St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1951-03-30
r ATTN THE
&c O r D s
BY j. Henry Randall
SID CALLETT DEAD

| HtddS ana shoulders above all
others in her field for specialized
interpretations of ballads, tor
chIeS, blues, etc, is Billie Holiday
Lady Day, or better yet, Miss
Brown to You" For that reason,
we have been jumping around
trying to dig up everything she
has done and is doing, in order
that all jazz lovers may know
what is available
In recent columns, we reported
on three of her five LIP ventures
which together offered "a tunes
that are Billie's property by vir-
ture of her flair for making an
otherwise average tune a gem of
rare distinction and thus collec-
tors must.
While these gave an excellent
account of Bilhe's hits in song,
there was not included some of
her greatest interpretations and
song stylings To fill this gap,
Commodore label, possessors of
some of the great stuff in jazz, is
sued two LIPS which not only do
justice to the saga of Billie, but
also round out a collection that
affords much listening pleasure.
The two are labelled billie
Holiday" and are divided into
her greatest interpretations"
and her celebrated song styI-
ings." As usual, an all-star
group of musicians furnish the
backgrOund-this time, not Ted
dy Wilson, but groups under
Eddie plano Man" Haywood
and Frankie Newton.
Both of these discs are "musts. "
Haywood and orchestra which
includes Doc Cheatham, trumpet;
Lem Davis, alto sax; Vic Dicken-
son, tram; John Simmons, bass
and Big Sid Catlett, drums-fur-
nish just the right pace for
Billie's versions of Cover the
Waterfront, IN he Seeing You,
I'll Get BY, How Am 1 To Know,
Embraceable You, My Old Flame,
As Time Goes BY and I'm Yours.
Four others have Haywood,
Simmons and Catlett doing
trio act, while Billie sings. These
sides are She's Funny That Way,
Lover Come Back 10 Me, I Love
My Man and On the Sunny Side Of
the Street
The frankie Newton Cafe So
ciety ork substitutes for the Hey
wood gang on Strange Fruit, Fine
and Mellow, Yesterdays and
Gotta Right 20 Sing the Blues.
The two discs are unbeatable as
composite picture of the Billie
Holiday touch. for they range
NUN lllt DlutSl VI biutSt IIltbuBH
barrelhouse with a reugeish slant
to sentimentals. Others may come
and go. but La Holiday will stick
around (CommOdore).
The Singles
Another artist who, like Billie
Holiday has a way of putting an
extra special flavor to his platter
side is Ivory Joe Hunter, com
poser, pianist and vocalist. Hunter
has a couple of originals, full of
that boogie beat which will evoke
many spinnings. They are the
rugged blues, She's Gone Blues,
and the rhythm novelty, stop
ROckin' that Train CKing) .
Wynonic Harris seems to like
the hillbilly twist to his blues, as
is evidenced in his latest, just
Like Two Drops Of Water. Flip,
in a return to his usual style, is
Tremblin' King Then there
is Bull Moose Jackson. torChing
two ballads Forget and Forgive
and My Little Baby (King).
Instrumentals to pick up on are
Eddie Chamblee's sax tour de
force on Blue Stin and Blues for
Eddie (FederaD Long Gone,
Part l and 2, by Sonny Thomp
son, a re-issucd item which has
caused no little excitement
among disc fans CKtng).
Vaughn Monroe. in typical
fashion, lends his voice to a new
ballad entitled You Are the One
and flips to an assist by the
Moonmaids an A Strawberry
Moon (ViCtor) . A sparkling
frankie earle arrangement is
heard on Around The World, a
new rhythm novelty, with Donald
Maddux on vocal. Mate is the
Joan House Satisfiers vocal on
Where the Red Roses Grow Vic
tori.
Flushed with the success OF
their first Victor coupling,
Steve Gibson and the Original
Red Caps pair two more novelty
originals, both OF which are ex-
ceIIent material. On the one side
Is THREE DOLLARS AND
NINETY EIGHT CENTS, or
the slight matter Of being shy
two cents 10 buy a - pair Of
shoes. Flipwise, the Red Caps
trade questions and answers on
the comic WA EAT YET JOE
(VictOr).
Ballad and blues troubadour
Lonnie Johnson gets off another
of his matchless interpretations
Of the blues on items labelled No
BOdy's Lovin' Me, and Nothing
But Trouble, the latter a Johnson
original (King) -. Annisteen
Allen pairs a Jesse Stone bounce
blues, Lies, Lies, Lies, with her
composition Cloudy Day Blues,