|
Frankie Newton was a much-admired trumpeter whose recording career spanned two highly significant decades from the 1920s through to the 1940s during which time his adaptable, mellow swinging style made him a popular sideman in many different leaders bands while he also led his own orchestras and small bands in sessions that produced some marvellously entertaining recordings. The fact that he somewhat lost interest in music in favour of other interests, resulting in him fading from the scene as bebop developed, meant that his influence and legacy has been sadly ignored over the years. This great-value 69-track 3-CD set comprises recordings from across his active career, and features recordings with a startling variety of top names, ranging from Bessie Smith in the 1920s, through the likes of Mezz Mezzrow, Teddy Wilson Willie The Lion Smith, Maxine Sullivan and Billie Holiday in the 30s, to Art Tatum, Mary Lou Williams, and Big Joe Turner in the 40s, as well as his own bands such as the Uptown Serenaders and Cafй Society Orchestra. It encompasses a highly entertaining range of jazz styles, showcasing him in a variety of different musical environments, both in the studio and live, as a powerful and inventive soloist and sensitive accompanist and ensemble player as well as a leader. It provides a substantial tribute to a musician who merits much more attention than he had generally received. REVIEWS “I must confess I knew little about Frankie (or Frank as he preferred to be known) Newton before listening to this set. Now thanks to Acrobat, I am considerably better acquainted with one of those under appreciated musicians without whom our musical heritage would be a lot poorer.” – Gerry Stonestreet (In Tune Issue 330) “The high spots in this compilation are too numerous to list in full... This 3CD set reveals a forward-looking, harmonically sophisticated player with a rich, slightly cloudy tone and phrasing that could be jaunty one moment and plaintive the next.” – Jim Denham (Just Jazz Issue 256) “Sometimes more celebrated for his left-wing politics than his fine playing, this 3CD shows why Newton was so highly regarded as a trumpeter, not only with his own Uptown Serenaders and the 1938 band assembled by Hugues Panassie, but with a host of others from Cecil Scott to Mary Lou Williams.” – Alyn Shipton (Jazzwise Issue 244)
|
