Vol, 7: Whoopee Makers, Remaining Titles

Volumes 6 and 7 of Jazz Oracle's Ben Pollack series documents music by selected members of Pollack's star-studded 1928-9 dance orchestra, made for budget labels under names like the Whoopee Makers, Lumberjacks and other aliases . Several private collectors have pooled their resources to assemble all known original recordings, including numerous out-takes. Though the best of these ("Whoopee Stomp," "Makin' Friends," "'Cause I'm in Love," "It's Tight Like That," "Digga Digga Do" etc.) are sterling performances, others are lifeless stock arrangements of routine pop tunes, included here solely for completeness. Several others are misguided comic send-ups of dixieland perennials like "Tiger Rag," "After You've Gone" and a Ted Lewis-influenced novelty called "Shirt Tail Stomp." Even though Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden and Jimmy McPartland take part, it's music that sounds like a cross between Spike Jones and the Hoosier Hot Shots and makes you wonder what they were thinking of. Surprisingly, the late John R.T. Davies' transfers from original discs are often muddy and distorted. Ordinarily his work set the standard for sound restoration, but these fall considerably below the mark.