Search - Tempo King :: 1936-1937

67:33 minutes of sheer delight

Patrick Crosby | San Clemente, California | 10/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These tracks were recorded in 1936 and 37, but you'd never know it from the sound. The transfers / restorations are that good. Tempo King (who seems to have fallen off the face of the earth after 1937) was perhaps a 1930's prototype of what today is called "rap." He talks more than than he sings, but does it rhythmically. But unlike the vast majority of modern day rap artists, Tempo King is always good natured and full of good cheer. After listening to the first half dozen or so tracks, he began to grate on my nerves--- until I finally realized that he was actually doing something original and interesting. The liner notes paint him as a sort of Fats Waller wannabe, but I disagree. I think he's doing something altogether different here.
I originally bought this CD for the Marsala Brothers, Joe (clarinet) and Marty (trumpet). Indeed, they play wonderfully. Pianist Queenie Ada Rubin (who evidently just popped right up out of nowhere to make these recordings, and then sadly, also fell right off the planet after these recording were made) plays beautifully as well. Perhaps the most interesting player on this CD is guitarist Eddie Condon, who among other things (*many* other things), was influential in promoting bi-racial jazz recording and performance beginning in the 1920s. That alone is enough to make the dude totally cool in my book."