King Oliver & His Orchestra - Complete Victors, Vol. 1

The U.K.'s Frog label presents in two volumes the complete issued Victor recordings of Louis Armstrong's mentor King Oliver, including the alternate takes. This first disc contains 22 sides recorded between January 26 and December 30, 1929 at seven different sessions that took place in New York at Liederkranz Hall and a studio on 46th Street, as well as in Chicago, not far from where he made his first recordings back in 1923. By 1929, Joe Oliver's pyorrhea had begun to compromise his ability to blow his horn; cornet and trumpet solos were now carried by Louis Metcalf and Dave Nelson (who was Oliver's nephew). Read More