Fletcher Henderson: Wrappin' it Up-Quadromania Jazz Edition

Read About This Recording

Fletcher Henderson led what was arguably the first swinging jazz big band, working regularly during 1923-34 and 1936-39. He was an influential arranger by the early 1930s, an adequate pianist and a masterful talent scout. Henderson's orchestras featured a large number of the top young African-American horn players, ranging from Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins to Roy Eldridge and Ben Webster. Ironically he broke up his big band just when the Swing Era was about to get underway, and became just as well known for the arrangements he wrote for Benny Goodman then for his own all-star orchestras.

Wrappin' it Up is a four-CD set that has a cross section of Henderson's recordings from 1927-38. Long before the Swing Era, Henderson's ensemble was swinging hard as can be heard on such classics as Fidgety Feet, St. Louis Shuffle, I'm Coming Virginia, Sugar Foot Stomp and Radio Rhythm. His 1932 sessions generated irresistible versions of Honeysuckle Rose, New King Porter Stomp and Yeah Man although it was a few years too early to catch on with the future jitterbuggers. Henderson's 1936 orchestra had a hit with Christopher Columbus but never really made it big.

However, the music of the Fletcher Henderson ranks with the very best swing music of the 1920s and '30s, with Wrappin' it Up giving listeners a generous dose of Henderson's musical legacy.

-Scott Yanow

Contents

Imported from Europe!

Remastered!

CD 1 (TT: 62:39): Shuffling Sadie; Fidgety Feet; Sensation; Swamp Blues; Off to Buffalo; St. Louis Shuffle; Variety Stomp; P.D.Q. Blues; Livery Stable Blues; Whiteman Stomp; I'm Coming Virginia; Cornfed; Variety Stomp; The St. Louis Blues; Hop Off; Rough House Blues; Black Maria; Goose Pimples; Baltimore; A Rhythmic Dream; Hop Off.

CD 2 (TT: 62:42): Sweet and Hot; Clarinet Marmalade; Sugar Foot Stomp; Hot and Anxious; Coming and Going; After You've Gone; Star Dust; Tiger Rag; Somebody Stole My Gal; I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby (And My Baby's Crazy 'Bout Me); Sugar Foot Stomp; Just Blues; Singin' the Blues (Til My Daddy Comes Home); Sugar Foot Stomp; Singin' the Blues; Low Down on the Bayou; The House of David Blues; Radio Rhythm; You Rascal You; Oh, it Looks Like Rain.

CD 3 (TT: 62:43): Honeysuckle Rose; New King Porter Stomp; Yeah Man; King Porter's Stomp; Queer Notions; Can You Take It; Queer Notions; It's the Talk of the Town; Night Life; Nagasaki; Hocus Pocus; Phantom Fantasy; Tidal Wave; Limehouse Blues; Shanghai Shuffle; Big (John's Special); Happy as the Day is Long; Tidal Wave; Down South Camp Meetin'; Wrappin' it Up; Memphis Blues.

CD 4 (TT: 60:13): Wild Party; Rug Cutter's Swing; Hotter Than 'ell; Liza (All the Clouds 'll Roll Away); Christopher Columbus; Big Chief De Sota; Blue Lou; Stealin' Apples; I'm a Fool for Loving You; Moonrise on the Lowlands; I'll Always Be in Love With You; Jangled Nerves; Grand Terrace Rhythm; Riffin'; Mary Had a Little Lamb; Shoe Shine Boy; Sing, Sing, Sing; Until Today; Knock, Knock Who's There; Jim Town Blues; You Can Depend on Me.

Fletcher Henderson, Fats Waller, Horace Henderson, Pianos; Joe Smith, Tommy Ladnier, Russell Smith, Rex Stewart, Bobby Stark, Henry Allen, Joe Thomas, Irving Randolph, Dick Vance, Joe Thomas, Roy Eldridge, Arthur Lee Georgia Boy Simpkins, Trumpets; Benny Morton, Claude Jones, J.C. Higginbotham, Dickie Wells, Sandy Williams, Keg Johnson, Fernando Arbello, Ed Cuffee, Trombones; Jimmy Harrison, Trombone/Vocals; Buster Bailey, Don Redman, Hilton Jefferson, Scoops Carey, Alto Saxes; Ben Webster, Elmer Williams, Chu Berry, Tenor Sax; Benny Carter, Jerome Pasquall, Russell Procope, Harvey Boone, Buster Bailey, Omer Simeon, Alto Saxes/Clarinets; Coleman Hawkins, Clarinet/Tenor Sax/Baritone Sax; Edgar Sampson, Clarinet/Alto Sax/Violin; Charlie Dixon, Clarence Holiday, Guitars/Banjos; Freddie White, Bernard Addison, Lawrence Lucie, Bob Lessey, Guitars; June Cole, John Kirby, Elmer James, Israel Crosby, Upright Basses; Kaiser Marshall, Walter Johnson, Vic Engle, Sid Catlett, Drums; George Bias, Dick Robertson, Katherine Handy, Charles Holland, Teddy Lewis, Vocals; Fletcher Henderson Orchestra; The Dixie Stompers; The Louisiana Stompers; Connie's Inn Orchestra.