[Dixielandjazz] Jim Cullum Jazz Band - Porgy and Bess

[Donald Mopsick]

The CD has not been reissued. The record project took place before I joined
the band in 1991. However, I did get to record the same arrangements by
Randy Reinhart and John Sheridan as a 2-part series in the Riverwalk Jazz
radio series. The radio version has the important addition of William
Warfield as the narrator.

You may remember Warfield in the role of Joe the Dockhand in the 1951 MGM
movie version of "Show Boat." He sings "Ol' Man River" somewhere near the
beginning. You may not know, however, that he also played Porgy on Broadway
in the 1950s. Leontyne Price was Bess. They eventually got married, but
later divorced. The Cullum Band in the early 90s was appearing with
Warfield presenting Porgy and Bess nationwide on the road. Regrettably Mr.
Warfield is no longer with us.

The good new is that you CAN hear this 2-hour, 2-part version with
Warfield, which in my opinion is so much richer than the CD, (especially
because I'm on it, naturally). It's in there with all the shows which are
being streamed in no particular order via Stanford Archive of Recorded
Sound. The bad news is that you just have to keep listening to the stream
to catch them, and then they're not necessarily in order of Part 1 then
Part 2. They set it up this way in order to qualify as a non-royalty-paying
radio station rather than on-demand.

Personnel on these shows:

Jim Cullum, cornet
Mike Pittsley, trombone
Allan Vaché, clarinet
John Sheridan, piano
Howard Elkins, guitar/banjo
Don Mopsick, bass
Ed Torres, drums
William Warfield, narrator
David Holt, host

Here's how to get to the Stanford streaming site:

http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/

Here are links to the JazzNotes for the 2-part Porgy and Bess (you can't
stream the shows from these pages, they are informational only).

http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/program/porgy-and-bess-jim-cullums-jazz-transcription-part-one

http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/program/porgy-and-bess-jim-cullums-jazz-transcription-part-two

The shows are numbered 36 and 37 under "Programs."

Let me know how you do. By the way, a lot of people just leave it streaming
the whole day while they do their work.It takes 17 days to stream through
the entire archive of shows playing 24/7.

mopo
-- 
http://about.me/donmopsick