New York Jazz

• Artist: James P. Johnson
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1950
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Jazz

Review

Originally an album of 12" 78 rpm platters on the Asch label, this cherry-red vinyl LP is a good example of precious jazz largely overlooked. Portions of this session appear here and there on various CD compilations, but it is as an album that the music should be experienced, for that is how it was conceived. During "Four O'Clock Groove" the band lopes easily through the changes, all participants in perfect communion. "Hesitation Blues" is perhaps Johnson's greatest vocal appearance on record, with Frankie Newton's trumpet answering him soulfully. "The Boogie Dream" is part of an ongoing project: Johnson's apparent mission to redefine boogie-woogie in as many different ways as possible. Here, the boogie appears as if in a dream, and only establishes itself recognizably for a little while. This is a grand example of Mr. Johnson's extraordinary depth and inventiveness. "Hot Harlem" cooks right up out of the Harlem stride piano tradition, a solid little jam for all occasions. "The Dream" might just be one of the loveliest jazz recordings of all time. Built upon a Caribbean rhythm traceable but not endemic to New Orleans, "The Dream" seems to breathe gently and compassionately. The piano's trills illustrate perfectly why James P. Johnson is considered an archetype in this realm. The session draws to a close with Scott Joplin's harmonically advanced masterpiece "Euphonic Sounds." Johnson's solo piano version (heard here) is a perfect blend of Joplin's ideas and Johnson's way of exploring them. This is not ragtime by-the-book but rather a 1944 Harlem stride rendering of the idiom -- a celebration of architectural brilliance and invention. It is interesting to note that this LP transfer sounds superior to many CD reissues. Compare this version of "Euphonic Sounds" with William Albright's solo treatment (1989) and Turk Murphy's full jazz-band version (1972). It is a composition deserving further interpretation, as the album in its entirety needs wider recognition. ~ arwulf arwulf, Rovi

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