Rhythm; Molly Malone; If I Had a Ribbon ductions. With Aaron Bell playing bass in also plays appropriate introductory matter Bow; Windy. Kirby's stead and Jack Walker, a New York for the explicit and illuminating commen- Charlie Shavers, trumpet; , disk jockey, standing in ably for Lee, much tary written by George T. Simon. Un- alto saxophone; Buster Bailey, ; Billy of the spirit of those old programs is caught. fortunately, the reading of this commentary For the most part, the Kyle, piano; Aaron Bell, bass; Specs Powell, quondam Kirbyites by Wally Cox is completely out of key with drums; Maxine Sullivan, vocals. manage to regain the bright, tight bouyancy the rest of the disk. He appears to have that characterized the band even though PERIOD SPL 1113. Io -in. 21 min. $3.98. little understanding of what he is reading Buster Bailey may not be quite as and his Peepers -style delivery has no rela- Leonard Feather's happy notion of bringing fluid as he once was and Charlie Shavers tionship to Simon's straightforward writing. together the members of the late John may have trouble eliminating the sophisti- Despite this, it's still a good capsule ex- Kirby's delightful little band comes off ex- cation that has come into his work in the planation of the overall picture of jazz, tremely well. The format is that once used past fifteen years. It's asking a lot to expect spiced with interesting musical illustrations. by the radio show, Flow Gently, Sweet Rhythm, a group of men to recapture overnight the

Military Manpower Beefs Up The Third Miller Memorial Set

SEQUELS, by their nature, are apt like Mission to Moscow. For this Good- to play instead of droning languidly in to result in the watering down of what man specialty, Miller can offer Mel the background. had once been an interesting idea. In Powell repeating his original role and The recording, on the whole, is quite this sense, the second of the mammoth Peanuts Hucko doing a creditable fill -in good - much better than the almost Glenn Miller Memorial sets, issued a for Goodman. And while, by normal one -dimensional sound that afflicted year ago, ran true to form. But the new Miller standards, this is a swinging per- much of Miller's civilian disk output volume, the third in the series, is grossly formance, it hasn't the sheen, the ease and at times almost approaching unorthodox. It is easily the best, both or the smoothness of the Goodman ver- present-day standards. musically and aurally. sion. JOHN S. WILSON These performances are taken from broadcasts and rehearsals of Miller's Air GLENN MILLER Corps Band while it was stationed in Army Air Corps Band the United States. Miller never had a Over There; A Lovely Way to Spend an band like this at his command as a Evening; The G.I. Jive; Flow Gently, civilian. His civilian band had group Sweet Afton; Moondreams; Don't Be competence but it was noted for That Way; Blue Champagne; Holiday its individual soloists ( the amount of for Strings; Peggy, the Pin -Up Girl; time given to Tex Benecke's quite ordin- Going My Way; I Dream of Jeanie; I ary saxophoning is a reasonable gauge Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night; of the band's lack of solo talent). Alexander's Ragtime Band; Blue Rain: The Air Corps Band, on the other I've Got a Heart Filled with Love; Anvil hand, was studded with excellent jazz- Chorus; There Are Yanks; Star Dust; men. Mel Powell was the pianist. Ray Song of the Volga Boatman; How Sweet McKinley was the drummer and rhythm You Are; Pearls on Velvet; There'll Be vocalist. Peanuts Hucko gave the band a Hot Time in the Town of Berlin: a clarinet voice that Miller lacked in his What Do You Do in the Infantry: pre -war days, and Bernie Privin's trum- Farewell Blues; Sun Valley Jump; In the pet had more jazz bite than his civilian Gloaming; For the First Time; Stompin' predecessors. at the Savoy; Deep Purple; Stormy One of the great assets of this album Weather; Mission to Moscow; My Ideal: - one that is continued and developed Tuxedo Junction; In an Eighteenth Cen- throughout the set - is the alto saxo- tury Drawing Room; I Hear You phone work of Hank Freeman, a one- Screamin'; I'll Be Around; Poinciana: time Artie Shaw sideman. For the most Glenn Miller Flyin' Home; Long Ago and Far Away; part he plays in a driving, gutty style, It Must Be Jelly; Goin' Home; Good- varying it occasionally by switching to a Taking Miller on his own terms, night Wherever You Are; I Can't Give light, lyric vein (Blues in My Heart) however, this is a very rewarding band, You Anything But Love; Wang Wang and turning to the clarinet in the lower a vast improvement over the one he Blues; Here We Go Again; Jeep Jockey register (The Way You Look Tonight). gave up when he entered service. Its Jump; Blues in My Heart; Juke Box The playing of Freeman, a relatively ballad style is more varied (Johnny Saturday Night; People Will Say We're unheralded musician, is certainly the Desmond, at this period, was a excellent in Love; St. Louis Blues March; Time revelation of this volume and, as much popular singer) and there is a sparing Alone Will Tell; Victory Polka; Air as anyone, he is the star performer use of the overly familiar clarinet lead Corps Song; Suddenly It's Spring; I on it. technique. Even when it is used, it is Love You; Long, Long Ago; The Music This band swings as Miller's civilian given a new texture by the string sec- Stopped; The Dipsy Doodle; Wabash band never did. Part of this can be tion which Miller was able to use with Blues; Everybody Loves My Baby; En- credited to a superior rhythm section, this band. In general, the writing for listed Men's Mess; Absent Minded; My part to a greater jazz feeling among the these strings is much more imaginative Blue Heaven; I Got Sixpence; Begin sidemen and part to arrangements that than that usually encountered in either the Beguine; Blue Is the Night; In the are not as stodgy or formula -bound as dance bands or jazz groups. They are Mood; Oh, What a Beautiful Morning; were Miller's civilian numbers. Even often used to achieve a subtlety that Tail -End Charlie; Speak Lou,; London- with all this, however, there is a notable would have been impossible with derry Air; Shoo -Shoo Baby; The Way lifference between this band and such Miller's former, stringless instrumenta- You Look Tonight; Blue Danube; Pistol superior swinging ensemble as Benny tion (as in I Dream of Jeanie) and, Packin' Mama. Goodman's, particularly when Miller's particularly in Ralph Wilkinson's writ- RCA VICTOR LPT 6702. Five 12-in. Air Corps group undertakes something ing, they are given valid, accenting roles 201 min. $24.95.

DECEMBER 1955 95

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