Love for John Kirby

[mmilovan]

Hello to all,

I was happy as a child when I've received two CDs with this great small band. These CDs so beautifully recorded on 16 inch discs for later broadcasting, show how they played in their peak form: beautiful Charlie Shavers with phrases and tone to remember, clever Billy Kyle that played like Teddy Wilson, O’ Neal Spencer brushes, with added bonus of Maxine Sullivan all they were supported by Kirby strong bass lines.

And, something untruthful was said about Kirby's wish to play light European classical music.

It wasn't an imperative, it was way to defeat copyright in those days. So they started to play folk tunes and light pieces that was public domain then. They can play blues as hell…

At the end, I will recommend those discs to everyone:

http://www.jazzology.com/item_detail.php?id=CCD-47

http://www.jazzology.com/item_detail.php?id=CCD-125

John Kirby ended as poor man, diluted in alcohol. He and Maxine were divorced around 1942, or so.

O’ Neal Spencer was sent to some hospital, he suffered from mental illness.

[Alexander Hawkins]

I remember listening to an old double LP of my dad's endlessly when I was younger of the John Kirby group. I'm definitely a fan (especially love Charlie Shavers)!

[EKE BBB]

Hi, Milan. Great to see you round here once again!

Incidentally, a few weeks ago, I attended a concert by the Spanish sextet Racalmuto, leaded by saxophonist Miguel Malla, with Italian clarinetist Marco Cresci and trumpet player David Herrington on the front line. They play the music of John Kirby´s group and also Raymond Scott´s early compositions (besides quite a few originals in the same trend: emphasis on composition and arrangement, avoiding the typical head-solos-recapitulation).

It was a very nice concert that I did enjoy a lot.

BTW: I also like John Kirby a lot!

Agustín

[mmilovan]

Hi Agustín,

so nice to hear there are nowadays people and musicians who listened and prepared for modern listeners Kirby's music! I'm really excited to hear this!

And Shavers, oh, he is one of my favourite trumpet players, also.

Milan

[mmilovan]

Some youtube clips from the band called "Kirby Memory":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19GC99z2MkI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ_OMAb2o80

I was amazed - they sound so close to the original!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I got the 2CD set of the band's recordings for Columbia and Victor last year and I must say, it's very cheerful music. I always enjoy listening to it.

MG