JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH
Jimmy McPartland (1907-91) played rewarding cornet solos for over a half-century. McPartland also took an occasional vocal and was always an effective emcee, displaying a friendly and confident personality.
Recording The Music Man Goes Dixieland in 1957 was one of the unsung highpoints of his career. McPartland performs 11 songs from the Music Man and his monologue on “Ya Got Trouble” is a joy. He also sings “The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl For Me” but unfortunately not “Gary, Indiana.”
McPartland is featured with several different groups throughout the album including three 14-15 piece all-star ensembles arranged by Dick Cary (the songs include “76 Trombones” and the show’s hit “’Til There Was You”) and an 11-piece unit with Eddie Condon and trumpeter Charlie Shavers that gives one the rare opportunity to hear tenor greats Coleman Hawkins and Bud Freeman playing together.
While it was reissued as part of a now out-of-print Mosaic limited-edition box set years ago, if one runs across the Epic LP, do not hesitate in picking it up. The Music Man Goes Dixieland is full of joy.
Jimmy McPartland
The Music Man Goes Dixieland
Epic 3463
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.
