ventre.mpg

No.2 of a series of interesting or simply obscure 78 rpm records, mostly Jazz and Hot Dance. This one is a trumpet solo by John Ventre, called 'Trick Fingering'. It was recorded for OKeh on 3rd September 1927, accompanied by Rube Bloom. It was not issued in the U.S.; only in the U.K., on Parlophone R-3423, and is exceptionally hard to find. The other side is called 'Hot Waves'. I think that John Ventre took many of the 'licks' that were to be heard on the early Pathé sides by Red Nichols, and created from them, his own concept of 'Jazz trumpet'. But his concept probably was that this Jazzy music could - or should - be capable of being written down. Another trumpet player, Donald Lindley, did much the same sort of thing, around the same time. In the long run, neither of them were terribly successful in their endeavours to 'write down Jazz'. Both Lindley and Ventre's outputs are interesting and still engaging to those open-minded about musical explorations of the mid-1920s. Unfortunately, however, their pieces are all too often 'fragile blooms' that are susceptible, these days, to dismissal as trivia by unsympathetic critics.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• John Ventre
• Trick Fingering
• Rare 78
• OKeh
• Rube Bloom

[78rpmblog]

As always very interesting and very nice to listen to. Cheers. Björn Jakobsson

[bixanorak]

@78rpmblog Thank you, Björn! Because of your encouragement, I uploaded a video of Donald Lindley. Cheers, Norman.

[roybo1930]

WHAT A WONDERFUL RECORD!!! Indeed truly a rare treat!