Roy Eldridge: Little Jazz

Most jazz critics consider Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge the successor of Louis Armstrong in the evolution of jazz trumpet players. Armstrong is almost universally considered the greatest jazz trumpeter in history; however, Eldridge is viewed as the musician who took the hot New Orleans style of Armstrong and turned it into something new.

Eldridge was notable for his rough and speedy technique, particularly when playing high notes on the trumpet. A now almost forgotten trumpeter, Jabbo Smith, who rivalled the virtuosity of Armstrong in the late twenties, was a huge influence on Eldridge, as was Armstrong.

In terms of jazz cornet/trumpet greatness, the progression is loosely as follows: Buddy Bolden-Freddie Keppard, Oliver-Louis Armstrong-Roy Eldridge-Dizzy Gillespie-Miles Davis-Clifford Brown.

Eldridge was born to a musical family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1911. As a child, Eldridge became a drummer in the band of his brother, Joe, before his brother convinced him to pick up the trumpet. By the age of 20, he had started his own band in Pittsburgh and then left that band to join the band of Horace Henderson, brother of the great New York bandleader, Fletcher Henderson. Shortly thereafter, in 1930, Eldridge moved to New York City.

In New York, Eldridge found work with a number of dance bands, and by 1935, as a member of the Teddy Hill Orchestra, Eldridge made his first recordings. Eldridge would eventually land a gig with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra from 1935 to 1936, becoming Henderson’s star soloist by lending his hot solos to the Henderson classics, “Christopher Columbus” and “Blue Lou.”

Eldridge later moved on to work with white bands led by Gene Kroupa, and later, Artie Shaw. The presence of an African-American musician in a white band was a rarity in the segregated America of the 1930s. In the post-war era, Eldridge became one of the leading musicians who toured under the banner of “Jazz at the Philharmonic.” He also freelanced with the bands of Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Benny Goodman.

Eldridge’s best recordings include "Drummer Man" (1956) with Gene Krupa, “Rockin' Chair” (1956), "Little Jazz Giant" (1989), and some compilations dedicated to his music. 

Eldridge died in 1989.

Essential Recordings

• Rockin' Chair (1956): Released on Clef/Verve Records and produced by Norman Granz, this album features Eldridge alongside Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, and Buddy Rich, showcasing his upper-register power and blues lyricism. Key tracks include "Rockin' Chair," "Little Jazz," and "Dale's Wail."
• Drummer Man (1956): Released on Verve and produced by Norman Granz, this session reunites Eldridge with Gene Krupa and Anita O'Day for energetic updates of 1940s big-band tracks. Key tracks include "Let Me Off Uptown," "After You've Gone," and "Rockin' Chair."
• Little Jazz Giant (1989): A retrospective archive collection on Columbia/Legacy produced by Michael Brooks, featuring core personnel like Chu Berry, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa. Key tracks include "Heckler's Hop," "Wabash Stomp," and "Texas Shuffle.

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Charlie Parker: Ornithology Biography and Album Guide

A foundational titan of modern American music, Charlie Parker radically transformed the harmonic and rhythmic landscape of jazz, effectively inventing the complex dialect of bebop. Celebrated for his blazing technical speed, revolutionary use of passing chords, and soaring melodic imagination, Parker elevated the alto saxophone into a vehicle for unparalleled creative expression. Despite an arduous life overshadowed by severe addiction and chronic health struggles, his immense musical genius established an enduring artistic standard that fundamentally redefined the aesthetic direction of 20th-century art, leaving a legacy that every subsequent generation of instrumentalists continues to study.

Saxophonist Charlie Parker is considered by many to be the best musician in the history of jazz. He is one of the few jazz musicians who could rival the technical brilliance and originality of Louis Armstrong and Art Tatum. Parker’s drug-addicted life and early demise are a jazz legend and a tragic example, which would be repeated by several jazz musicians who followed him.

Parker was nicknamed “Yardbird,” which was eventually shortened to simply “Bird.” Many of his compositions, including “Yardbird Suite” and “Ornithology,” would be inspired by that nickname.

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1920. He began to play the saxophone at age 11 and joined a musicians’ union instead of attending high school. He practiced diligently in the late 1930s, and by 1938, he was good enough to join the band of pianist Jay McShann. While in his teens, Parker had become addicted to morphine after being administered the drug in the hospital after a car accident. His morphine addiction would lead to a heroin addiction, which would contribute to his early death at age 34.

Parker quit the McShann band in 1939 and headed to New York City to begin a solo career. In the early forties, Parker was experimenting with soloing methods. His experimentation constituted some of the early developments of bebop music, a subgenre of jazz with which he would forever be linked. He would soon be collaborating with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell, and others. In summer 1945, Parker and his friends recorded “Ko-ko” and other sides at a session for the Savoy label. That session and its recordings would become a watershed moment for bebop music.

