Always to be found smack in the middle of the hottest developments in
jazz,
Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page worked comfortably with both old-fashioned and modern young musicians during the mid-'40s. On November 30, 1944,
Page's band included busy-fingered tenor man
Lucky Thompson and a brilliant young pianist from Pontiac, MI, named
Hank Jones. One week later,
Page cut a couple of sides for V-Discs with an ensemble that sounded a lot like one of
Eddie Condon's
Town Hall traditional jam bands. "Sheik of Araby" is notable for
Gordon "Specs" Powell's exceptional drumming.
Page seems not to have recorded again until September 1945, once again in the company of younger guys with progressive ideas. "Happy Medium" and "Bloodhound" are full of modern moves. How interesting to hear
Hank Jones as a young innovator. Saxophonists
Dave Matthews and
Earle Warren demonstrate how the art of
swing stood at the crossroads of modernity in 1945. Contrary to what the discography says, there are no vocals on these two tracks.
Dave Matthews sounds like
Chu Berry and
Don Byas. He shushes down to
Ben Webster's level of suavity on "You Come In Here Woman," a misogynistic
blues containing the line "Like the butcher told the goat, you've had your fun, now I'm cuttin' your throat." Just in case we don't get the picture,
Lips puts his horn to his lips and quotes
Chopin's funeral
march for a nasty coda.
Leonard Feather's "The Lady in Debt," a distant relative of "The Lady in Red," is also apparently a cousin to
Page's 1944 enigma, "The Lady in Bed," which was yet another creation of
Feather, who seems to have enjoyed writing topical
blues novelties for
Page. More material from September of 1945 places
Page at the front of a larger band, fortified with
Buck Clayton, three outstanding trombonists (
Benny Morton,
Sandy Williams, and
J.C. Higginbotham), and three of the toughest saxophonists on the scene at that time (
Don Byas,
Ben Webster, and
Earl Bostic). "Corsicana" cooks itself to a gravy. "They Raided the Joint" is funny if you like songs about alcohol poisoning and police raids. This CD's hottest sides from 1946 are without question "Kansas City Jive" and the rockin' "Birmingham Boogie," featuring
Earl Bostic and a solid tenor player by the name of
John Hartzfield. "Open the Door Richard" is very funny, beginning with
Page's imitation of a drunken person being forcibly ejected from a party. The scenario eventually develops into a rowdy group vocal as
Page's band eggs him on into a violent trumpet solo. In a premonition of later developments,
Hot Lips distorts his voice into a higher-pitched version of what would eventually become a sandblasted contrabasso, lower than that of
Louis Armstrong, closer in fact to Popeye's tonalities. By the early '50s,
Hot Lips Page's voice could curdle milk and frighten pigeons. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide
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