Swing me sweetly & I never knew - Lew Davis

Recorded in London, 16 December 1935. Lew Davis, tb; Arthur Young, p; George Elliott, g; Max Bacon, d.

All of these were highly regarded players with London dance bands. Lew Davis started playing with Jack Hylton in 1923 and was with him until 1930, followed by periods with Ray Noble, Lew Stone, Harry Hudson and (at the time this record was made) Ambrose. More can be read at http://www.jabw.demon.co.uk/davis01.htm

This is the only solo disc that Davis recorded under his own name, to form part of Parlophone's 'British Artists' "Rhythm Style" series' - which consisted of just 6 discs, and came in a special album if you bought all 6.

According to Edgar Jackson writing in the January 1936 Gramophone magazine, these were the first attempt to have British artists record "hot" music (a slight exaggeration, perhaps). Jackson played a part in having these sessions set up, and in the selection of artists. Parlophone had issued 276 "Rhythm-style" records over 6 years to that point, all of them American artists except for accompanying artists on four of those sides. This new series was therefore quite a departure.

Jackson reviewed this record (and the rest of the series) in the February 1936 edition of Gramophone. He said:
"The trombone in jazz has its own little war all to itself. It is waged round the respective merits of the two main styles into which jazz trombone playing may be broadly split - the Tom Dorsey and the 'Tricky Sam'.
"There is so much to be said for both sides that, although the war may continue as long as jazz exists, it if far less importance than the numerous battles that have kept it alive.
"So far, thanks to the ingenuity of the combatants on both sides, battle honours are about even; but this record - or at any rate one side of it, Swing me sweetly - definitively puts the Dorseyites one up.
"The victory is largely due to the way Lew Davis plays. True, he has a good side armed with a composition that would be a formidable weapon in any hands, but I still feel that it was his personal performance that won the day. He has such a command of his instrument, and there is something in the assurance with which he plays and his clear, scintillating tone that has given this record that indefinable glamour known as atmosphere
"The way he brings off his high notes is really thrilling. Many good trombone players can get up to B flat and B fairly comfortably, provided they can slide up to the notes. Lew Davis hits Ds and E flats with a nonchalant perfection that is just silly.
"These points score, of course, on the side of the sheet known as Legitimate Technique, and no matter how many strokes one piles up on it, the day is still lost if the other side hasn't its share of pluses. My judging sheet has. I find the losses for attributes which go to make up the Swing player negligible.
"Nor is the accompaniment alarmingly sort of its hundred percent. Arthur Young gets almost full marks; so does George Elliott, a young guitarist who, in spite of the fact that he is hidden away in Taponnier's foyer orchestra at the Carlton Hotel, is a close third to Albert Harris and Ivor Mairants. Dick Ball loses a few points on a couple of bass breaks which fail, mainly, it would seem, because his instrument has a thoroughly bad recording tone, but Max Bacon gets almost the maximum for a couple of smart breaks - the first on side-drum, the second a very slick piece of work on cymbal pushed home by the progressive urge of his bass drum behind it.
"It may be because of the inevitable comparison, but I cannot work up the same enthusiasm for 'I never knew'.
"I cannot get away from a slightly uncomfortable feeling that the title did not appeal quite so strongly to Lew. The phrases lack the inspiration of those in 'Swing me sweetly', and while it is difficult to nail down the cause to any one source, the performance lacks the sparkle and spontaneity that were such features in its coupling.
"Still, in spite of any shortcomings it may have when compared with its obverse, 'I never knew' is more than a good record when judged by ordinary standards. It is just unfortunate that its backing is so far above the ordinary."

Transferred from an original record in my collection.

Видео Swing me sweetly & I never knew - Lew Davis канала Julian Dyer