Terry Teachout's Hot Lips List

Shortly after Oran Thaddeus Page moved to Kansas City from Dallas, Texas in the late 1920s, he became a trumpet sensation in several of the city's best-known emerging swing bands, including Count Basie's. In 1936, Basie and Hot Lips, as he was known, parted. Basie agreed to be managed by John Hammond, who brought the band to New York and national recognition. Page decided to go the solo route, signing with Joe Glaser, Louis Armstrong's manager.

According to Todd Bryant Weeks' newly published Luck's in My Corner: The Life and Music of Hot Lips Page, Glaser purposefully held Page back, getting him second-rate bookings to keep Page from diluting the potency of Louis Armstrong's phenomenal appeal and success.

Throughout his recording career, Page retained much of the traditional blues flavor he picked up while touring the Southwest in the late 1920s backing blues shouters and singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Page's powerful chops allowed him to bend notes, creating the sensation that his horn was growling or singing.

Despite Page's place in jazz, there are no solid box sets of his recordings. So it was with great pleasure on Friday that I opened an email from critic and author Terry Teachout informing me that he was listening to a fabulous mix of Hot Lips Page. Terry just finished writing Rhythm Man: A Life of Louis Armstrong, which will be published next year by Harcourt. Given Terry's touch for taking any subject and bringing it to life, I can't wait.

Terry and I often surprise each other with emails (usually when it's pouring rain) asking what the other is listening to. When Terry told me Hot Lips Page, I asked him if there was a new compilation. Terry said no, he had simply created his own prime collection via downloads at iTunes. So I asked Terry if he wouldn't mind sharing his list of 10 favorite Hot Lips Page downloads. Here's his terrific track list:

1. Cherry Red (1939). With Pete Johnson and His Boogie Woogie Boys. This Pete Johnson track is available at iTunes on The Real Kansas City of the '20s, '30s, and '40s.

2. I Won't Be Here Long (1940). It can be found on Black Legends of Jazz.

3. Thirsty Mama Blues (1940). The Hot Lips Page Trio from the album, All Star Jazz Quartets.

4. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You? (1941). With Chu Berry and His Jazz Ensemble (search for "Chu Berry") from Tenor Giants: Chu Berry and Coleman Hawkins.

5. Blues in the Night (1941). With Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
from Artie Shaw: Self Portrait.

6. St. James Infirmary Blues (Parts I and II) (1941). With Artie Shaw and His Orchestra from The Essential Artie Shaw.

7. Uncle Sam's Blues (1944). Hot Lips Page's Swing Seven from Savoy Blues 1944/1994.

8. Jammin' the Boogie (1944). Albert Ammons and His Rhythm Kings (search for "Albert Ammons") from The Commodore Story.

9. They Raided the Joint (1945). Hot Lips Page and His Orchestra from On the Blues Side.

10. Buffalo Bill Blues (1946). Hot Lips Page and His Orchestra
from On the Blues Side.

Comments

[Michael Steinman]

Dear Marc,

Here are a few more -- some even available on CD -- in no particular order of preference:
Rockin' At Ryan's (Commodore 1944)
Muskrat Ramble (live, 1950, with Ralph Sutton)
My Melancholy Baby (Xanadu, vinyl, 1941)
The Sheik of Araby (V-Disc, 1944)
When My Sugar Walks Down The Street / Chinatown / What'cha' Doin' After The War? (Condon Town Hall concerts, Jazzology, 1944)
Blues in Bb (with Fats Waller, 1942)
There'll Be Some Changes Made (Artie Shaw, airshot with Dave Tough, 1941)
Sweet Sue (party at Rudi Blesh's house, 1951)

Terry's list is wonderful, but Lips was a man of many passions and neither of our lists contains the whole man. But thanks for helping keep Lips alive!

P.S. Todd's book tends to downplay the theory, held by many, that Glaser strangled Lips's career: perhaps because of the paucity of solid evidence or his desire for fairness. It makes a great deal of visceral sense, though.

[Michael Steinman]

Dear Marc,

Here are a few more -- some even available on CD -- in no particular order of preference:
Rockin' At Ryan's (Commodore 1944)
Muskrat Ramble (live, 1950, with Ralph Sutton)
My Melancholy Baby (Xanadu, vinyl, 1941)
The Sheik of Araby (V-Disc, 1944)
When My Sugar Walks Down The Street / Chinatown / What'cha' Doin' After The War? (Condon Town Hall concerts, Jazzology, 1944)
Blues in Bb (with Fats Waller, 1942)
There'll Be Some Changes Made (Artie Shaw, airshot with Dave Tough, 1941)
Sweet Sue (party at Rudi Blesh's house, 1951)

Terry's list is wonderful, but Lips was a man of many passions and neither of our lists contains the whole man. But thanks for helping keep Lips alive!

P.S. Todd's book tends to downplay the theory, held by many, that Glaser strangled Lips's career: perhaps because of the paucity of solid evidence or his desire for fairness. It makes a great deal of visceral sense, though.

[Mark Gabrish Conlan]

My understanding was that Joe Glaser signed Hot Lips Page to a management contract in the first place only because Louis Armstrong was going through some problems with his lips in 1936. Glaser was looking for a replacement, and Page met the basic qualifications — he was Black, he played trumpet and he sang — but when Armstrong's lips recovered Glaser totally lost interest in Page.