Book Reviews:
The Frog Jazz And Blues Annual No.1
The Musicians, The Records & The Music Of The 78 Era
Ed. Paul Swinton Frog Records
ISBN978-0- 9564717-0-3
Price
£30
Frog Records are dedicated to reissuing the finest of the classic jazz and blues recordings of the 1920s and 1930s in the best possible sound. With erudite notes, complete discographies, rare photos and attention to every detail, they now have over 60 titles in catalogue and are admired by aficionados worldwide. Now, in a surprise leap sideways, they have gone into publishing.
This 176-page A4 soft-back book is crammed with those increasingly rare commodities; fresh information and unseen photos. It's an anthology of articles by people like Howard Rye, Joe Moore, Alex Van DerTuuk, Chris Hillman and others who really know what they're talking about, and even hardened old jazzers and blues freaks will find much here that they have not encountered before. The quality of the graphics- vintage photos, original advertising from record companies, 78rpm label shots - is as good as I have ever seen. It's all printed on quality art paper and every page holds its own fascination. It's also very thoroughly indexed. Best of all, it's accompanied by a CD of 26 rare and fabulous jazz and blues performances, Including what to me, was a previously unknown gem. Roger 'Burn Down' Garrett. a country blues guitarist recorded by the library Of Congress and, as far as I can tell, unavailable until now.
If you have any interest in early jazz and blues. you owe it to yourself to get this. Then won't be a more important addition to your library this year Red Lick have it in stock right now. What more do you need to know? Ah, yes, there's a second volume in the works already. Book now to avoid disappointment.
Paul Vernon - Folk Roots Magazine March 2010
THE FROG BLUES & JAZZ ANNUAL No.1
Paul Swinton, editor
Frog Records Limited, 2010
176 pages; illustrated;
ISBN978-0- 9564717-0-3
If you thought all the best glossy annuals were published by D.C Thompson think again. If you thought the days of highly specialist journals, aimed at collectors of very old jazz and blues records, were numbered, think again. If anything, the appearance of the item under review suggests that both have just been gifted a new lease of life, by virtue of having been combined in one unexpected package. The Frog Blues & Jazz Annual is as glossy and as fun-packed as any you could have wished to unwrap on Christmas morning in your younger days, and if there is a noticeable absence of Beryl the Peril or Little Plum, it's made up for by as many colour reproductions of old 78s, record company ephemera and rare photographs as you could wish for. It's also packed with discographical information, detailed investigative articles and original artwork. Not surprisingly, the names of those involved will be familiar to many readers of this magazine, not least because those names have frequently appeared in these pages. The editor is Paul Swinton (whose jazz and blues reissue releases on the Frog label have been widely admired by our reviewers) and contributors include Howard Rye and Alex van Der Tuuk, among others. Articles cover artists such as The Graves Brothers, Henry Thomas, Sidney Bechet and Thomas Morris, as well as less familiar names such as Opal Cooper or Big Charlie Thomas (whose very existence is questioned by Richard Rains - just the kind of thing we want to see in a publication like this!).
There are lavish pictorial features on vintage advertisements for jazz and blues records, an essay on The Golden Age of Blues Piano, a discographical feature on the 1935 Paramount revival and some beautifully reproduced photo galleries. And there's much more, too. The quality of production is very high, on good quality paper, and the A4 dimensions of the item enable the designers plenty of scope for presenting everything in ways that not only delight the eye, but make everything as readable as you could wish for (and given that the average age of fans of early jazz and blues is probably quite advanced, this is not to be taken lightly). In addition, there's a 77-minute sampler CD included which offers 26 opportunities to listen to the music discussed in the annual's pages. It's quite possible that the audience to which the annual appeals will already own most of these tracks, but here they are in a convenient, handy form and in excellent sound quality (and I think there's a rarity or two slipped in there), so who's complaining? And from start to finish it makes great listening, anyway.
'The Frog Blues & Jazz Annual' (subtitled The Musicians, the Records & the Music of the 78 era) is a treat for record collectors, and any lovers of vintage music and would be likely to delight just about anybody who enjoys history presented in the most attractive visual ways.
If it gets the support it deserves, maybe No.2 will be out in time to appear in a few Christmas stockings.
It's available for £30 direct from Frog Records Limited, 1 Foxwood, Fleet, Hampshire, UK, GU51 2TY, from Red Lick and probably from other places, too.
Ray Templeton - Blues & Rhythm No 248 April 2010
The Frog Blues & Jazz Annual No.1
The Musicians. the Records & the Music of the 78 era
Edited by Paul Swinton
PBk, 8' /4" X 11' /2", 176 pp, illustrated B & W and colour, inc. CD.
Price £30.
ISBN 978-0-9564717-0-3
This annual, a new venture by Frog Records, is a truly outstanding production. It is testimony to the erudition and dedication of its several contributors and the exceptional and imaginative standard of production achieved. The possibilities of the latest publishing technology have been fully exploited. At a rough count there are about 190 illustrations, including original handbills (some in full colour), photos, record labels, miscellaneous items and paintings of musicians by Chris Collinson.
