Teddy Wilson: Classic Brunswick & Columbia Sessions 1934-1942

The brilliant swing era pianist Teddy Wilson came to prominence as a member of the Benny Goodman trio and quartet, starting in 1935, and as a frequent accompanist to Billie Holiday from 1935 to 1942. Those are the roles he’s largely remembered for, and that’s the material that’s been issued and reissued over the decades. That left a lot of other quality work dwelling in obscurity and is why the Mosaic boxed set of Classic Brunswick & Columbia Sessions 1934-1942 is such a treasure chest: the bulk of the music heard on the seven discs has never even been on Lp. Statistics, as always in a Mosaic collection, tell us a lot. The 169 selections on 7 CDs are drawn from 33 separate sessions, a mix of small group dates, solo piano recordings, and a few quartet and trio sessions made for the Brunswick and Columbia labels. As is typical for Mosaic sets, we’re treated to some unissued alternate takes, notably from the marathon trio session with bassist Al Hall and drummer J.C. Heard in April 1941. This set doesn’t represent Wilson’s total output for the period, although it comes close. The easily obtainable Holiday sides are absent. A producer’s note in the detailed and well-illustrated booklet details a few other exceptions.
Many of the jazz stars of the day make memorable appearances in the Wilson orchestra, including tenor saxophonists Ben Webster and Vido Musso, alto saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter, clarinetist Benny Goodman, trumpeters Harry James and Bobby Hackett, trombonist Benny Morton, vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Helen Ward, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, bassist John Kirby, drummers Cozy Cole and Gene Krupa. Cole in particular is a mainstay of the Wilson group, appearing on eleven sessions from 1935 to 1938. Saxophonist and educator Loren Schoenberg contributes an extensive session-by-session musical and historical analysis to the booklet. While the occasional rawness of the sound might put off a few modern listeners, with a little time and attention to acclimate your ears, the warmth and beauty of the music will come through loud and clear.
Teddy Wilson, because of his impressive playing with Goodman, was my father’s favorite piano player, so I was introduced to the joys of his music at a relatively young age. When I started developing a record collection, I was very happy to find a copy of a French CBS compilation entitled The Teddy Wilson Piano Solos, one of the few available collections. In a sense, I’ve been waiting for this collection for years and didn’t even know it. In any particular musical scene, there are always seem to be a few key performers who raise the game of everyone around them to heights that they might not even have imagined. Judging from the unerringly positive results of just about everything that involved Wilson, I’m inclined to think that he’s one of that rare breed. You could almost keep these seven CDs in constant rotation for a few weeks and never grow tired of them. Highest recommendation!
Mosaic MD7-265; Disc 1 (71:16): Session A (5/22/34)-session I (6/30/36); Disc 2 (64:50): Session J (8/24/36)-session O (6/30/37); Disc 3 (73:05): Session P (8/29/37)-session S (3/23/38); Disc 4 (76:70): Session T (4/29/38)-session X (7/26/39); Disc 5 (72:25): Session Y (9/12/39)-session CC (4/7/41); Disc 6 (69:29): Session DD (4/11/41); Disc 7 (75:30): Session DD continued-session FF (1/21/42). Complete discographical details available at http://www.mosaicrecords.com/discography.asp?number=265-MD-CD&price=$119.00&copies=7%20CDs. Limited edition of 2,500 sets available at www.mosaicrecords.com.