Technical Catalog Spotlight: Charlie Parker with Strings (1950)

This landmark release stands as a brilliant and controversial masterpiece that fulfilled Parker's long-standing ambition to perform within a classical chamber setting. The orchestral production strips away traditional big band horn sections, placing his expressive alto saxophone lines against a lush backdrop of violins and cellos to create a highly sophisticated jazz-pop crossover.

• Released: January 1950
• Label: Mercury Records / Clef Records
• Producer: Norman Granz
• Core Personnel: Charlie Parker (Alto Saxophone), Mitch Miller (Oboe), Ray Brown (Bass), Buddy Rich (Drums)
• Key Tracks: Just Friends, April in Paris, Summertime

By this time, Charlie Parker’s heroin addiction was causing him to miss gigs, and he resorted to busking on New York City streets to support his addiction. Parker then moved to Los Angeles, where heroin was difficult to find, and he began to drink heavily to compensate. He was often in bad shape at recording sessions and needed, at times, to be physically supported by others. Parker moved back to New York City, where he died in 1955.

The best original albums and collections of Parker’s music include "Charlie Parker with Strings” (1950), “Charlie Parker with Strings Vol.2” (1950), “Charlie Parker” (1953), “Big Band” (1954), “Summit Meeting at Birdland” (1977), “At Storyville” (1985), “The Genius of Charlie Parker” (1954), “The Charlie Parker Story” (1956), “The Genius of Charlie Parker” (1957), “Anthology” (1974), “Charlie Parker on Dial” (1974), “Bird/The Savoy Recordings (Master Takes)” (1974), “The Very Best of Bird” (1977), “The Complete Studio Savoy Recordings” (1978), “Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve” (1988), “Bird: The Original Recordings of Charlie Parker” (1988), “Masterworks 1946-47” (1990),” Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Collection” (1997).

Technical Catalog Spotlight: The Charlie Parker Story (1956)

A monumental historical retrospective that preserves the definitive watershed master takes from his revolutionary 1945 Savoy recording sessions. The recordings document the precise physical blueprint of the bebop revolution, capturing the lightning-fast tempos, complex syncopations, and brilliant improvisational telepathy that completely altered the trajectory of modern jazz.

• Released: 1956
• Label: Savoy Records
• Producer: Teddy Reig
• Core Personnel: Charlie Parker (Alto Saxophone), Miles Davis (Trumpet), Dizzy Gillespie (Piano), Max Roach (Drums)
• Key Tracks: Koko, Nows the Time, Billie Bounce

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Fats Waller: Handful of Keys

Jazz singer/songwriter/pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller was born in New York City in 1904. While he is not a household name to the extent of fellow jazz legends Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, and Goodman, Fats Waller was no less important or influential. In the opinion of his fellow musicians, especially Louis Armstrong, he was a giant among giants.

As a youth in New York City, Waller sought out the Harlem stride piano legend, James P. Johnson, and became the great pianist’s understudy. Soon thereafter, Waller was one of the best stride pianists in the city. The stride style is sort of the jazz version of boogie-woogie, and as such, it is quite palatable to the ears of rock music fans. Waller would eventually become one of the very best pianists that jazz ever produced. Only the likes of Art Tatum, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, and Oscar Peterson could match his virtuosity.

In addition to being one of the finest musicians in early jazz, Waller was one of the best and most prolific songwriters in jazz, penning the standards “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Ain't Misbehavin.” Many of Waller’s compositions are humorous and display his penchant for writing clever lyrics laden with double-meanings.

Waller’s first recording was made as early as 1922, with the sides "Muscle Shoals Blues” and “Birmingham Blues” recorded for the General Phonograph Company. After a few more recording sessions in 1923, Waller’s recording career would begin in earnest in 1927 with a solid string of classic sides that would continue until his death in 1943.

Waller’s first big hit, “Ain’t Misbehavin'," appeared in 1929 and was followed by scads of others, including “African Ripples,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Viper’s Drag,” “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,” "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie,” “S’Posin’,” “You’re Feets Too Big,” “All That Meat and No Potatoes,” “The Joint is Jumpin’,” and “A Good Man’s Hard to Find.”

These recordings and more can be found on several excellent compilations of Waller’s music, such as the multi-volume “The Complete Fats Waller,” “The Very Best of Fats Waller” (2000), and “The Centennial Collection” (2004).

Jazz singer/songwriter/pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller was born in New York City in 1904. While he is not a household name to the extent of fellow jazz legends Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, and Goodman, Fats Waller was no less important or influential. In the opinion of his fellow musicians, especially Louis Armstrong, he was a giant among giants.

As a youth in New York City, Waller sought out the Harlem stride piano legend, James P. Johnson, and became the great pianist’s understudy. Soon thereafter, Waller was one of the best stride pianists in the city. The stride style is sort of the jazz version of boogie-woogie, and as such, it is quite palatable to the ears of rock music fans. Waller would eventually become one of the very best pianists that jazz ever produced. Only the likes of Art Tatum, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, and Oscar Peterson could match his virtuosity.

