Red Nichols and His Five Pennies, Vol. 1

The first of five albums from the Australian Swaggie label that reissues all of the performances (including alternate takes) from Red Nichols' Five Pennies of 1926-June 1929 shows just how radical and unusual Nichols' music was during 1926-27. The use of whole tone phrases, unpredictable frameworks and Vic Berton's colorful tympani gave these performances a personality of their own that stood far apart from Dixieland. Trombonist Miff Mole, Jimmy Dorsey (doubling on clarinet and alto), pianist Arthur Schutt, guitarist Eddie Lang and (on two songs apiece) violinist Joe Venuti and bass saxophonist Adrian Rollini form the all-star cast for such classic performances as "Washboard Blues," "Buddy's Habits" and "Boneyard Shuffle." All five albums in this series (which came out in the late '80s are highly recommended to 1920s collectors.