[Dixielandjazz] The Big 18

[Steve Voce]

Buck Clayton told me that he was very unhappy about his work on 'The Big 
Eighteen' album. He had wanted to be on form because of the presence of 
Charlie Shavers and Rex.
But he couldn't get his sound to come out as it usually did, and he felt 
restricted through out the sessions.
When he got home after the last one he took the mouthpiece out to clean 
the trumpet and shook the horn. A tiny cleaning brush fell out of the 
tube where the mouthpiece fitted. It had been
in the instrument throughout and really spoiled his day.

Incidentally, 'The Big Eighteen' was one of the many benefits that jazz 
gained from Elvis Presley. RCA made so much money from his discs that 
they needed to disperse it for tax purposes, and that's why they
financed so many apparently obscure jazz albums around that time - a 
huge wave of them, in fact.

Steve Voce


On 17/02/2013 21:47, Marek Boym wrote:
> In 1958, RCA recorded a tribute to the big bands, issued as the double
> album "The Big 18."  I am not sure when it was issued, but the lineup
> is great, and so is the music, at least - most of it.  No idea what
> the title represents - the band is less than 18, and there are 19
> numbers.
> Some tunes are easy to allocate to a band: Tuxedo Junction (Miller),
> Blues on Parade(Herman), Five O'Clock Drag (Ellington), I'm Prayin'
> Humble (Crosby), Summit Ridge Drive (Shaw), Swingtime in the Rockies
> (BG), Feet Draggin' Blues (Harry James), Skyliner (Barnett), The
> Campbells Are Swinging (trickier, but since the composer is Clinton, I
> assume that's the band as well) and Quaker City Jazz (same, except
> that here it presumably is Jan Savitt).  The other numbers - I don't
> know: Easy Does It, Hors d'Ouvre, Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
> (I have two BG combo renditions),March of the Toys, Parade of the Milk
> Bottle Caps, Okay for BAby (Benny CArter?), Celery Stalks at Midnight,
> Organ Grinder's Swing.
> I know there were many big bands, most of them - sweet, and I hardly
> know those, even though I know that they could swing with the best of
> them.
> Any suggestions?
> Cheers
>
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