Classics
2002
The Chronogical 1947 - 1951
About This Album
Multi-instrumentalist and gloriously irrational vocalist Slim Gaillard marked 1947 as his last year of steady activity on the West Coast. Popular with the public but rather notorious among record company executives and nosy narks, Gaillard managed to squeeze out a series of records for MGM before relocating to New York City where three more titles apparently fulfilled his contractual obligations with that company in 1949. Gaillard also landed a small piece of work with Mercury in March 1951 and even managed to line up a session with Norman Granz for the Clef label two months later. The first 13 tracks on this peculiar compilation represent the Slim Gaillard/Bam Brown L.A. hipster novelty routine taken to its inevitable extreme. On one session someone named Jim Hawthorne even barks like a dog ("Serenade to a Poodle") and keeps up an irritating refrain of "Hoo-hoo-hoo-Hogan!" ("The Hogan Song"). Discographical rumors persist that the pianist on October 1, 1947, might have been Dodo Marmarosa, but this is almost certainly not the case. The session that took place on December 22, 1947, yielded a surprisingly palatable version of "Down by the Station" and "Communications," a very hip paean to various 20th century modes of keeping in touch.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,13,14,21 and 24)

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