Jumping back into Post War Jazz tonight via the inimitable Slim Gaillard. The undisputed crown Prince of hipsters and scat singers, Gaillard crossed over so many musical boundaries it was almost impossible to categorize him. But it was never impossible to recognize him as one of the true originals and one of the most innovative artists to come along and blossom during that complete musical free-for-all known as the Post War Jazz period.
Like many artists of the time, he recorded for a whole host of record companies, many of them independent labels around the West Coast. One of those was the small L.A. based Jazz/R&B/Jump blues label Mel-o-Disc where Gaillard recorded this classic, Laguna, in 1946.
In a word, wowtee.