More than a dozen original articles include many names quite new to me, a reminder that by the early 1920s, if not earlier, jazz had spread across the USA like a bushfire, and musical talent was not confined to New Orleans. There is an intriguing article on "Big Charlie Thomas", a shadowy figure that exercised the imagination of the late John R T Davies, but in all probability, according to the researches of Richard Rains, he never existed, an invention of imperfect memories, or more properly he was actually someone else.
There is far too much excellent material here to even hint at in this review. Included by way of example are articles on Oscar Bernie Young Paramount Cornet, Old New Orleans Blues, The Golden Age Of Blues Piano, Henry Thomas "Ragtime Texas", Opal Cooper & The Red Devils & The International Five, A Cab To The Cotton Club. An exhaustive index filling four pages is included.
The 26 track CD comprises the following tracks: Roosevelt Graves - Woke Up This Morning, Mississippi Jook
Band - Hittin' The Bottle Stomp, Thomas Morris & His Seven Hot Babies - The Mess, George McClennon's Jazz' Devils - Home Alone Blues, Henry Thomas- Railroadin' Some, Dorothy Everetts - Macon Blues, Charlie Patton - Down The Dirt Road Blues, Roger (Burn Down) Garnett - Lighthouse Blues, Henry Thomas - Don't You Leave Me Here, Edmonia Henderson - Who's Gonna Do Your Lovin', Frenchy's String Band - Sunshine Special, Ida Cox - My Mean Man Blues, Henry Brown - Stomp 'Em Down To The Bricks, Wesley Wallace - No. 29, The Missourians - Market Street Stomp, Tub Jug Washboard Band - San, Ma Rainey - Black Cat Hoot, Owl Blues, Lil's Hot Shots - Georgia Bo Bo, Arnold Wiley - Windy City, James 'Boodle It' Wiggins - Keep A Knockin', and You Can't Get In, Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra - Fidgety Feet, Everrett Robins - A Triflin' Daddy's Blues, Duke Ellington & His Cotton Club Orchestra - Cotton Club Stomp,
Irene Wiley - Bo Hog Blues, McKinney's Cotton Pickers - Tight Like That, Leslie Hutchinson & Opal Cooper - Moonlight On The Ganges.
The next Frog Annnual is keenly anticipated. Frog Records have set up a website which can be found on www.frogrecords.co.uk, or alternatively, Frog Records Ltd, 1 Foxwood, Fleet, GU51 2TY.
Doug Landau - New Orleans Music Vol 15 No 3 March 2010
THE FROG BLUES & JAZZ ANNUAL NO.1
Edited by Paul Swinton.
Published by Frog Records Ltd, 1 Foxwood, Fleet, Hampshire GU51 2TY.
A4. pb. 176pp.
£30 inc UK p&p
ISBN 978-0-9564717-0-3
This is a great idea by the people at Frog Records because there is nothing quite Like it in current blues and jazz literature. A group of experts contribute articles on various aspects of the pre-war 78 era, all carefully researched and clearly written. There are substantial (nine-to 20-page) biographical pieces on the blues singers Roosevelt Graves and Henry Thomas, pianist Arnold Wiley (with discography), trumpeter Thomas Morris, jug blower Carl Reid and oddball singer Opal Cooper.
Other major features provide fascinating overviews of 1920s blues recordings made in New Orleans (again with a full discography), pre-war blues piano (headlined as The Golden Era) and the revival of Paramount records in 1935. Shorter but equally absorbing pieces deal with trumpeter Oscar 'Bernie' Young, singer Lillian Goodner (with Duke and Cab at the Cotton Club), the origins of the Cab Calloway orchestra and the myth of Big Charlie Thomas.
The book is lavishly illustrated on nearly every page with rare photos, show bills, record labels and old business cards. Chris Powell has an eight-page spread of his sepia-toned watercolours from photos of old blues and jazz performers and three pages are devoted to a collection of autographed photos and record labels. Extensive use is made of cuttings from vintage magazines and newspapers, sometimes delightfully inaccurate as when a 1935 issue of the Baltimore Afro-American describes Louis Armstrong's Knockin' A Jug as recorded in England with 'an ofay band under the leadership of Jack Teagarden, popular British maestro'. They do convey a wonderful sense of the period.
The superior design and production values add greatly to tile book's appeal. The clear, reasonably-sized print on top quality glossy paper makes it a pleasure to read. The illustrations are exceptionally well reproduced and, given their profusion and rarity, that alone makes the volume a must-have for those interested in the music of this period.
If a further incentive is needed, it comes in the form of an enclosed CD with 26 wellchosen tracks illustrating the various articles. Clean 78s and rare tests, mostly from the 1920s, have been used to produce excellent sound quality. Full discographical details are listed in the book which is also thoroughly indexed.
Paul Swinton and his team are already working on volume two. If it and hopefully regular annual volumes are as good and as reasonably priced as this one, the intelligent and accessible documentation of early blues and jazz will make a major leap forward.
Bob Weir