More than a bracing opportunity to watch the preeminent musicians of 20th-century music move and swing, these "mini-musical" shorts from Paramount's vaults are an invaluable contribution to understanding how jazz music was distilled by Hollywood. This disc, along with its lighter companion, Hollywood Rhythm, Vol. 2: Best of Big Bands and Swing, just about outwits the Ken Burns Jazz series, if only because these shorts are shown uncut and without commentary. To call these films crucial would be an understatement. The compilation kicks off with Louis Armstrong in A Rhapsody in Black and Blue, wherein Satchmo transcends the movie's setting (a promised land called "Jazzmania" sprinkled in cheap glitter), his costume (a caveman's tiger skin), and a horribly dated, demeaning tune called "Shine." His instrumental virtuosity, coupled with his inimitable, groundbreaking singing, make both that song and "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead (You Rascal, You)" sublime experiences. Duke Ellington and his orchestra, mining their success at the fabled Cotton Club, are in three of the movies here, all essential viewing, too: A Bundle of Blues, Symphony in Black, and Black-and-Tan Fantasy. Bundle shows off Ellington's innovative arrangement of "Stormy Weather," with Ivie Anderson plaintively interpreting the classic lyrics before two hot-cha dancers bring the film to a smashing close. Even better is Billie Holiday singing with Ellington and company in Symphony in Black, Ellington's bluesy orchestral tone poem about the black experience in America. Also included are two Cab Calloway shorts, Ain't Misbehavin' by the hilarious, ad-libbing Fats Waller, and the stark St. Louis Blues, one of the only moving-picture recordings of Bessie Smith. The Queen of the Blues is backed by the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra; and although this film is one of the earliest in the collection (coming from 1929) it provides considerable, moving evidence of Smith's gifts as a musical stylist. Click here for current SALE price: |
by Louis Maistros Signed copies available exclusively on the net here at Louie’s Juke Joint, just click this link to order! Click the book cover image below for reviews, excerpts from the novel, free mp3 downloads and more.
Quotes: "Louis Maistros has written a lyrical, complex, and brave novel that takes enormous risks and pulls them all off. He is a writer to watch and keep reading, a writer to cherish." "The Society of North American Magic Realists welcomes its newest, most dazzling member, Louis Maistros. His debut novel is a thing of wonder, unlike anything in our literature. It startles. It stuns. It stupefies. No novel since CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES has done such justice to New Orleans. If Franz Kafka had been able to write like Peter Straub, this might have been the result." “The Sound of Building Coffins is easily one of the finest and truest pieces of New Orleans fiction I've ever read.” “One has to write with considerable authenticity to pull off a story steeped in magic and swamp water that examines race and class, death and rebirth, Haitian voodoo, and the beginnings of jazz in 1891 New Orleans...The plot is complex and magical, grounded in the history of the city, without being overly sentimental. There is a comfort with death as a part of life in this work that reveals deep feeling for the city and its past....Highly recommended for all fiction collections, especially where there is an interest in jazz." Signed copies available exclusively on the net here at Louie’s Juke Joint, just click this link to order!  Click here to see what we have THIS WEEK ON EBAY  |
