Minute by minute and track for track, this disc contains an invigoratingly high concentration of
Jack Teagarden's best music. Nearly half of the performances are instrumental and, with the exception of a pretty torch song sung by
Christine Martin and a gruffly cheerful duet with
Wingy Manone, the primary vocalist is
Big Tea. After three marvelous V-Discs, including a six-minute version of "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)," a Commodore session erupts with a smokin' run through "Chinatown, My Chinatown" and a deeply steeped "Big T Blues," introduced by
Jack's sister
Norma Teagarden at the piano. While singing his homespun lyrics to this bluesy slow drag,
Jack introduces
Norma by name, then pays tribute to trumpeter
Max Kaminsky.
Norma proves that she was an exceptionally fine stride pianist as she sets up "Pitchin' a Bit Short" and Detroiter
Bob Zurke's lively theme song, "Hobson Street Blues," which sounds a bit like a Broadway show tune. Back in Chicago on April 11, 1946,
Mr. T's orchestra waxed half a dozen sides for the Teagarden Presents record label.
Bobby Fischer delivers some
Gene Krupa-styled drumming during the quirky "Martian Madness," the band smokes the tar out of "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," and there is a grandiose rendition -- minus
Rudyard Kipling's lyrics -- of "On the Road to Mandalay." On the first day of March 1947,
Teagarden created one of his all-time greatest vocal and trombone ballad testimonials in the form of an intoxicating version of "Body and Soul." This precious live V-Disc recording begins with a spoken introduction by
Bob Bach of Metronome magazine. Nine days later, master percussionist
Davey Tough provided propulsive persuasion for
Jack Teagarden's Big Eight, an ensemble including
Max Kaminsky, clarinetist
Peanuts Hucko, butter-toned tenor saxman
Cliff Strickland, and one of
Eddie Condon's most trusted pianists,
Gene Schroeder. After a couple of expertly rendered blues, a tasty stomp with modern overtones simply called "Jam Session at Victor" sails in like a steam locomotive. As a surprise for dessert, the producers of this series have tacked on a pair of leftover big-band sides dating from November of 1939, issued in 1947 on V-Disc. This provides an example of how
Dave Tough sounded as part of
Teagarden's 16-piece big band. Their two-minute version of
Jelly Roll Morton's "Wolverine Blues" is the perfect coda for this solidly satisfying album of rare and exciting traditional jazz.