In addition to being one of the finest musicians in early jazz, Waller was one of the best and most prolific songwriters in jazz, penning the standards “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Ain't Misbehavin.” Many of Waller’s compositions are humorous and display his penchant for writing clever lyrics laden with double-meanings.

Waller’s first recording was made as early as 1922, with the sides "Muscle Shoals Blues” and “Birmingham Blues” recorded for the General Phonograph Company. After a few more recording sessions in 1923, Waller’s recording career would begin in earnest in 1927 with a solid string of classic sides that would continue until his death in 1943.

Waller’s first big hit, “Ain’t Misbehavin'," appeared in 1929 and was followed by scads of others, including “African Ripples,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Viper’s Drag,” “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,” "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie,” “S’Posin’,” “You’re Feets Too Big,” “All That Meat and No Potatoes,” “The Joint is Jumpin’,” and “A Good Man’s Hard to Find.”

These recordings and more can be found on several excellent compilations of Waller’s music, such as the multi-volume “The Complete Fats Waller,” “The Very Best of Fats Waller” (2000), and “The Centennial Collection” (2004).

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Fletcher Henderson: Sugarfoot Stomp

A monumental architect of the big band era, Fletcher Henderson fundamentally structured the framework of swing music by expanding traditional New Orleans jazz into sophisticated orchestral arrangements. Leveraging his background in classical piano and advanced science, Henderson transformed the dance band format into a powerful vehicle for collective syncopation and hot jazz soloing. His legendary enterprise at the Roseland Ballroom served as an elite incubator for generational soloists like Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins, establishing an expansive sonic vocabulary that ultimately defined the commercial landscape of the 1930s swing craze.

Fletcher Henderson was a jazz pianist and bandleader born in Cuthbert, Georgia, in 1897. Henderson was the leader of one of the best African-American jazz bands of the Twenties.

Henderson was born to a middle-class family that valued education, and Henderson would go on to earn a degree in chemistry from Atlanta University. When he moved to New York in 1920, he was rejected by employers in the chemistry field due to his skin colour. He went to work for W.C. Handy’s music publishing company and then became a manager at the Black Swan recording label.

In 1922, Henderson led a band at a club that would become the legendary Roseland Ballroom. Henderson and his band, which would later become known as the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, would stay on at the Roseland for ten years. Henderson’s Orchestra featured some of the best musicians in jazz and included, at various times, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith, and many other star soloists. With stellar members such as Hawkins and Armstrong, the Henderson Orchestra made some of the finest sides of jazz in the Twenties, including “Sugar Foot Stomp,” “Shanghai Shuffle,” “Jim Town Blues,” “Christopher Columbus,” “Stealin’ Apples,” “King Porter Stomp,” and “Stampede.”

Technical Catalog Spotlight: Chronological Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra 1927 (1996)

This essential historical document preserves the precise moment Henderson's ensemble perfected the art of section-against-section big band scoring. The acoustic recordings flawlessly capture the intense, driving call-and-response dynamics between the brass and reed sections, providing a pristine framework for the band's elite soloists to improvise at blistering tempos.

• Released: 1996
• Label: Classics Records (France)
• Producer: Gilles Petard
• Core Personnel: Fletcher Henderson (Piano, Leader), Tommy Ladnier (Trumpet), Jimmy Harrison (Trombone), Coleman Hawkins (Tenor Saxophone)
• Key Tracks: Stampede, Snag It, Tozo

The Fletcher Henderson Orchestra continued to tour and record until 1939, when Henderson joined the Benny Goodman Orchestra as the pianist and arranger. The hiring of Henderson by Goodman was a watershed moment in jazz, as it was the first time that a white band had hired a Black musician as arranger. Henderson’s participation would help secure Goodman’s reputation as the “King of Swing,” a music that Henderson had pioneered with his work with his own orchestra years before.

Henderson died in 1952, following several years with heart problems. The classic sides of the Henderson Orchestra can be fairly easily found on several compilations of the band’s work, and on compilations of classic early jazz, including the series, “The Chronological Classics: Fletcher Henderson" (1996) and Chronological Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra 1927.

Technical Catalog Spotlight: The Chronological Classics: Fletcher Henderson 1934-1936 (1998)

A high-fidelity archival retrospective documenting the late-era brilliance of Henderson's writing style just before his historic integration into the mainstream pop industry. The compilation showcases a modern, propulsive four-beat swing rhythm section, beautifully preserving the foundational technical blueprints that directly secured Benny Goodman's meteoric rise to fame.

• Released: 1998
• Label: Classics Records (France)
• Producer: Gilles Petard
• Core Personnel: Fletcher Henderson (Piano, Arranger), Buster Bailey (Clarinet), Chu Berry (Tenor Saxophone), Roy Eldridge (Trumpet)
• Key Tracks: Christopher Columbus, Blue Lou, Stealin Apples

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