Jazz Oracle was always a classy label. Their reissues, which were produced by Colin J. Bray, John Wilby and the late John R.T. Davies, featured comprehensive yet often obscure recordings from the 1920s and ‘30s. The sound quality and remastering were state-of-the-art, the liner notes were lengthy and authoritative, and the packaging was top-notch. Among the Jazz Oracles that I have reviewed thus far for the Syncopated Times have been ones titled Richmond Rarities, Roger Wolfe Kahn, West Coast Jazz, and Jimmy Lyttle. Among the many other gems in their catalog are four volumes of the complete Original Indiana Five, seven CDs on Ben Pollack, a three-CD set of Sam Wooding, and a remarkable trio of three-CD packages that contain the complete Red Nichols on Brunswick.

Now all 71 Jazz Oracle titles have been acquired by Upbeat which is making all of the releases available. Upbeat was founded in 1989 by Liz Biddle who still runs the large company, Upbeat not only records new trad, New Orleans and swing sessions but has its own extensive program of reissues and previously unreleased material, mostly by British, American and European artists. In addition to Jazz Oracle, Upbeat owns the late Big Bill Bissonette’s Jazz Crusade label and the small Dynamite company plus they make available releases from Lake, Frog, 504 Records, Retrospective, JSP and some other labels. Its large catalog is full of essential releases. Three of the Jazz Oracle releases are covered in this article.
While the classic Red Nichols and his Five Pennies sessions are in the Brunswick series, Nichols was so prolific during the 1920s that there is much more to be heard from the cornetist. The three-CD set The Red Heads, 1925-27 has the recordings that he made for the Actuelle, Perfect and Pathe labels with the Red Heads, plus six early titles for Columbia that were released as being by Lanin’s Red Heads. The Red Heads mostly preceded the Five Pennies (which did not have its first session until Dec. 8, 1926) although it had similar personnel. On this extensive release, which has Nichols, trombonist Miff Mole and drummer Vic Berton first teaming up on the Lanin Red Heads titles from 1925 with pianist Arthur Schutt joining the group on the first Red Heads session in November, one can hear the concept of the Five Pennies being formed.

The close interplay between Nichols and Mole, the trombonist’s often-eccentric solos (which featured him playing impossibly wide intervals that put him ahead of other trombonists of the time), the mixture of arranged and jammed ensembles along with some surprising endings, and the occasional use of whole-tone scales resulted in Red Nichols’ music being in its own category. A variety of clarinetists and saxophonists filled out the core group until the brilliant Jimmy Dorsey (on alto and clarinet) became part of the Red Heads in Sept. 1926. Among the other key musicians who make contributions to these sides are Joe Tarto on tuba, banjoist Dick McDonough, guitarist Eddie Lang, violinist Joe Venuti and, on a classic version of ‘Baltimore,’ trumpeter Wingy Manone. In addition to the Red Heads performances, a similar group is heard on sessions led by Cliff Edwards (‘Ukulele Ike’ who was arguably the first male jazz singer on records) plus three songs featuring vocalist Jay C. Flippen.

Despite expert remastering, the recording quality is a bit rough on the earlier acoustically recorded sides (Actuelle was not known for its quiet surfaces) but both the phrasing (rhythmically awkward on some of the first titles) and the recording quality improved steadily during 1926, The 74 performances (which include 16 alternate takes) have many more hits then misses and add to the underrated but rather impressive musical legacy of Red Nichols.

Several of the Jazz Oracles are various artists collections that include some of the hottest performances from a particular label. When one listens to the 27 selections on Grey Gull Rarities, it is easy to conclude that Grey Gull was one of the top jazz labels of the 1920s. However the company was best known for its novelty records, most of which sound quite dated today. While the Grey Gull House Band often included trumpeter Mike Mosiello and Andy Sannella on reeds and guitar, much of its output is actually of only minimal interest.
However Grey Gull Rarities lives up to its name. Included are mostly hot jazz performances (three numbers from 1924-25 and the remainder from 1927-30) by Leroy Smith’s Dance Orchestra, the International Dance Orchestra, the Original Dixie Rag Pickers, the Universal Dance Orchestra, the Hilltoppers, the Nashville Jazzers, Sam Lanin, Nick Nichols, the Memphis Jazzers, the Big Time Trio, the Levee Syncopators, and the California Ramblers plus six of the best songs (including ‘Wow Wow Blues’) from the Grey Gull House Band. The personnel of many of these groups are not known or are obscure although cornetist Thomas Morris, trombonist Tommy Dorsey, trumpeter Manny Klein, and singer Vaughn DeLeath make appearances. But no matter, this is highly enjoyable if rarely heard music.

In Jan. 1934, trombonist Jack Teagarden, in what he thought was a very good move that would let him ride out the Depression, signed a five-year contract to become a member of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. While Teagarden was featured on an occasional number with Whiteman, he was mostly buried anonymously in the large ensembles as the swing era took off. In December 1936 when the Paul Whiteman band was on vacation, C-melody saxophonist Frank Trumbauer (who had recently left Whiteman) teamed up with Jack Teagarden and his brother trumpeter Charlie Teagarden (also employed by the orchestra) as the Three T’s. They played much of the month at the Hickory House in New York and were featured on three radio broadcasts. While the band initially got surprisingly negative reviews, they improved quickly and were one of the top jazz combos of that month. The three co-leaders were joined by Caspar Reardon (who was succeeded by Adele Girard) on harp, pianist Herman Crone, bassist Min Leibrook and drummer Stan King.

The Three T’s is a single disc that contains the three broadcasts. While the first aircheck is brief, the band gets to stretch out on the other two dates and displays quite a bit of potential. Jack Teagarden takes a few vocals, Charlie Teagarden is heard at his best, and Trumbauer shows his versatility, excelling on both the cooking pieces and semi-classical works including a remarkable Eclipse’. Highlights include a few hot medleys (including one of ‘Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea’ and ‘I Got Rhythm’), an inventive arrangement of ‘’S Wonderful’, and ‘Way Down Yonder In New Orleans’.

Unfortunately Jack Teagarden became seriously ill (soon recovering) later in the month and Whiteman called back both the Teagardens when his orchestra went on the road in early 1937, ending the Three T’s. Trumbauer would soon lead a new if less successful group with the same rhythm section and two other horn players. This valuable Jazz Oracle CD shows what could have been if Jack Teagarden had not signed that contract.