”That jazz” is referring to a miracle in music that happened in the beginning of 1900s when people from a big variation of ethnical and cultural background inspired each other to play in a new fashion. Luckily all this coincided with the development of new inventions like the phonograph recordings, photography and film so that it became in part documented and still can be enjoyed today. In my early teens I happened to be exposed to ”that jazz” and it struck a string deep within me that has kept vibrating ever since.
Paul Bocciolone Strandberg
NEW Series: From the Studio and From the Record Shelves
Today’s Tune:
From the Record Shelves #295
I’d Rather Be a Beggar with You
LP Ace of Clubs 1162
![](https://www.digitpaul.se/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/FromTheRecordShelves-295.webp)
I have a weakness for sentimental songs, under the condition that they are delivered with a reasonably high grade of honesty. Fortunately, there were a handful of singers that could do that in the 1920s and 30s, and Al Bowlly (1898–1941) was one of them.
This song belongs to the category with a message that money isn’t all there is, which was especially comforting in 1931 during the Great Depression.
Bowlly’s career can shortly be outlined as this: He was born by a Greek father, and the mother was Lebanese (British father and Greek mother according to the record sleeve). He grew up in South Africa, where he started to play the guitar and banjo. The group that he was playing with happened to be observed by an English band leader that noticed and liked his singing, and after touring with this outfit to Germany, he then found himself in London at the end of the 1920s as a member of Fred Elizalde´s fine orchestra. As the saying goes, he was singing in the London streets during the winter season when work was scarce, and it was this way that he was discovered and eventually employed by other successful band leaders in town, mainly Roy Fox and Ray Noble. His singing career grew steadily, but ten years after this recording it came to a sudden end. People in London still needed and still had a nightlife to some extent during the terror bombing by Germany, and it was during one of the worst of these attacks in 1941 that Bowlly fell victim to the blitz.
Radioprogram (Swedish):
Radio Swingtime 100 – 1 november 2002
MY PRETTY GIRL – Nu är vi framme vid det näst sista avsnittet i denna unika radioprogramserie. Vi gläds åt livaktig jazz från New Orleans med Oliver Naylor och Halfway House Orchestra, vi njuter av Fletcher Hendersons fina orkester med arrangemang av (…) lyssna på radioprogramlyssna på Radio Swingtime 100
Latest CD:
New Sensational CD with Narcisse Jazz Band
Melodious jazz inspired by the irresistible sound and pulse of the 1920’s. Buy at $10.00 (+shipping) (…) view the CDMore about Narcisse CD
New Paul and His Gang CD:
Paul and His Gang – new CD Live in USA and Canada
Paul and his Gang was founded in Malmoe, Sweden by Paul Bocciolone Strandberg in 1990. At the most prestigious jazz festival for “old style jazz” in Breda, Holland they won the first prize in 1992. Their genuine interpretations of early jazz created an interest also in the US where (…) view the CDMore about Paul and His Gang CD Live in USA and Canada
Also Available:
“Remembering” CD
I’m proud to present a new double-CD in co-operation with jazzarkivet. The production is a retrospective collection of recordings and presents two of my most successful bands, Scaniazz (CD 1) and The Absalon Orchestra (CD 2), covering the period from 1975 until 1988 (…) continue readingRemembering CD