Volume 2
of
Jazz Oracle
's complete early
Ben Pollack
program finds the
Pollack Orchestra
being quite busy during a three-month period. The ensemble not only recorded as
Pollack
's
big band
but as
Jimmy McHugh's Bostonians
,
the Louisville Rhythm Kings
, and a septet called
Ben's Bad Boys
. The vocals of
Gene Austin
Dick Robertson
Irving Kaufman
Smith Ballew
Scrappy Lambert
, and
himself do not help, although clarinetist
Benny Goodman
, cornetist
Jimmy McPartland
, and trombonist
Jack Teagarden
(who should have been singing instead of the others) have their spots. The better numbers include
"Futuristic Rhythm,"
"Wang Wang Blues,"
"Yellow Dog Blues,"
a previously unreleased
"Shirt Tail Stomp"
(a satire of cornball bands), and
"Louise."
Fourteen songs are augmented by 11 alternate takes. ~ Scott Yanow