Throughout
the history of jazz, mythical places like New Orleans's Storyville,
Chicago's South Side, Kansas City's Tenderloin district, and New York's
Harlem and 52nd Street were celebrated as the legendary hotspots.
Thankfully, this impressive four-CD, 91-track collection featuring Nat
"King" Cole, Louis Armstrong, and Benny Carter to name a few, puts Los
Angeles's famous African-American enclave, Central Avenue, on the
historical map and offers the listener a zoot-suited, jitterbugged jaunt
through Club Alabam, The Downbeat, and other jumpin' joints where
Hollywood stars rubbed shoulders with hep cats under a pulsating Pacific
sky. The set covers an important period in the development of
African-American music, from the conclusion of World War I to the birth
of rock & roll: from the early New Orleans bouncy brass-band sounds
of "Get Out of Here" by Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band and the
Spanish-tinged, habanera syncopation on "Mamanita," courtesy of the
pioneering pianist/composer Jelly Roll Morton to Lionel Hampton's
boogie-woogie anthem "Flying Home" and the killer keyboard calisthenics
on Art Tatum's "Tiger Rag." The Charlie Parker Septet's "Ornithology"
blew into town on the wings of bebop innovation and hypnotized local
up-and-comers like bassist Charles Mingus--under the moniker of Baron
Mingus & His Octet on a rare side called "Bedspread"--and tenor
saxophonist Dexter Gordon's raw-boned tone on "Chromatic Aberration,"
which previewed John Coltrane's sheets of sound. Miles Davis's cool
indigo-impressionism radiance on "Up in Dodo's Room," performed by the
Howard McGhee Sextet, contrasts with the harmonic heights reached by the
Gerald Wilson Orchestra's reading of "Groovin' High." There is a
remarkable fluidity of transition from blues to R&B, as heard in the
western wails on "Blues on Central Avenue" by Joe Turner with the
Freddie Slack Trio, Nellie Lutcher's hip-bopping, tasty, and teasing
"Fine Brown Frame" and the Texas-bred, guitar twang of T-Bone Walker's
"Call It Stormy Monday," all of which highlight the sepia-toned, soulful
syncretism that formed the bedrock of modern music and the marvelous
black neighborhood that provided the foundation for it.CD 1
1. Ory's Creole Trombone - Ory's Sunshine Orchestra
2. Creole Song - Ory's Creole Jazz Band
3. Get Out Of Here - Ory's Creole Jazz Band
4. Blues For Jimmy - Ory's Creole Jazz Band
5. Someday Sweetheart - Jelly Roll Morton's Jazz Band
6. The Pearls - Jelly Roll Morton
7. Kansas City Stomps - Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers
8. Mamanita - Jelly Roll Morton
9. Harlem - Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders
10. California Swing - Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders
11. If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight - Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra
12. Shine - Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra
13. When It's Sleepy Time Down South - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
14. Dixie Rhythm - The Four Blackbirds
15. Body And Soul - Art Tatum & His Swingsters
16. Tiger Rag - Art Tatum
17. Central Avenue Breakdown - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
18. T-Bone Blues - T-Bone Walker/Les Hite & His Orchestra
19. Jump For Joy - Duke Ellington
20. Blues On Central Avenue - Joe Turner
21. Benny's Bugle - Lee & Lester Young's Orchestra
22. Flying Home - Lionel hampton & His Orchestra
23. Mean Old World - T-Bone Walker
24. Jumpin' In The Groove - Cee Pee Johnson Orchestra
CD 2
1. Straighten Up And Fly Right - Nat King Cole Trio
2. The Man I Love - Nat King Cole Trio
3. Body And Soul - Nat King Cole Trio
4. I Wonder - Cecil Grant
5. The Honeydripper Pts. 1 & 2 - Joe Liggins & His Orchestra
6. Swingin' The Boogie - Hadda Brooks Trio
7. That's My Desire - Hadda Brooks Trio
8. Harlem Nocturne - Johnny Otis Orchestra
9. Driftin' Blues - Johnny Moore's Three Blazers
10. Tutti Frutti - Slim Gaillard & His Boogiereeners
11. Laguna - Slim Gaillard Quartet
12. Soothe Me - Ernie Andrews
13. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin' - Ernie Andrews
14. These Foolish Things - Lester Young
15. R.M. Blues - Roy Milton & His Solid Senders
16. Groovin' High - Gerald Wilson Orchestra
17. Bugle Call Rag - Wilbert Baranco Orchestra
18. Ornithology - Charlie Parker Septet
19. A Night In Tunisia - Charlie Parker Septet
20. Jump Call - Benny Carter Orchestra
21. Bedspread - Baron Mingus & His Octet
22. Pipe Dream - Lady Will Carr
23. Smooth Sailing - Lucky Thompson Quartet
CD 3
1. Dial-Ated Pupils - Howard McGhee Sextet
2. Up In Dodo's Room - Howard McGhee Sextet
3. Cruisin' With Cab - Gerald Wilson Orchestra
4. Dissonance In Blues - Gerald Wilson Orchestra
5. Mischievous Lady - Dexter Gordon Quintet
6. The Chase - Dexter Gordon/Wardell Gray
7. Chromatic Aberration - Dexter Gordon Quartet
8. Bikini - Dexter Gordon Quintet
9. I Thought About You - Nellie Lutcher
10. Fine Brown Frame - Nellie Lutcher
11. Call It Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker
12. Red Top - Lionel Hampton Orchestra
13. Ain't Nobody's Business - Jimmy Witherspoon
14. Big Fine Girl - Jimmy Witherspoon
15. Blues In Teddy's Flat - Teddy Edwards Quartet
16. Tear Drop Blues - Jimmy Liggins & His Drops Of Joy
17. Hop, Skip And Jump - Roy Milton & His Solid Senders
18. So Tired - Roy Milton & His Solid Senders
19. It's April - Buddy Collette Quartet
20. Collette - Buddy Collette Quartet
21. Blues After Hours - Pee Wee Crayton
22. Mingus Fingers - Charles Mingus
23. These Foolish Things - Charles Mingus
CD 4
1. Sippin' With Cisco - Roy Porter's 17 Beboppers
2. Gassin' The Wig - Roy Porter's 17 Beboppers
3. Little Wig - Roy Porter's 17 Beboppers
4. Double Crossing Blues - Johnny Otis Quintette
5. Pink Champagne - Joe Liggins & His Honeydrippers
6. Move - Wardell Gray
7. Please Send Me Someone To Love - Percy Mayfield
8. Black Nite - Charles Brown
9. Money Blues - Camille Howard & Her Boyfriends
10. Deacon's Hop - Big Jay McNeely
11. Sweet And Lovely - Wardell Gray
12. Farmer's Market - Wardell Gray
13. Lover Man - Wardell Gray
14. East Of The Sun - Joe Swanson Orchestra
15. Thrust - Joe Swanson Orchestra
16. 3-D - Big Jay McNeely
17. Nervous Man Nervous - Big Jay McNeely
18. Too Marvelous For Words - Art Tatum
19. Lover Man - Art Tatum
20. The Champ - Frank Morgan
21. De Silva Wig - Gerald Wiggins Trio
