SUNDAY JAZZ
SWING JAZZ
VA - The Complete H.R.S. Sessions [1999] (6 x CDs)
Opening the box of The Complete H.R.S. Sessions feels a little like stepping into a compact corner of 1940s jazz history. The recordings come from H.R.S. Records, a small but devoted label founded in New York during the early years of the decade. Its goal was simple, capture respected jazz musicians in relaxed studio settings and preserve the music with care. The 1999 collection gathers those scattered sessions together so they can be heard in one continuous sweep.
Rather than presenting a single band or star, the set moves from group to group, each session carrying the personality of the musicians who happened to be in the room that day. A horn led ensemble might open the door, then a piano trio quietly reshapes the atmosphere a few tracks later. Because the sessions were originally issued on individual 78 rpm discs, hearing them together reveals a rhythm that was not obvious when the records first appeared.
A box like The Complete H.R.S. Sessions invites a different kind of listening from the start. Rather than focusing on a single artist, it opens the door to the world created by Hot Record Society, a small but influential label active from the late 1930s through the mid-1940s. Mosaic gathered those recordings together in this six disc edition, allowing the catalogue to unfold in the order the sessions were made, just as the music moved through that period.
The label’s approach was straightforward. Bring respected jazz musicians into the studio, keep the groups small, and let the players shape the music naturally. That spirit comes through immediately. The early sessions place strong individual voices at the center, the soprano saxophone of Sidney Bechet cutting clearly through the ensemble, while trumpeter Rex Stewart brings his distinctive phrasing into relaxed studio settings. These recordings feel close to the musicians, the arrangements loose enough for personalities to show.
As the discs continue, the set gradually reveals how wide the H.R.S. circle really was. Players moved in and out of the sessions, sometimes leading their own groups, sometimes appearing as guests. The trombone of Jack Teagarden adds warmth to several performances, while the rhythm sections keep the music grounded in the swing language that defined the era.
Because the recordings were originally issued one 78 rpm side at a time, hearing them gathered in sequence creates a new perspective. The music no longer arrives as isolated singles but as a continuous conversation between musicians who shared a common vocabulary.
The set closes quietly, without ceremony, simply finishing the final sessions recorded under the H.R.S. banner. By that point the listener has travelled through nearly a decade of small-group jazz, preserved in studio rooms where the goal was not spectacle but clarity.
Taken as a whole, the box works like an extended listening archive. One session leads to the next, each revealing another meeting of players who knew exactly how to make a small band breathe. (B)
https://www.discogs.com/release/2874015-Various-The-Complete-HRS-Sessions
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Track lists
CD1
01 Pee Wee Russell - Baby, Won't You Please Come Home? 2:28
02 Pee Wee Russell - Baby, Won't You Please Come Home? (alternate take) 3:18
03 Pee Wee Russell - There'll Be Some Changes Made (take 1) 2:53
04 Pee Wee Russell - There'll Be Some Changes Made (take 2) 2:58
05 Pee Wee Russell - Zutty's Hottie Blues 3:00
06 Pee Wee Russell - Dinah 2:40
07 Pee Wee Russell - I've Found a New Baby 2:17
08 Pee Wee Russell - Everybody Loves My Baby 2:23
09 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - Four or Five Times 3:58
10 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - Sweet Lorraine 4:14
11 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - Lazy River 4:07
12 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - China Boy 3:48
13 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - China Boy (alternate take) 3:49
14 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight 4:00
15 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - That's a Plenty (alternate take) 3:28
16 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - That's a Plenty 4:07
17 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - Squeeze Me 3:49
18 Sidney Bechet & Muggsy Spanier - Sweet Sue, Just You 4:03
CD2
01 Rex Stewart - Cherry 4:23
02 Rex Stewart - Solid Rock 4:17
03 Rex Stewart - Bugle Call Rag 4:20
04 Rex Stewart - Diga Diga Doo 4:16
05 Jack Teagarden - St. James Infirmary 4:13
06 Jack Teagarden - The World is Waiting for the Sunrise 4:08
07 Jack Teagarden - Big Eight Blues 4:14
08 Jack Teagarden - Shine 3:54
09 Sandy Williams - Mountain Air 3:02
10 Sandy Williams - Sumpin' Jumpin' Round Here 3:00
11 Sandy Williams - After Hours on Dream Street 3:20
12 Sandy Williams - Chili Con Carney 2:38
13 J.C. Higginbotham - Dutch Treat 2:49
14 J.C. Higginbotham - A Penny for Your Blues 3:10
15 Jimmy Jones - Old Juice on the Loose 3:12
16 Jimmy Jones - Departure from Dixie 3:03
17 Jimmy Jones - A Woman's Got a Right to Change Her Mind 3:28
18 Jimmy Jones - Muddy Miss 3:05
19 Babe Mathews & Joe Thomas - No Better for Ya 2:36
20 Babe Mathews & Joe Thomas - He's Got So Much 3:07
