Pete Brown: Complete World Session, 1944

This was originally made for World Broadcasting in Chicago on January 16, 1944, by Milt Gabler. Unfortunately, it seems to have been a bad day for Brown, who sounds a mere caricature of himself, at least as compared with how he sounded on Frank Newton’s records of 1937 and 1939. Here, however, he is supported by another great Swing Era trumpet, Jonah Jones, who, as annotator Frank Driggs states, “plays superbly.” It’s high time Capitol came up with a judicious selection from their stock of this great musician’s recordings.

Jonah drops out for the last two numbers, “Caravan” and “Lowdown Blues,” and on these Brown seems to be getting his strength back. The staccato popping is less labored and he sings quite creditably on the blues. Perhaps he had been sick, or drinking, or just not working? The rhythm section of Zed Jackson on piano, Dallas Bartley on bass and Eddie Nicholson on drums is not impressive.

Originally Published December 1, 1997