Swing Music

Boots and His Buddies recorded 6 recording sessions for Bluebird between 1935 and 1938, and,on this CD the first three sessions appear from 1935 to early 1937. While the music enclosed may occasionaly be deficent in intonation, the very fine tenor of Baker Millian and the excellent trumpet solos (evidently by different trumpet players on the various sessions), particularly on the earliest sessions, make this CD a worthwile purchase. The strong southwestern swing of the band reminds one of a B grade version of 1932 vintage Bennie Moten (but then Hot Lips Page , Ben Webster and Count Basie are not present), and the blues (How Long), or the riff oriented pieces like "Riffs", "The Vamp" (really a slower version the the Will Hudson chart "Nit Wit Serenade"), or "The Swing" (this is a more swinging version of Ben Pollack's "Swing Out")really show the band to advantage, and gives us a picture of a typical ensamble that would have been the real soundtrack to the Kansas City movie that was popular a few years ago. Enjoy

Many collectors of big band jazz of the thirties and forties are intrigued by the phenomenon known as the "Territory Band". This was a band operating in an area away from one of the major population centers - New York or Chicago for example - often serving as a breeding ground for new talent. These outfits were active in every region of the country but nowhere more than in the Southwest. Some of these groups attracted enough attention to become nationally known - Count Basie and Andy Kirk are among the best examples of this - but most left only memories and perhaps a few recordings to chronicle their existence.

In this respect, Boots and His Buddies, a band led by drummer Clifford "Boots" Douglas and working out of San Antonio was more fortunate than most. This band recorded forty-two sides for Bluebird. Twenty one of these are included in this CD with the rest being in Volume 2.

Boots (or maybe it was Bluebird)had a habit of assigning dumb names to well known tumes - for example Sometimes I'm Happy has been retitled The Happy. Soloists were competent but for the most part, not outstanding. The exception was tenorman Baker Millian, a musician who should be better known and who played in the "Texas Tenor" style not unlike Herschel Evans. Although the band was inconsistent, at its best it is well worth hearing.

Based upon the titles contained herein and having listened to several cuts, I am instantly buying this recording. The late, great Auturo Toscanini once sent his trombone section to listen to Tommy Dorsey, saying "This is the way the instrument should sound." I entirely agree.