JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH
George Chisholm (1915-97), who was born in Glasgow, Scotland and by 1936 was based in London, was a major trombonist. In fact, he could be considered one of Europe’s top jazz musicians of the 1930 and ’40s and he continued playing into the 1990s. During a period when many of the United Kingdom’s jazz soloists based their styles closely on American pacesetters, Chisholm had his own voice on his instrument by the time he was 20.
Although inspired by Jack Teagarden a bit, Chisholm always sounded very much like himself and he was noticed soon after arriving in London. Very soon he was touring Holland with Benny Carter, recording with Fats Waller, and working regularly as a member of Ambrose’s orchestra. He spent the 1940s in the Royal Air Force where he was a major part of the RAF Dance Orchestra (known as the Squadronaires), one of Great Britain’s top big bands. He worked in later years in the studios, on television (including doing comedy), and with a variety of Dixieland and swing groups in addition to leading his own bands.
The two-CD set The Gentleman Of Jazz, compiled by Digby Fairweather in his Retrospective series, has 48 selections that feature Chisholm during the 1937-62 period. Other than two numbers from 1935 which are not included (one of those actually has Chisholm playing celeste), this release begins with a selection from the trombonist’s first record date (“Honeysuckle Rose” with pianist Gerry Moore) and has some of the highlights from the first half of Chisholm’s long career. The trombonist is featured with Benny Carter (including playing next to Coleman Hawkins), Danny Polo’s Swing Stars, Vic Lewis, Fats Waller (“The Flat Foot Floogie”),Lew Stone (“At The Jazz Band Ball”), the Squadronaires, Victor Silvester’s Jive band, the Melody Maker All Stars, Martin Slavin, Kenny Graham’s Afro-Cubists, Kenny Baker’s Half Dozen, Mark White’s Dixielanders, and on his own sessions from 1938, 1944, 1956 and 1961-62. In addition to Chisholm, one gets to hear some of the best British jazz musicians of those years including trumpeter Tommy McQuater, clarinetist Benny Winestone, and pianist Eddie Macauley, each of whom distinguish themselves with Chisholm’s Jive Five in 1938.
The Gentleman Of Jazz, which was originally put together in 2015 to celebrate George Chisholm’s centennial, is a perfect introduction to one of the great trombonists, a consistently exciting soloist who deserves to be remembered. It also alerts listeners to the fact that there were some rather impressive hot jazz and swing sessions in Great Britain long before the trad jazz boom.
George Chisholm • The Gentleman Of Jazz
Retrospective RTS 4261
www.retrospective-records.co.uk
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
