This segment of the
Stuff Smith story finds the fiddler facing personal and professional difficulties that prevented him from recording as much as he'd have liked to. The music that did get committed to wax is more or less uniformly satisfying. The first five selections heard here benefit greatly from the presence of trumpet ace
Jonah Jones. "Big Wig in the Wigwam," a song with little redeeming social value when presented by
Lionel Hampton, became a solid piece of
swing when
Stuff's band got a hold of it. Here it bristles with elements of "Diga Diga Doo" and
Stuff's earlier rowdy masterpiece "Old Joe's Hittin' the Jug." Four titles released on the budget Varsity label in 1940 include a Grenadine-flavored sob story by
Stella Brooks, two high-spirited group vocals, and a wild "Crescendo in Drums," with violin improvisations that seem like premonitions of the sound currents that
Leroy Jenkins would be generating with his violin many years later. In November of 1943,
Stuff Smith & His Trio made ten sides for the World Broadcasting Service, with
Stuff's solos resembling some of
Eddie South's best work, with flourishing touches worthy of
Florian Zabach. Featured here and on the following two sessions were bassist
John Levy and pianist
Jimmy Jones, both excellent improvisers who were perfectly suited to
Stuff Smith's style and persona. A quartet date with amplified guitarist
Mary Osborne sports a pair of modernistic studies in blue, and the vocal duet between
Stuff and
Osbourne is deservedly famous among people who are interested in historical collaborations. This fine CD closes with six additional trio sides produced by
Moses Asch, sounding pleasantly progressive for 1944. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide
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