Look through old copies of British jazz magazines of the ‘50s, and it quickly becomes apparent that we used to cast envious eyes across the English Channel particularly at Paris, where there always seemed to be a sizeable coterie of ex-pat American jazz and blues musicians. This was not a new phenomenon. Charles Delaunay took advantage of the 1937 International Exhibition in Paris, which brought many American jazz musicians, dance band musicians, singers and dancers to France, to found his Swing label: ‘the first in Europe to record jazz musicians exclusively’ as the detailed notes reveal. Although the politics that riddled the jazz scene for many years quickly became apparent, with Swing’s founders Delaunay and Hugues Panassié at loggerheads over the ‘old versus new’ jazz debate, the tracks on these three CDs present a fine mixture of styles. As much of the label’s material has been reissued before, this set concentrates on the less easily available material; for this reason Django Reinhardt’s contribution to the label is represented by just one title, as Frémeaux has already issued twenty double CDs by the gypsy-jazz guitarist; his brother Joseph does crop up on some other numbers though. Several other pretty impressive French outfits can also be found here (pedant notes – yes, I am aware that Django was born in Belgium. For most readers though, the main focus of interest will be the American performers. The set opens with five excellent solo titles by the much-travelled pianist Teddy Weatherford, and goes on to include numbers by Count Basie band trombonist Dicky Wells, former Luis Russell and Lucky Millinder trumpeter Bill Coleman, violinist Eddie South, the very accomplished Garland Wilson, trumpeter Bobby Martin fronting his American ‘All-Stars’, saxophonist and clarinettist Fletcher Allen and excellent pianist Herman Chittison. Other Americans also turn up in the backing bands – I was pleased to note the presence of drummer Tommy Benford, the former member of Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, whom I saw at a free show in Hanover, Germany in 1977. As a snapshot of the best jazz Europe had to offer in the years immediately prior to World War II, ‘le Label Swing’ does the job very nicely.
Par Norman DARWEN – BLUES & RHYTHM
Par Norman DARWEN – BLUES & RHYTHM
