West End Jazz Band • Burnin’ The Iceberg

In the Windy City, long before the Chicago Cellar Boys, before the Fat Babies, there was the West End Jazz Band. It was formed by cornetist Mike Bezin over 30 years before this CD was released, according to booklet writer Bryan S. Wright. The West End JB was the first to specialize almost exclusively in 1920s material, but also to often utilize the arrangements from the original 1920s 78s on which it appeared. This resulted in a very large repertoire that included lots of “hot dance” and novelty songs as well as jazz and blues. The music often featured vocals by banjoist Leah Bezin (Mike’s wife, often billed as Leah LaBrea), reedman John Otto, trombonist Frank Gualtieri, and many by Mike Bezin himself. To maintain the quality of their music, mastery of their large, complicated repertoire required constant rehearsal even as the band members read each arrangement from the music stands in front of them. This was not an improvisional jam-session band. As this writer observed first hand, Bezin was a perfectionist. Most effective bandleaders who maintain a high standard have this trait in common. With the West End JB he was successful. This particular album, released in 2011, is the bands’ twelfth, but it features the Chicago band debut of the phenomenally talented Andy Schumm. Although ostensibly utilized as its drummer, he is heard throughout the CD on cornet, clarinet, and sax