These bright Dixie-to-swing sessions were initially issued on the Stomp Off label, with two additional, previously unissued sessions tacked on.
Jones and
Sudhalter are staunch interpreters of these songs of the 1920s and '30s, evoking clear echoes of
Bix Beiderbecke,
Bobby Hackett,
Louis Armstrong, and others. Performers include
Jones on cornet and
Sudhalter on trumpet, with pianist
Keith Ingham, bassist
Greg Cohen, guitarists
Marty Grosz and
James Chirillo, drummer
Arnie Kinsella, and frontline help from alto saxophonist and clarinetist
Joe Muranyi and trombonist Bobby Pring. The most familiar numbers are
Beiderbecke's sweet "Davenport Blues,"
Cole Porter's upbeat,
Jones-led "Rosalie," and Pring and
Muranyi on the
Frankie Trumbauer hit "Singin' the Blues." Another standout is the wonderful show tune "Futuristic Rhythm," with its myriad rhythmic changes and Latin, click clack, hard swinging beats. Some smaller combinations arise as
Sudhalter and
Ingham gently stride through "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" and the stark and bluesy "Persian Rug," and perform spirited jamming on "Why Couldn't It Be Poor Little Me?"
Jones alone states the theme on the easy paced "Ol' Pigeon Toed Joad" and gives the rougher-hewn ballad "Jeannine" a neat contrast. The two brassmen are at their best when dueling away on "If I Had a Million Dollars," "Changes," and the title cut, where their sound meshes and brings the sunny side out. Though the subtitle of this session is "Live at the Vineyard" (the Vineyard Theater in New York City) there is no crowd noise, so it's not an in-concert performance. It is a date that early period jazz mavens will want to own. ~ Michael G. Nastos