Sunday, January 8, 2012

"Pee Wee" & "Fingers" (Capitol)

These guys, amirite?



I think what these guys have is now commonly called "swagger".  Listen, I'm a trombone player myself, so I can say this; What is it with trombonists and our predilection for silly bowties and funny hats? I mean clearly these gentlemen are aiming to dress period to the music they're playing, but perhaps its not worth perpetuating the stereotype. I also just noticed something very typically 50's - yes that is a cigarette between his fingers there, right next to his mouthpiece. I can't imagine it helped his breathing, but apparently the guy lived into his 80's and was playing right up until the end so, whatever works.

I definitely can't fault the guy for his coat though, man that is awesome. I wish I had the guts to pull that off. I digress though, this definitely isn't a fashion blog.

The back of the record claims a "musical first", namely a combination of ragtime and dixieland. Specifically "Mr. Ragtime" (Joe "Fingers" Carr) meets "Mr. Dixie" (Pee Wee Hunt). Calling Pee Wee Hunt "Mr. Dixie" is a choice only a record label would make. The story apparently goes that his "serious" jazz group was screwing around in the studio at Capitol one day and tracked a silly, improvised dixieland tune. The label released it and it was a huge hit, and Hunt basically started a dixieland band as a direct result.

Whatever the background, it's working for him. This fast paced record showcases some fantastic playing by all the members of the (uncredited) ensemble. Although drums and bass are downplayed as usual (typically this is a technical issue as much as a musical one), the horn work is tight and fun, the arrangements are clean and concise. The tunes are short, sometimes too short - I would have loved a little more open solo space to let some of the talented horn players shine, but that can be forgiven for the sake of brevity.

Fingers does a fantastic job as well of course, but it's hard to call this a blend of dixieland and ragtime; it basically sounds like a great piano player playing with a dixieland band, and occasionally using stride or rolling techniques. Only in a couple places does anything happen that really sets a ragtime tone. Obviously this wouldn't hurt the record a bit if they hadn't promised a wild combination of styles on the record cover, but I can forgive them when the tunes are this good, and the energy is high.

The engineering, too, is solid, clear and simple, the way old-timey music should be recorded. Very little done to it at all, letting the musicianship shine. Joe's piano sounds absolutely fantastic, with all the upright clink and charm one could ever ask for. The horns are miced clean and direct, and while the trombone is definitely featured, it is never overbearing.

I gotta say that I'm also digging the song titles. There are two different songs that mention gentlemen named "Charlie", although one is spelled "Charley". There's also a song called "Barney Google", which I suppose is a search engine that helps you research 90's live action children's shows. And of course, "Last Night on the Back Porch", which apparently has the unprinted subtitle "(I Loved Her Best of All)". No originals unfortunately, but that's pretty common for a "let's throw a band together, jam out a bit, and call it a collaboration" type of record like this. Great selections, regardless; no fiddling around with slow moving ballads, or down tempo sloth. I didn't catch a tempo any slower than 109 in the whole record.

Its pretty hard to go wrong with good dixieland, so I'll gladly keep this record around. I'd even go so far as to say that, if you're interested in early jazz but don't know a thing about it, this wouldn't be a bad record to start with, since it lacks the drawn out indulgences of some such records, and it references many of the tropes of the style without sounding super cheesy. There's plenty of clarinet squawking ("O, Katharina!" I'm looking at you) and trombone glissing (pretty much every song on the album, I'm looking at you), but you never feel like you're trapped in a cartoon. So excellent work, gentlemen.

Oh, and a quick side note.


I usually get my first look at these records in the dark, and it took me quite awhile to figure out that this was not, in fact a razorblade. For a minute I thought Capitol had a very depressed artist on their hands.

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