If
Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page had chosen someone besides
Joe Glaser to be his manager, maybe
Lips wouldn't have found himself regularly stashed on the back burner. This was probably done to keep
Lips from upstaging
Glaser's main Afro-American trumpet-and-vocal act,
Louis Armstrong. That's how
Dan Morgenstern explained the perpetual setbacks
Page grappled with throughout much of his difficult career. He did make a lot of records, and most of them are solid. This particular volume of Alternate Takes also contains rarities which are not "alternates" but one-of-a-kind treasures. Exhibit A is the "Blues in B Flat," a duet with
Fats Waller recorded at
Carnegie Hall in January of 1942. Previously issued in 1980 on The Fats Waller Story, Radiola's pastiche of rare broadcasts and live performances, this was apparently the only portion of the concert to be recorded for posterity. Maybe that's a good thing, as
Waller's alcohol consumption is said to have sabotaged his playing throughout the rest of that night.
Page causes his audience to bust out laughing when he sings a humorous lyric which
Eric Clapton was to use about 25 years later (opening "Outside Woman Blues" from
Cream's Disraeli Gears). And speaking of
rock & roll, there's definitely some primal rhythm & blues energy in a 1939 bounce called "Jump for Joy" (not to be confused with
Duke Ellington's socially optimistic opus of 1941), by
Pete Johnson & his Boogie Woogie Boys. In addition to the feisty singing of
Joe Turner, this track features legendary Kansas City alto saxophonist
Henry "Buster" Smith. Aside from a rare pair of
swing sides from 1937 demonstrating
Page's invigorating impact upon the otherwise slightly less than wonderful Barney Rapp Orchestra, all the rest of the bands are led by
Page himself. The 1944 sessions feature some of the day's very best saxophonists;
Lem Johnson and
Lucky Thompson deliver quite a punch on "Rockin' at Ryans." Appearing alongside
Earl Bostic,
Don Byas,
Ben Webster, and
Ike Quebec, it's not surprising that
Floyd "Horsecollar" Williams is as virtually indistinguishable from the pack as he is on the master takes.
Page always sounded completely solid no matter what else was going on. His trumpet was formidable, his vocals gutsy and down to earth. For another example of this man's influence upon rock musicians of the 1960s, see
Jorma Kaukonen's
1969 Woodstock Festival performance of "Uncle Sam's Blues." After a startlingly brief breakdown from a V-Disc session (which begs in vain to be followed by the complete take), a 1945 jam called "Bloodhound (Catlett-cysm)" features a ballsy tenor saxophonist by the name of
Dave Matthews. "Got an Uncle in Harlem" is a delight, although the collective sense of timing on the issued version is closer to absolute perfection. All of
Page's duets with
Pearl Bailey are irresistible. This newly uncovered recording of "The Hucklebuck" (a
pop song stolen from
Charlie Parker) captures
Pearl's wonderful patter even if most of
Page's howls of delight are under-recorded. Which is precisely why they cut another take. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide
