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(Hartzell Strathdene "Tiny" Parham - one of the most overlooked and neglected figures in early Chicago Jazz)

Back to Jazz tonight - this time it's Tiny Parham, one of the most innovative and obscure figures in the "South Side Chicago Jazz" scene of the 1920s, who has sadly and strangely been almost totally overlooked by critics and neglected even by early Jazz enthusiasts. Why? I couldn't possibly tell you. Parham recorded several sides for a number of record companies between 1926 and 1940 with his biggest popularity during the 1920s. After the depression hit, and dates became scarce, Parham's popularity began to slide into obscurity. Parham died on April 4, 1943.

This track, The Head Hunter's Dream comes from his 1928-1929 period recording for Victor Records and this session comes from July 2, 1928.

I guess it goes to prove you can still be great and nobody knows you.

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(Max von Schillings - composer as conductor)

Some Robert Schumann this week. Music from the dramatic poem Manfred, from which the overture is the best known work. There have only been a few recordings made of the entire play with music and this is about the only recording of just the music I've heard that includes the entr`acte (the pause after the overture).

Here is a recording made for German Parlophone (issued in the U.S. first on Columbia and later on Decca) in 1928 featuring the Berlin State Opera Orchestra conducted by the composer Max von Schillings.

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(Enrique Fernandez Arbos - helped put Albeniz on the map. Spain went along too)

Composer/Conductor/Violinist conducting his arrangement of a friends composition. Happens all the time, right? Enrique Fernandez Arbos was a talented composer in his own right, but he was also a very talented musician who also held the post of Music Director of the Madrid Symphony from 1904 until 1936.

He's probably best known as the orchestral arranger of a set of piano pieces composed by his friend Isaac Albeniz. An arrangement that has probably done more for Albeniz' career than anything else. And it helped establish Iberia as a staple in the concert hall (at least in the first half of the 20th century).

This 1928 recording, made for Spanish Columbia was part of a series of recordings Arbos made of Spanish composers that helped create an awareness of just how rich the vein of talent was in Spain, rather than always depend on French composers and musicians to take the honors for Spanish themed works. Arbos did a considerable amount to further the cause of Spanish culture to the rest of the world. One that was gaining considerable momentum before Civil War broke out in 1936. Arbos died in 1939. It wouldn't be until well after the end of World War 2 that it would resume. By that time a whole new generation of musicians and composers appeared.

And they probably owe a small debt of gratitude to Enrique Fernandez Arbos for getting the ball rolling.

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(Alphonso Trent - epitomized the phrase Hot Jazz)

This one just screamed out at me today. It's been one of those days anyway. Fitting the song is called Nightmare. Alphonso Trent and his Orchestra, recorded on December 5, 1928

It's just too good to pass up.

October 22, 2008 MSNBC HARDBALL