More shellac! Earl Bostic's Flamingo

Two days in and I'm already at the letter B. This is a tricky one. Basie, Barnet, Bix, Bunny? They're all well-represented in my collection however, I've bypassed them in favour of Earl Bostic's Flamingo/Sleep.

Flamingo had a big effect on teenagers in the early fifties. His growling tone on alto personified instrumental rhythm and blues and, once more kids could dance to jazz although once rock and roll arrived in the form of Bill Haley and Elvis those fickle fans flew the coup.

No one understood how he got that raspy growl. One local know-all said it was because he played the instrument underwater. Fortunately I had yet to take up the saxophone otherwise I may have drowned or at least caught a cold.

I remember I once bought a Rex Stewart 78 because  it had Earl Bostic on alto and a guitarist with the intriguing name of Brick Fleagle. Imagine my surprise when Bostic sounded like Johnny Hodges!

Nevertheless, he was an amazing musician praised by fellow saxists such as Coltrane, Golson and Lou Donaldson who, in an interview recalled him 'burning Bird' at Mintons!

So I think I'm justified in my selection plus the Vogue label was much more appealing than the dull HMV, Brunswick, Decca and the other major labels were.

As can be seen by the sleeve I bought it at the Percy St branch of Jeavons. I think that, back in those days, Windows considered independent labels such as Vogue to be beneath them! Lance

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