Although the big bands dominated the music scene from the mid-30's to the mid-40's, there were a lot of popular small groups during that period that made a mark for themselves (even some of the big band leaders put together small groups assembled from their larger organizations for occasional recording sessions, e.g., Benny Goodman and his Quartet, Artie Shaw and the Gramercy Five, and Tommy Dorsey and the Clambake Seven).
One very distinctive outfit with a unique sound was the John Kirby Sextet, based at the Onyx Club in New York. During its peak, the band consisted of John Kirby on bass, Russell Procope on alto sax, Buster Bailey on clarinet, Billy Kyle on piano, O'Neill Spencer on drums and trumpet man Charlie Shavers, who was the principal composer and arranger.
Here they are with a little tune called "Kansas City Caboose".
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2 comments:
This and some of the other things they play are almost bebop (even though they called it 'Chamber Jazz'), I was surprised, and he died in 1952. Terrific bassist, should be as well known as Charlie Parker whose music surely built on this predecessor. Somehow his memory's been eclipsed by Mingus and others who lived longer. He was 'too conservative' at the time I suppose, and he died just a bit too early.
Definitely some boppish vibes.
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