No Hype
Michael D. Robbins | San Antonio, Texas United States | 02/16/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Collector's Choice Music has reissued a great three-LP box set from the 1960s in complete form on two CDs. The album title is not hyperbole. Jack Teagarden really was the King of the Blues Trombone. His impact on jazz trombone in the late 1920s was comparable to Louis Armstrong's impact on trumpet, Coleman Hawkins's impact on tenor sax, and Earl Hines's impact on piano. Teagarden was also a wonderful jazz singer.These sides cover the period from 1928 until 1940. Big Tea is heard with Ben Pollack's orchestra (recording under its own name and under several pseudonyms), with a variety of studio bands, with Benny Goodman at the very beginning of his bandleading career, with Frank Trumbauer (using mostly musicians from the mid-1930s Paul Whiteman band), with his own big band, and with Bud Freeman's Famous Chicagoans. Every track is worth hearing. Teagarden could turn poor material, such as "I Ain't Lazy, I'm Just Dreaming" and "The Mayor of Alabam," into good music. He sang two duets with Fats Waller, "That's What I Like About You" and "You Rascal You," which are hilarious, the epitome of good-humored jazz singing. When provided with good material to play and sing, he produced absolute classics, such as "Bugle Call Rag," "Dirty Dog," "Texas Tea Party," "A Hundred Years From Today," "Stars Fell On Alabama," "I Gotta Right To Sing the Blues," and "Beale Street Blues."This set consists of recordings made only for Columbia and associated labels. Like some single-label reissues of Duke Ellington material from the same period, it doesn't tell the complete story, but it is still essential."
Most Folks Never Knew Jack...They Missed Out
C. Rothberg | 08/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Armstrong got all the press.
Jack was the quiet one on the band stand.
Like Keely Smith was upstaged by Prima,...
Jack was upstaged by many folks.
The fact is that Keely could really sing, and Tea
could really play. Really Play, from his heart!
It is too bad that his name is lost in time.
One minute of listening to T is an hour of pure pleasure.
I wish I could have had the pleasure of meeting him in person; for in that moment I would have been in the company of pure genius.....with or without his horn.
"
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1