St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1950-01-13
RATING THE
R Z c O r D s
BY j. Henry Randall
Teeing of with Enroll Gamer


eyes of jass lovers if the
calibre of his pianistic artistry
keeps pushing ahead.
Garner has ideas and is still
trying" to get them across. His
popularity in personal appearances
via records and radio attest to the
fact that he is doing a great job,
but he's still not satisfied.
His newest sides on Atlantic re-
fleet this trying" Backed by his
usual rhythm accompaniment
drummer and bassist-Errol does
Ravers Pavanne, the Hoagy Car
michael-Johnny Mercer, Skylark,
1 Can't GIVE You Anything But
Love, and Blue and Sentimental
What Garner does to the Revel
opus is beauty to hear. A slow
bouncey vehicle, it sports the left
hand treatment that is so original
with Garner, accented beautifully
by the twisting and twirling of the
right hand on the melody is a laz-
lily, and seemingly effortless fash
ion, Mate is Blue" the tune which
Count Basic shared in writing and
which the levee-blues impressario
popularized in the late '30's.
Keeping the melody throughout,
Garner slows down the familiar
pace and blue-tones his pianistic
meanderings to make crystal clear
his ideas.
Gamin-like, Garner toys with
"Skylark" as a fragile and prec-
ious jewel, mixing in adroitly an
"out-of-this-world touch. That
left hand heavily scores a la guitar
Throughout the refreshingly cool
up-tempo'd treatment of the
rats Waller opus, Love"
Stop. and Listen
The gals have a way of their
own with Joy and bop. Take a spin
with Betti Mays and Her Swing
tet on Regal doing Slow Rock and
you'll get what l mean. A fine
rock with good best, the item
bears faint traces of the rugged
ness of the Joe Liggins' honey
dripper" style. Betti concocted a
novelty bop tour for the mate
which is UNDERSTANDABLE labelled,
Mays Haze. The heavily-bodied
rhythm is there, plus a rather nice
bop vocal by Betti, vying with a
tenor sax. Then, there's the Paul
Gayten Ork, remember him. do
ing a hopping instrumental on
Cooks Tour, Regal label. Paired is
the south-of-the-border rhythm'd
You Shouldn't, with Gayten on
vocal. Also stepping across the
boarder is Joe Morris crew on
Atlantic for the Johnny Griffin
opus, Tia Juana, with Griffin fea-
tured on the tenor. Flip is the
Morris-Griffin JaX BOOgie, with a
torrid sax leading the pack and a
wicked piano chording the high
lights. Nice rolling.
Love the latest Ruth Browns
waxing of Love, Love, Love"
Love Me Baby on Atlantic. With
out question, it's the best thing
she has done. She drops all traces
OF the Miss Cornshucks' styling
and energies with a really good
and original performance. The
Budd Johnson ork plays just a
brief intro before she comes in,
and then drops off to provide
going away" accompaniment.
The mate Happiness Is a Thing
Called Joe, is a bit overdone, and
portions of the lyrics are swallow
ed up in that "quaver" in her voice
Tommy Ridgley shouts two of
his own compositions on Imperial
label, in good fashion. Ones
hand-clapping boogie rock, Early
Dawn BOOgie; and the mate is the
slow-tempo'd Shrewsbury Blues.
On Atlantic, Barrel House Sammy
the country boy" Plucks so much
guitar that he browns himself out
on the vocals Of Kill II Kid and
Broke Down Engine Blues.
Tiny Grimes Quintet pair Rock
The House a Grimes original, with
See See Rider, an oldie, for their
latest on Atlantic. Rock" made
up of several well-known riffs, is
a powerhoused vehicle wrapped
about the pluckings of the guitar.
The ensemble gets away on a
chant of rock the house" While
the Instrumentation is guilty on
the mate, the Red Prysock vocal
just doesn't fit the tune. Annie
Laurie, who is best when singing
blues, excellently handles Baby