If a group of traditional jazz fans were asked to name a great trombonist of the genre from the 1920s-1930s, we might hear “Jack Teagarden . . . Kid Ory . . . Jim Robinson,” or some such mentioned; but the chances of hearing “Roy Palmer” would be slim to none. Yet Palmer is called, by those familiar with him, a “hot” trombonist, and this CD supports that judgment.
Unfortunately his recording life was a brief one—a few sessions in the 1920s with Richard M. Jones, Jelly Roll Morton, Ida Cox, and Johnny Dodds, and in the 1930s those on this CD. He did not record after 1936, having retired from playing music although he did give some trombone lessons and he lived for another twenty-seven years.
Thanks to some excellent transfers from Charlie Crump, the listener is not assailed with dodgy audio, as is so often the case with original 78s. All of the groups and tracks come through clearly with no hisses, clicks, and pops, each track being of the usual 78 duration, namely around three minutes. I was struck by the ensemble playing on most of these tracks, many with only a two-man front line of trombone and reed. On them Palmer’s solos or leads are punchy, propelling the group. The rest of the time his counterpoint enhances the other front line instrument(s) lead, as, for example, on “Careless Love.”
Palmer shows his command of the trombone very well on “The Tromb
