Jimmy Dorsey Dixie By Dorsey/Dorsey Land Band CD

By late 1949, with the swing era on the wane and bandleaders struggling to make payrolls for their big bands, Jimmy Dorsey won a new contract with Columbia Records and carved a subset out of his orchestra to play old-time Dixieland music. Dorsey on clarinet and alto saxophone was joined by Charlie Teagarden on trumpet and vocals, Cutty Cutshall on trombone, Frank Maynes on tenor saxophone, Dick Carey on piano, Carl Kress on guitar, Bill Lolatte on bass, and Ray Bauduc on drums, with Claire Hogan doing vocals on some songs. Dorsey called the unit Jimmy Dorsey & His Original "Dorseyland" Jazz Band, and the idea was to re-create the kind of sound he used to play back in the 1920s with the California Ramblers. Surprisingly, a version of the 1917 song "Johnson Rag" made the charts, as did the 10" album Dixie by Dorsey, which was followed by another, "Dorseyland" Dance Parade. The Dixieland fad passed, and Dorsey went back to struggling, eventually disbanding and joining his brother Tommy Dorsey's band in 1953. But the November 1949 and January and March 1950 sessions that produced the two brief albums and stray singles are gathered together here on a discount-priced CD, and they make for some lively listening. (On the two tunes from March, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" and "Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella," Bud Hackman replaces Cutshall and Al Waslon replaces Carey.) Dorsey and his musicians were past masters at playing Dixieland, and they brought real enthusiasm to the musical cacophony that is that style, with Charlie Teagarden trading vocals good-naturedly with Hogan here and there and hot solos being passed around. A cover of "Rag Mop" is the only reminder of the 1950s in a set that fondly recalls the music of 30 years earlier. ~ William Ruhlmann

Originally released on Columbia Records.

2 LPs on 1 CD: DIXIE BY DORSEY (1949)/DORSEY LAND BAND (1950).

Personnel: Kenny Martin, Charlie Teagarden (vocals).

Recording information: 11/11/1949-03/07/1950.