As with its previous
Red Nichols CD, this Jazzology set features the cornet's 1949 band playing brief versions of mostly Dixieland standards for Lang-Worth Transcriptions. These renditions were meant to be used as filler between shows on the radio.
Nichols' group at the time includes the great bass saxophonist
Joe Rushton, clarinetist
Reuel Lynch, trombonist
King Jackson, pianist
Bobby Hammack, and drummer
Rollie Culver. Only four of the 19 selections are over three minutes, so every note had to count, and they usually do. In addition to the brevity, the main weak point to these performances (which were not meant to be heard one after the other) is that many of the pieces use the exact same ending! However,
Nichols' arranged ensembles are inventive and the solos (particularly by
Nichols and
Rushton) are quite colorful and swinging.