Bob Eberly "The Best Of Bob Eberly With Jimmy Dorsey" (Collector's Choice, 2000)
If the name sounds familiar, it should -- Bob was the brother of Ray Eberle, the featured vocalist in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. (Bob was the one who changed the spelling of his name...) No slouch himself, Eberly tied his star to the Dorsey Brothers band, and when the Dorseys went splitsville, he stuck with Jimmy. Thus, these tracks are are less punchy and swinging than a lot of other big band, but still pretty solid. In some ways Eberly was a bit of a throwback to the '30s crooning of Russ Columbo and Bing Crosby - lugubrious and schmaltzy without trying to swing. This stylistic divide is highlighted on a couple of duets with Helen O'Connell, who was there to spice up the proceedings. Great old cornball stuff, with plenty of standards and a fair share of more obscure tunes as well, recorded between 1936-43, when Eberly enlisted in the war effort.

Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards "Singin' In The Rain" (Audiophile, 1995)
Although he excelled on the Hawaiian ukulele, Cliff Edwards' repertoire tilted towards the standards rather than island-themed material. On these 1943 wartime radio performances, recorded in NYC for Lang-Worth Transcriptions, Edwards is heard in his most unadorned state, just him, his uke and a standup bass. These recordings are less bouncy and more matter-of-fact than most of his studio recordings, but it's also nice to hear him in such a stripped-down setting, without an orchestra to drown him out. These recordings may be too sparse-sounding for some, but they still reveal a master entertainer, performing in a relaxed, easygoing setting. Brings a lot of these old songs home in a unique fashion.

Cliff Edwards "Ukulele Ike" (Sony Special Products, 1996)
A brief, ten-song sampler. Great music, but not a lot of it.

Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards "The Vintage Recordings Of Cliff Edwards" (Take Two, 1996)

Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards "Singin' In The Rain" (ASV-Living Era, 1999)

Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards "Ukulele Ike Sings Again" (Disneyland, 1959)
Recorded with the Wonderland Jazz Band, a Dixieland crew who were presumably in the employ of the Disney folks...

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1924-1927" (Classics, 1990)
There are about twenty trazillion Duke Ellington albums out there -- best-of collections, concept albums, themed retrospectives, etc. Personally, I prefer this nifty (and perennially out-of-print) specialty collector's series, which plows through the Ellington ouvre chronologically, month by month, year by year... You can really hear the ebb and flow of Ellington the auteur, and of his various bands, and get a sense of how he worked through different phases and on different ideas, and how the ever-shifting lineups of his change bands changed his sound. I've only heard a few of the titles, but I like 'em. So here are all the rest of the records in the series... Have fun tracking them down!

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1927-1928" (Classics, 1990)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1928" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1928-1929" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1929" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1929-1930" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1930" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1930, v.2" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1930-1931" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1931-1932" (Classics, 1991)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1932-1933" (Classics, 1991)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1933" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1933-1935" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1933-1938" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1935-1936" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1936-1937" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1937" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1937, v.2" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1938" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1938, v.2" (Classics, 1993) `

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1938, v.3" (Classics, 1993) `

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1938-1939" (Classics, 1994)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1939" (Classics, 1994)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1939, v.2" (Classics, 1994)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1939-1940" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1940" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1940, v.2" (Classics, 1995) `

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1940-1941" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1941" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1942-1944" (Classics, 1996)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1944-1945" (Classics, 1996)
Covers December '44 through April, 1945. Overall, this one's a little too slam-bang for me, one of those times when a major big band transmuted its collective power into big, brash, muscular blues arrangements as an alternative to the squonky pyrotechnics of the bebop crowd. It's top-flight musicianship, but it's too darn forceful. There's some swank stuff as well, of course, including four tracks from the 'Brown, Black & Beige' series, and a few vocal tunes (featuring Al Hibbler, Kay Davis and newcomer Joya Sherrill) but also an overabundance of Basie-esque blues walks.

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1945" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1945, v.2" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1945-1946" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1946" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1946-1947" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1947" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1947-1948" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1949-1950" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1950" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1950-1951" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1951" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1952" (Classics, 2002)
Semi-late vintage Ellington, with a hefty chunk of the disc taken up by a big concert... The sound quality of the live show is pretty nice, although I have to say, in my philistine-like way, I found a lot of the performances to be elegant, but monotonous. A good snapshot of Ellington's early-'Fifties lineup, and some nice audio of Duke working the crowd, introducing the soloists and arrangers and whatnot. But it's all very safe and very businesslike and by-the-numbers...

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1952, v.2" (Classics)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1952-1953" (Classics)
The first nine tracks are "The Seattle Concert," rounded off with a couple of tracs featuring Betty Roche -- "I Love My Lovin' Lover" and "Take The A-Train," along with a vocal number by Jimmy Grisson, on "Come On Home."

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1953" (Classics, 2005)

Duke Ellington "The Chronological Duke Ellington: 1953, v.2" (Classics, 2007)

Duke Ellington "Ellington Uptown" (Columbia Legacy, 2004)
These 1951-52 recordings capture Ellington and co-arranger Billy Strayhorn in a period of deepening exploration of composition and tone, bringing an acrobatic, deft modernism to bear on older songs such as "Perdido," "The Mooche" and "Take The 'A' Train," as well as several newer, more challenging tunes, such as "A Tone Parallel To Harlem," "The Controversial Suite," and the six part "Liberian Suite." The music is dense and cerebral, sophisticated and swank, yet playful and lively -- less lofty than, say, Stan Kenton's work of the same era, but no less mathematical and complex... There's still an earthiness to this material, in which the melodic drive is never lost, although for the casual listener, this may be a bit daunting and at times shrill... But it certainly captures the insistent, searching intellect that drove Ellington's creativity, propelling him to forge along new paths rather than simply resting on his laurels.

Duke Ellington "Jazz Violin Session" (Atlantic, 1963/1977)
With Svend Asmussen & Stephane Grappelli and Ray Nance...

Ruth Etting "Ten Cents A Dance" (ASV, 1994)
Ruth Etting "America's Sweetheart Of Song" (ASV, 2001)
Ya gotta love Ruth Etting. Possibly the greatest torch singer of the 1920s, and certainly one of the biggest stars in American show biz during the pre-Depression "Jazz Age," Etting combined a lightness of touch with a heaviness of heart, half-chirping, half-crooning her way through morose, bluesy, romance tunes, along with simple, elegant accompaniment from the likes of pianist Rube Bloom, the Dorsey Brothers, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, and a host of other top-flight players. The snobbier end of the jazz intelligensia sometimes downplays Etting's skills as an interpretive vocalist, but I find her moving and effective, and on a tune like "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)," she proves herself quite an evocative and erotic singer, surprisingly so, given the era she was recording in. That song should be all it takes to get yourself onto her wavelength: after that, go on to listen to the rest of her catalog, and you'll find it rich and rewarding... I've been a fan of Etting's work for many, many years, having glommed onto the old Columbia LP that used to be the standard collection of her work... These two fine CDs gather all that material and then some... A real treasure trove for the retro-riffically minded among us... Highly recommended!

Ruth Etting "Love Me Or Leave Me" (Flapper, 1996)

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