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Great intro to the Red Nichols style of easy swing

Neil Ford | Sydney, Australia | 10/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All white jazz bands and musicians of the 1920s dwell under the shadow of Bix and the cult following that rose after him, which is good in that his virtuosity demonstrates that jazz is not colour-bound, but not so good in that a number of other, perhaps equally talented musicians are dismissed.



The case here is a good example: Red Nichols and his partner in crime, Miff Mole, produced a series of great recordings under various group names including Charleston Chasers, which was a studio group with a line-up that varied over the years, the Five Pennies, Miff Mole & his Little Molers, et al., from the mid 1920s to the early 1930s. Nichols has occasionally been dismissed as a imitator of Biederbecke, but his playing is never deficient in skill and sensitivity, and of course in this period the influence of Bix upon white jazz musicians was universal. Besides, all this is away from the point: the great quality of the Nichols/Mole recordings is the ensemble playing.



Nichols was a catalyst who united a number of names who would gain fame in later years (Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Pee Wee Russell, Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden), as well as a number of lesser-known luminaries (Phil Napoleon, Arthur Schutt, Frank Signorelli, and the excellent Fud Livingston), to produce a unique casual and confident style of playing that was described at the time as "chamber jazz", and which we might in hindsight describe as a precursor of "cool".



Surprisingly little of Nichols/Mole's output has been collected onto CD, although some nice surprises may turn up on compilations of various artists. Of the 3 collections I have heard (out of 5 I know of) this is easily the best. The material ranges from 1927 to 1931, and is almost perfectly brilliant (the exceptions being the two "Brown" songs). The first half is instrumental, all performed with casual brilliance, perhaps a perfect accompaniment to a cool drink on a hot summer day. Listen to the modal twists in "Imagination", and try to imagine any other group of the time addressing these complexities with such gentle care, such flippant ease!



In the second half of this collection are a number of vocal numbers, this trend coinciding with commercial requirements in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash and consequent depression. (The crash also meant that Nichols stopped recording with the Chasers in order to concentrate on his own group, the Five Pennies.) The pleasant surprise here is singer Eva Taylor, who is not a jazz singer in the contemporary sense, but who has a relaxed, intimate style that sounds very modern (a result of the same breakthough in microphone technology that allowed Bing Crosby to develop his up-close-and-personal vocal identity). She addresses some standards that are perhaps better known as Louis Armstrong instrumentals, e.g. "Ain't misbehavin'", "You're lucky to me". The final two songs (also Armstrong standards) are sung by Jack Teagarden in his usual warm and vibrant way, and the arrangements and playing maintain their high standard.



I should reserve some praise for ASV Living Era, and audio restorer Martin Haskell, who have produced a great transfer, clean-sounding and without notable artifacts or harshness, and with no annoying artificial stereo effect imposed for allegedly "commercial" reasons.



(Don't confuse this record with the contemporary group of the same name, whose records include Pleasure Mad & Steamin' South.)"