Personal Choice
by Jack Teagarden All Stars

From TheDude85 09/21/2020 18:28 | #258514

A surprisingly difficult album to track down, this ultra rare release had a sordid past before it got into my hands. The trials and tribulations, of the primary artist are echoed in the eventual emergence of this disc. Trombonist/Vocalist/Bandleader Jack Teagarden had a challenging career until his early demise in 1964 at the age of 59. He had been an itinerant musician for many years, playing in a succession of differing big bands, (including Ben Pollack's, Paul Whiteman's Orchestra, then fronting his own big band led to his unfortunate bankruptcy. His friend Bing Crosby offered help and Teagarden was able to join the original amalgamation known as Louis Armstrong All-Stars in 1947 where he performed for the next 4 years. Teagarden eventually put together and lead another band - this time a Dixieland unit which continued on until his death.

The disc was recorded in October of 1954 by an assortment of musicians who were associated with Teagarden's Dixieland Band at the time. In addition to Teagarden's playing and singing on the album, such Jazz luminaries as Lucky Thompson on Tenor Sax, Ruby Braff on Trumpet, Sol Yaged on Clarinet, Sidney Gross on Guitar, Ken Kersey on Piano and Denzil Best on Drums are featured. According to the liner notes distributed with the album I have, the album was originally released on Jazz Kings Records as JK1205 (release date unclear), and eventually made its way to being released by Drive Archive/Drive Entertainment, Inc. as DE2-41205 as a 1997 release. Unfortunately, I could not uncover any additional information on Discogs.com