Top 5 Musical Discoveries

I've been thinking about what I've learned from writing my dissertation, and one of the things that sticks out are the recordings I've discovered. It's not that I dug them out of a hole or anything, but they're recordings that I didn't know before. So today, here are some of my favorites.

1. "I'm Coming Virginia," Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer

Benny Goodman did a tribute to several earlier jazz artists on his Carnegie concert, and this was one of them. I read a lot about Bix before I heard the original song, and I thought, "there's no way this can be that good." People talked about falling off their chairs when they heard Bix play, and most of them cite "Virginia" as the best Bix solo. Once I finally got around to listening to the recording, I was floored. It's poignant, melodic, almost vocal, and I can't imagine a better solo. If you like this, you'll like the Bix/Frankie runner-up, "Singin' the Blues."

2. "Body and Soul," Goodman trio (studio recording)

Teddy Wilson hits me right in the heart with this one. His soloing is always lovely, but this one is superb. The studio recording is better than the concert one, though both are good.

3. "Blue Room," Bennie Moten

Goodman performed the Fletcher Henderson arrangement of "Blue Room" at the concert, but I ran across this one when I was searching for information on the original song. It has little to do with the Goodman version except for the main melody, which disappears after the first chorus of the Moten arrangement. If it weren't for the wretched clarinet solo in Moten's version, I'd pick this as one of the best early swing songs. I think this would make a great team dance routine--I'll choreograph, anyone up for some aerials? :)

4. "Swingtime in the Rockies," Carnegie recording

This is far and away the best offering on the Carnegie Hall concert, largely due to Ziggy Elman's spectacular trumpet solo and some re-arrangement from the studio version. Very exciting--too bad it's only two minutes long.

5. "Rock and Rye," Earl Hines

Okay, I didn't really discover this one in the course of my studies. I first heard this one in the Silver Shadows Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown performance (2006 I think? There's another performance here, not quite as good--I can't find the original anymore). I came across some interesting tidbits about Earl Hines during my research, though (lots to do on him--next project, maybe), and it rekindled my interest. It's a bit of an odd song--straight eighths and swing eighth, pick one--and I hate the sax solo at the end, but overall, a very cool song.

You can hear all of these at http://jazz-on-line.com/ .