Dixie Daisies • Hotsy Totsy Town

During the swing era in the 1930s, it became a common practice for the best big bands, for variety’s sake and to the delight of their jazz audience, to occasionally feature numbers from a small combo drawn from the orchestra. Among the most famous were Benny Goodman’s trio, quartet and sextet (although pianist Teddy Wilson and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton were actually added attractions rather than member of Goodman’s big band), Bob Crosby’s Bobcats, Tommy Dorsey’s Clambake Seven, and various Duke Ellington small groups. The practice actually began in the 1920s on an irregular basis. Paul Whiteman featured cornetist Henry Busse in the Virginians as early as March 9, 1922, along with Busse’s Buzzards in 1925, and Paul Specht had Frank Guarente leading the Georgians (a hot jazz group) starting in December 1922. The Dixie Daisies was a generic name that was used for several different groups drawn from studio orchestras, resulting in around 100 titles recorded during 1922-29. Long overlooked due to the almost total lack of big names, the Dixie Daisies’ recordings from the start featured melodic dance music that had occasional hot solos. Its musicianship was first-rate, the ensembles were clean, and the song selection was excellent. The Rivermont label on their Dixie Daisies release Hotsy Totsy Town has gathered together the first 26 Dixie Daisies recordings, dating November