Smoky Joe Combo's
second album has been released on October 07th 2008
in France and Europe and distributed by
www.rootscd.com in the U.K., Sleazy Dreams records
in Spain and Bear Family Records in Germany.
The multi-talented Sven Urhmann, musician, Dj,
graphic designer, record collector, swing
specialist a.k.a. Needlenose has written a
rich liner notes text that we would like to
share with you..
Merci Sven !
If you ask a today’s youth
what drives the beat on records (or their
down-loadable pendants), you probably will get the
statement “Yo, old muthaf…. It’s da drum” (if he
ever has heard a real one). But let’s turn back
the hands of time to the late 30s and early
40s! Although the depression has ended and Swing
was the thing, with all those high-pitched trumpets
and smooth sax-lines, there still was a need for
small, intimate, but also hard swinging
combos. A lot of clubs and bars had neither
the space, nor the money for a large group.
So it was mainly piano, bass, and a smooth
guitar player, sometimes lacking the drums. If you
hear the trio or quartet-recordings of those early
small groups today, you won’t even miss the
machine-room (?) on tracks with Nat Cole,
Charles Brown, Phil Moore or the very early Ray
Charles.
A complete lifetime later (or: about 65 years with
fast food), only a few guys can play like they do.
I think, it’s a gasser, that the cats you hear on
this record, are more chats, because they are solid
swinging Frenchmen. But also from France is a large
tradition of smallband-Swing, dating back to the
early 30s, when guys like Django Reinhardt, Michel
Warlop or Gus Viseur often played without
drums. Contrary to their American counterparts,
they got their rhythm feel from the 4/4-strumming
guitars, as only European musicians did at that
time in a very special gypsy-like way. So these
mighty men of rhythm from Smoky Joe’s have their
own tradition in rhythm making.
A lot of the tracks are real gone standards in
their own way.
The title-track Swing Brother Swing dates back to
Clarence Williams fame in the early 30s, but a more
popular version was Billie Holiday's
recording with the Basie outfit, as well
as single-handed trumpet-ace Wingy Manones
versions By the way, Swing Brother Swing is
the clear concept of this album.
I Like To Riff is one of the better known Nat
‘King’ Cole Trio’s tracks for Decca in the early
40s. You can already hear and feel very early Be
Bop-influences on this light swinger. It was a
minor hit when issued, and the base for Nat’s
superstardom. Gone With The Draft and Little Girl
are the same calibre. Little Girl got into a
cartoon feature film with two Disney-squirrels
swinging that tune. Cool Cole! The Best Man would
have had the same potential, but flopped, when
issued. There’s only one cover version I know of
that song (*Ray Ellingtons), although most of the
Cole-stuff was covered many times. A rare find on
an actual album!
Come On-A My House was penned in the early 50s by
Ross Bagdasarian and William Saroyan during a car
drive from here to there. It been told, that
those guys were very bored during
that particular drive and started creating
nonsense lyrics instead falling asleep at the
wheel. Later a big (not boring) success for Kay
Starr and Rosemary Clooney (guess, whose Aunt she
is?).
What you hold in your hands is a record on the
Reefer Man label. A reefer of course, being 30's
slang for marijuana or grass. back then, guys
who smoked grass were called vipers. After a
while of consuming, the cat just might go
mad! There is a large tradition of drug songs from
the 20s on, and Viper Mad was first recorded by
Noble Sissle’s congregation with young Sidney
Bechet on soprano. Listen to the lyrics, while
Joe’s smoking reefers.
The other songs are clearly negligible and were
made, to fill gaps on this album. Forget them, go
to your fridge for a cool drink, check your emails
while they are playing (or simply try to sleep)! To
be honest: Every track on this album is a small
jewel in our short life. Solid
swinging gems and very danceable stuff for an
intimate rendezvous that could have happened 65
years ago in a small club!
Merci bien, monsieurs!
Needlenose
Herford, Germany,
August 2008