The Mule's 10 random CD picks (1)

* James P. Johnson - 1942-1945: Piano Solos (Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40812)

* Willie The Lion Smith - 1938-1940 (Classics 692)

* Marian McPartland - The Single Petal Of A Rose (Concord CCD-4895-2)

* Kenny Davern & Dick Wellstood - Never In A Million Years (Challenge CHR 70019)

* Ben Webster - At The Renaissance (Contemporary/OJC 00025218639026)

* Earl Hines - Four Jazz Giants (Solo Art SACD 111/112)

* Coleman Hawkins - Wrapped Tight (GRP/Impulse! GRD-109)

* Bobby Henderson - Handful Of Keys (Vanguard VMD-8511)

* Lionel Hampton And His Orchestra And Quintet - Jazz Flamenco (RCA 74321364002)

* Various Artists - Prestige First Sessions, Vol. 1 (Prestige PCD-24114-2)

Anatomy of a jam session [revisited]

Regarding my post from May 4, and thanks to jazz critics (and faithful readers) Fernando Ortiz de Urbina and Michael Steinman, we now have a few more educated guesses for that 1943 picture taken at photographer Gjon Mili's studio in New York: George Wettling is on the right, behind the piano; Al Hall is most probably on bass, and drummer O'Neill Spencer is talking to the white woman on the second picture. On the other hand, jazz scholar C.J. Hazevoet confirms that it is Leo Parker on alto sax.

There are several more pictures from that jam session available at the LIFE magazine on-line archives. As an example, here's a couple, one of them showing Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet.

© Gjon Mili / LIFE

© Gjon Mili / LIFE

Anatomy of a jam session

© Gjon Mili / LIFE

This photograph was taken in 1943 at photographer Gjon Mili's studio in New York. Apart from the obvious Count Basie and Lester Young, and with the invaluable help of the good physiognomists at the organissimo jazz forums, one can recognize Earle Warren just below Prez, with Mezz Mezzrow on clarinet and drummer Kansas Fields next to him. Jo Jones and Sid Catlett flank Kansas Fields to make sure he does not miss a beat! The older bespectacled man on the extreme left is Pops Foster and the trumpeter up front at the left is the great Hot Lips Page. The saxophonist on the right looks like a 19-years-old Leo Parker on alto, his instrument until he turned to baritone around 1944. The following close-up doesn't allow me to recognize the second trumpet player. Any help 'round there?

© Gjon Mili / LIFE