Winners and Losers

Here's Georgie Auld at a session in Los Angeles in 1958, a few years before the ones offered here. He was the senior member of the group even then – a veteran of the swing era messing around with the jazz kids of a new era. Those kids are Don Fagerquist, left, and Arno Marsh. Photo from the Arno Marsh collection

OK, back to business. Here are two gems, one I've had for many years, the other I've only just acquired. A yard sale find, as so many of my favorite items are. And because these are a matched pair – little did I know the LP I've had for so long had a counterpart – I've decided to put them up as a two-fer.

Tenor sax player Georgie Auld was something of a superstar in his day. As the hot tenor man in the Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman orchestras, Auld could write his own ticket. And he could really blow. 

Georgie Auld blowing with Artie
Shaw circa 1939.

Born in Canada in 1919, he moved to the USA in his first decade and took up alto in his teen years. After hearing Coleman Hawkins, he switched to tenor and developed a big, boxy sound reminiscent of the Hawk's. With Goodman he became a real star, playing in various versions of the leader's sextet. If you've checked out Gems before, you know that down the list of posts there's an offering of airchecks by BG that feature Georgie. Highly recommended if you haven't sampled it already.

In the mid-'50s, Auld made money recording yackety-sax stuff on rock 'n' roll records. But by the early '60s, he was back on the jazz track. These two records both come from 1963 and are excellent examples of Auld's mature style in a small-group setting with fine younger players.

While Georgie Auld falls somewhere in between Coleman Hawkins and Dexter Gordon stylistically, to my mind he doesn't get much credit for having evolved with the music. The guy who started out playing Bix's "Davenport Blues" with Bunny Berigan is the same guy who evokes Sonny Rollins here with "For Losers and Boozers." If you've never really heard him – or only heard him in a big band setting – these sides should be a revelation.

As always, the tunes were ripped from the original vinyl with only a very minor cleaning of occasional pops and clicks.

Georgie Auld Plays the Winners

Auld, ts; Frank Rosolino, tbn; Lou Levy, p; Leroy Vinnegar, b; Mel Lewis, d.

Hollywood, CA; April 2, 1963; Philips PHM 200-096

1. It's a Good Day

2. You're Faded (Auld)

3. Taking a Chance on LOve

4. I'm Shooting High

5. Seven Come Eleven

6. You Are My Lucky Star

7. Taps Miller

8. What's New

9. Out of Nowhere

10. I Found a Million Dollar Baby

Georgie Auld Here's to the Losers

Auld, ts; Frank Larry Bunker, vbs; Johnny Gray, g; Leroy Vinnegar, b; Mel Lewis, d.

Hollywood, CA; July 1963; Philips PHM 600-116

1. Here's to the Losers

2. In the Wee Small Hours

3. That Old Feeling

4. Everything Happens to Me

5. Drinking Again

6. Blue and Sentimental

7. Learnin' the Blues

8. For Losers and Boozers (Auld-Vinnegar)

9. One for My Baby

Find "Winners" here: http://www.mediafire.com/?affu4mye60g0o45

Find "Losers" here: http://www.mediafire.com/?40jg4zf8pej5gm8

Jukebox Jazz: Tenors

The year is 1953, it's July and it's hot in New York City. Especially in your third-floor walk-up aprtment in a Harlem brownstone at 129th and Fifth Avenue. Too hot to even hang out on the stoop. So you stroll four blocks down to 125 and slide into the Lenox Lounge around the corner. They've got air-conditioning, cold beer and, best of all, a hot jukebox. The sides aren't the latest, and they're a little worse for wear – especially the hits – but each one jumps more than the last. You drop a nickle in the slot, punch up A-12, and straddle a stool at the bar as the opening chords to "Robbin's Nest" fill the room. That feels better!

I've been collecting 78 rpm records since about 1970, and sometimes I like to think of them in context. Like the scenario above. Perhaps one or two of these sides actually was in a jukebox in a joint in Harlem, or on South Central, or Cottage Groove and Indiana. So, since the warm months are coming up, I thought it might be nice to assemble a set of lounge-type sides for your summer listening. Each tune features a tenor player – though not always as the leader. They all come from the decade 1944 to 1953, so they mostly qualify as bop-inflected jump blues, precursors to rock 'n' roll. There are some stellar moments, like Lucky Thompson's accompaniment to Lips Page's vocalizing and Georgie Auld's soprano work on "Heaven." And then there's 26-year-old Billy Taylor comping with an organ player while John Hardee takes a chorus – unusual to say the least!

Some of these recordings are available elsewhere, but most are not. You can find the McVeas and Jacquets if you look, but the Ben Webster sides (actually a Tony Scott date) are real rarities (they feature Sarah Vaughan and Dizzy Gillespie). So you may decide this jukebox set is worth your downloading efforts. When the temperature hits 90 degrees, they may be just hot enough to cool things down.

As always, these tunes have been ripped from the original discs with only a bit of sound cleaning. Be forewarned that there is some surface noise.

(Personnel, dates and labels are included with the download.)

Illinois Jacquet
1. Robbin’s Nest
2. Jacquet’s Mood
3. Blow, Illinois, Blow
4. Illinois Blows the
5. Jacquet Bounce
6. Jumpin’ at Apollo
7. Jacquet in the Box
8. Jacquet and Coat

Georgie Auld
9. Airmail Special
10. Here Comes Heaven Again

Lucky Thompson
11. The Lady in Bed
12. It Ain’t Like That
13. Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You?

Ben Webster
14. All Too Soon
15. Ten Lessons with Timothy

John Hardee
16. Take the A Train
17. The Bug

Eddie Lockjaw Davis
18. Chihuahua
19. I Only Have Eyes for You

Jack McVea
20. Don’t Blame Me
21. O-kay for Baby
22. Play It Over
23. My Business Is C.O.D.

Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/bw5humdjklh9en5/Jazz_Jukebox_Tenors.rar

Jack McVea and his jumping band, including drummer Rabon Tarrant (next to Jack who is opening the bus door), about to embark on a tour to promote their Black & White hit, "Open the Door Richard." Photo from "Harlem of the West: Fillmore Jazz Era"