CD3
01 Joe Thomas - Riff Street 3:05
02 Joe Thomas - A Touch of Blue 2:44
03 Harry Carney - Minor Mirage 2:46
04 Harry Carney - Jamaica Rumble 2:40
05 Harry Carney - Shadowy Sands (alternate take) 3:44
06 Harry Carney - Shadowy Sands 2:47
07 Harry Carney - Candy Cane 3:16
08 Dicky Wells - We're Through 2:40
09 Dicky Wells - Bed Rock 2:53
10 Dicky Wells - Opera in Blue 3:01
11 Dicky Wells - Drag Nasty/The Walk 2:52
12 Sandy Williams - Tea for Me 3:06
13 Sandy Williams - Frost on the Moon 3:07
14 Sandy Williams - Sam-Pan 2:53
15 Sandy Williams - Sam-Pan (alternate take) 2:54
16 Sandy Williams - Sandy's Blues (alternate take) 3:11
17 Sandy Williams - Sandy's Blues 3:11
18 Sandy Williams - Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You 3:14
19 Buck Clayton - Dawn Dance 3:12
20 Buck Clayton - Wells-A-Poppin' 3:14
21 Buck Clayton - On the Sunny Side of the Street 3:31
22 Buck Clayton - It's Dizzy 3:07
23 Buck Clayton - Basie's Morning Bluesicale (alternate take) 3:18
24 Buck Clayton - Basie's Morning Bluesicale 3:19
CD4
01 Buck Clayton - Saratoga Special (alternate take) 2:48
02 Buck Clayton - Saratoga Special 2:40
03 Buck Clayton - Sentimental Summer 3:23
04 Buck Clayton - Harlem Cradle Song (alternate take) 2:27
05 Buck Clayton - Harlem Cradle Song 2:40
06 Buck Clayton - My Good Man Sam 2:39
07 Buck Clayton - I Want a Little Girl 2:52
08 Trummy Young - Fruitie Cutie (alternate take) 3:09
09 Trummy Young - Fruitie Cutie 3:07
10 Trummy Young - Blues Triste 3:03
11 Trummy Young - Blues Triste (alternate take) 3:02
12 Trummy Young - Johnson Rock 3:16
13 Trummy Young - Lucky Draw 2:46
14 Billy Kyle - H.R.S. Bounce 3:01
15 Billy Kyle - Ooh Baby, You Knock Me Out 2:50
16 Billy Kyle - Date for Eight (alternate take) 2:58
17 Billy Kyle - Date for Eight 3:00
18 Billy Kyle - Comtemporary Blues 2:59
19 Russell Procope - Bottle It 2:55
20 Russell Procope - Denzil's Best 2:42
21 Russell Procope - Right Foot, Then Left Foot 3:00
22 Russell Procope - Four Wheel Drive 2:55
CD5
01 Billy Taylor - Well Taylor-ed 2:49
02 Billy Taylor - I Don't Ask Questions, I Just Have Fun (alternate take) 2:46
03 Billy Taylor - I Don't Ask Questions, I Just Have Fun 2:48
04 Billy Taylor - So You Think You're Cute 2:40
05 Billy Taylor - Twinkle Toes 2:45
06 Rex Stewart - Flim Flam 2:43
07 Rex Stewart - Blues Kicked the Bucket 2:58
08 Rex Stewart - Madeleine 2:46
09 Rex Stewart - Madeleine (alternate take) 2:44
10 Rex Stewart - Loopin' Lobo 2:50
11 Jimmy Jones - Sunny Side Up 2:41
12 Jimmy Jones - Strollin' Easy 3:06
13 Jimmy Jones - Keeping Up with Jones 2:51
14 Jimmy Jones - Weeta 2:41
15 Billy Taylor Sr. - Late on Saturday 3:07
16 Billy Taylor Sr. - Flight of the Bebop 2:52
17 Billy Taylor Sr. - My Mind's Made Up on You 3:09
18 Billy Taylor Sr. - Taylor Made 2:48
19 Billy Taylor - Restricted 2:48
20 Billy Taylor - Striding Down the Champs Elysees 3:06
21 Billy Taylor - Mitch's Pitch 2:58
22 Billy Taylor - Mr. B 'Bops' 2:50
CD6
01 Brick Fleagle - Brick's Boogie 2:47
02 Brick Fleagle - K.C. Caboose 2:34
03 Brick Fleagle - The Fried Piper 3:07
04 Brick Fleagle - So Blue Love 2:01
05 Brick Fleagle - When the Mice Are Away 3:10
06 Brick Fleagle - Helena's Dream 3:15
07 Brick Fleagle - Shufflin' Shoes 2:02
08 Brick Fleagle - Night Wind 1:59
09 Brick Fleagle - Frost on the Moon 2:07
10 Brick Fleagle - Swamp Mist 1:58
11 Brick Fleagle - Double Doghouse 3:04
12 Brick Fleagle - Pastiche 3:18
13 Brick Fleagle - Same Old Sheaves 3:21
14 Brick Fleagle - A Slight Case of the Shakes 3:17
15 Brick Fleagle - They'll Do it Every Time 3:01
16 Brick Fleagle - On You, it Looks Good 3:07
17 Brick Fleagle - Wig Wham Blues (aka Green Light) 3:06
18 Brick Fleagle - Blue Stew (aka Jive Junction) 2:54
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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.
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Another new one for me to investigate. I only recognize a couple of names, but any collection includes Sidney Bechet must be OK! Thanks for the continuing education. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Mike M
Hi Mike,
DeleteBechet really is the kind of anchor that tells you you’re in safe hands, once that clarinet or soprano sax cuts through, the whole room changes. And this set is full of those kinds of players: names you know, names you don’t, all part of that rich, late‑’40s New York moment where small‑group jazz was bursting with personality.
f a few of these artists are new to you, you’re in for a rewarding wander. This collection is a reminder of just how deep the well runs.
Cheers.
BB, thank you for this gift of music - some artistes are known to me, some are welcome discoveries. As always, a basket of joy. If only there was a collection of the British dance bands of the same era..........
ReplyDeleteA very Happy Easter to you and to those you hold close.
Toodle Pip!
Hi twinsoulz,
DeleteI’m glad this set brought both familiar faces and new corners to explore, that’s the magic of these sessions. The British dance bands of the same era would make a wonderful companion piece.
Wishing you a warm, gentle Easter, and the same good things for those close to you.
Toodle Pip indeed.
Cheers
Thanks for another interesting jazz collection Butterboy. Hope you're enjoying your Easter long weekend.
ReplyDelete