He wasn't a legend in 1941, not even a star; rather, he was a kid with the Kansas City blues playing in Jay McShann's Orchestra, the alto sax player propping up the swing with half a dozen other men. He's a sideman throu... more »ghout the bulk of this 23-song disc. Here is Parker killing time in McShann or Gillespie or Cootie Williams' bands. Those seeking to find a few revelations through all this static and history are likely to come away disappointed. It's like trying to understand where "Purple Haze" came from while listening to a young Jimi Hendrix playing with the Isley Brothers. This disc does contain the birth- of-bop masterpiece "Cherokee," when Parker decided dissonance beget beauty. Better to buy the Yardbird Suite, which weeds out the best-of and tosses out the rest-of. You may not find a better performance of "Shaw 'Nuff," but you will find one that sounds better. --Robert Wilonsky« less
He wasn't a legend in 1941, not even a star; rather, he was a kid with the Kansas City blues playing in Jay McShann's Orchestra, the alto sax player propping up the swing with half a dozen other men. He's a sideman throughout the bulk of this 23-song disc. Here is Parker killing time in McShann or Gillespie or Cootie Williams' bands. Those seeking to find a few revelations through all this static and history are likely to come away disappointed. It's like trying to understand where "Purple Haze" came from while listening to a young Jimi Hendrix playing with the Isley Brothers. This disc does contain the birth- of-bop masterpiece "Cherokee," when Parker decided dissonance beget beauty. Better to buy the Yardbird Suite, which weeds out the best-of and tosses out the rest-of. You may not find a better performance of "Shaw 'Nuff," but you will find one that sounds better. --Robert Wilonsky
"Obviously, the 'editorial review' above has no connection with this set.Jabbo Smith had his shot at stardom with the Rythm Aces recordings in Chicago in 1929. Barely 21 years old, his technical ability and improvising skill are just boiling over on these sides. He even plays a remarkable TROMBONE solo on 'Lina Blues.'
Smith's playing was far too advanced for the records to sell very well at the time, and admittedly the ensembles lack the easy friendlyness of the Louis Armstrong Hot Five recordings that they were hoped to rival.Smith drifted to Milwaukee, and eventually out of music, until he was rediscovered in the early '60s.In a Downbeat blindfold test, Dizzy Gillespie said, after hearing one of the Rythm Aces sides: 'I don't know who that is, but he just invented be-bop!'"
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1
