McVea, Jack - Rarely Was Honkin’ Sax So Much Fun 4 x CDs (due to weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed) (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
23-JSP 77159
“In the late 1940s and early 1950s the rowdy roar of honkin' sax seduced the young and the plugged-in. Few honked better than Jack McVea. Jack spent several productive years in a number of bands before branching out with one of his own.
He created a unit that stood alongside those led by Louis Jordan, Roy Milton and Johnny Otis. Their repertoire combined jazz classics with what became known as Rhythm & Blues, often with a humor of which Louis Jordan himself would have been proud. As with most of his sides, his showstopper, Open The Door Richard is as much fun now as it was on the day it was cut - a reminder of an era when joy was more truly unconfined. Also featured are vocalist/drummers George Vann and Alton Redd who knew how to jump and were happy to show it.”
“Jack McVea was a huge fan of Lester Young and there is certainly more than just a touch here of that. Most of the tunes as explained in the brief but comprehensive liner notes by Neil Slaven, included here, are head arrangements which explains the sheer number of titles that he was able to cut with his various bands between 1944 and 1947, the interval represented in this set.
The music (i.e. small band jazz) was changing very quickly by the end of the 2nd world war, and California was the place to be to hear the emergence of what was then referred to as Rhythm and Blues. You can hear from this set how much the music of Count Basie, Louis Jordan, Johnny Otis, and Lionel Hampton was influencing the popular music scene of the day.
There are some really fine musicians on these sessions, notably Betty Roche, Buster Bailey, Rabon Tarrant, Gene Phillips, Marshall Royal, Jewell Grant, Lee Young (Lester's drumming brother), Melba Liston, Lloyd Glenn, and Irving Ashby, and Bumps Myers, Paul Howard, Red Callendar, Addison Farmer, and Teddy Bunn.
A whole lot of terrific music here for a really decent price. And if you search for it elsewhere, you've got a lot of work to do and you'll spend a pile doing it. Mastering is pretty decent considering it was prior to the dawn of high fi.” - Curtiss Clarke