Lou Donaldson - New Faces - New Sounds (1952)

"Cheek to Cheek" by Lou Donaldson

When Lou Donaldson released his debut album, Horace Silver and Art Blakey joined the session (with it being the first time the three played together in studio.)  Blue Note would release the session as New Faces - New Sounds in 1952 as part of a series of same-titled releases highlighting the young geniuses of bebop.  Later that year, Lou couldn't make a similar session, and the studio time fell to the remaining, eventually-named Horace Silver Trio.

Here is the discography surrounding Lou Donaldson's debut album:

Roccus (1952 single)

Sweet Juice (1952 single)

Things We Did Last Summer (1952 single)

If I Love Again (1952 single)

New Faces - New Sounds

"Things We Did Last Summer" by Lou Donaldson

"Lou's Blues" by Lou Donaldson

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Horace Silver Trio - New Faces - New Sounds (1952)

"Safari" by Horace Silver Trio

Horace Silver played the piano with the Art Blakey Quintet at Birdland.  And, Blakey played drums on New Faces - New Sounds: Horace Silver's first recording session as a bandleader released in 1952 on Blue Note Records.

Here is the discography surrounding Horace Silver's debut album:

New Faces - New Sounds

Safari (1953 single)

"Prelude to a Kiss" by Horace Silver

"Quicksilver" by Horace Silver

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Charles Mingus & Spaulding Givens - Strings and Keys (1952)

"Darn That Dream" by Charles Mingus & Spaulding Givens


Charles Mingus rounds out our small town tour of The Quintet's members.  Contributing bass to the five, Charles Mingus also pivotally released the ensemble's legendary performance on the record label he co-founded with Max Roach, Debut Records.  Debut Records's first release came a year earlier and was Mingus's own debut album.  Strings and Keys came out in 1952 and featured Mingus on bass and Spaulding Givens (aka Nadi Qamar) on piano.

Here is the discography surrounding Charles Mingus's debut album:

The Texas Hop (1945 single with his Sextet)
Lonesome Woman Blues (1945 single with his Sextet)
Ain't Jivin' Blues (1946 single with his Sextette)
Shuffle Bass Boogie (1946 single with his Sextette)
Ashby De La Zouch (1946 single as Baron Mingus and His Octet)
Pipe Dream (1946 single as Baron Mingus and His Octet)
Make Believe (1946 single as Baron Mingus and His Octet)
Honey Take a Chance with Me (1946 single as Baron Mingus and His Octet)
Mingus Fingus (1948 single with his Quartet)
Say It Isn't So (1948 single as Baron Mingus and His Rhythm)
Pennies from Heaven (1949 single as Baron Mingus and His Rhythm)
He's Gone (1949 single as Baron Mingus Presents His Symphonic Airs)
God's Portrait (1949 single as Baron Mingus Presents His Symphonic Airs)
The Story of Love (1949 single with His 22 Piece Be Bop Band)
Inspiration (1949 single with His 22 Piece Be Bop Band)
Charles 'Baron' Mingus: West Coast 1945-49
The Young Rebel, Vol. 1: Pacific Coast Blues
The Young Rebel, Vol. 2: Inspiration
Strings and Keys
Precognition (1952 single with his Quintet)
Montage (1952 single with his Quintet)
Paris in Blue (1952 single with his Quintet)
Charles Mingus Octet (1953 EP with his Octet)

"Lyon's Roar" by Baron Mingus and His Rhythm


"Inspiration" by Charles Mingus and His 22 Piece Be Bop Band


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Anton Rubinstein - Piano Concerto No. 4 in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 70 (1952)

"Piano Concerto No. 4 in D Minor" by Anton Rubinstein


Tchaikovsky studied at the Russian Musical Society under one of its founders, composer Anton Rubinstein.  Recordings of Rubinstein pieces are not as common (or as easy to find), so the first entry into the blog for Rubinstein is a 1952 release of his Piano Concerto No. 4 performed by the New York Philharmonic.

Here is the discography surrounding Anton Rubinstein's debut album:

Piano Concerto No. 4 in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 70

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Chet Atkins - Chet Atkins' Gallopin' Guitar (1952)

"Canned Heat" by Chet Atkins


The Everly Brothers's connection in the music industry was none other than legendary country singer and musician Chet "Mr. Guitar" Atkins, who pushed the duo to a successful career even after a few misfires.  That all took place at the first peak of his career.  For more than a decade before then, Chet Atkins was an itinerant session musician who wandered from country radio station to country radio station wowing executives and DJs with his finger-picking style of playing while simultaneously being dismissed for "not being country enough".  Still, he performed with the biggest names in country music, while his reputation as a skilled musician and upstanding individual grew over the years as did his singles output.  Starting with the jazz-influenced "Guitar Blues" in 1946 recorded at The Grand Ole Opry with only a clarinetist for accompaniment, Atkins would eventually release five to six singles for RCA Victor per year with various other musicians and singers, occasionally singing himself.  This was all before his first, purely instrumental 10" LP was released in 1952 called Chet Atkins' Gallopin' Guitar.  He had no hits but this would slowly change.

Here is the discography surrounding Chet Atkins's debut album:

Guitar Blues (1946 single)
Canned Heat (1947 single)
Standing Room Only (1947 single)
Bug Dance (1948 single)
I Know When I'm Blue (1948 single)
Dizzy Strings (1948 single)
I'm Pickin' the Blues (1948 single)
Money, Marbles and Chalk (1949 single)
Barber Shop Rag (1949 single)
Telling My Troubles to My Old Guitar (1949 single)
Centipede Boogie (1949 single)
Galloping Guitar (1949 single)
One More Chance (1950 single)
Main Street Breakdown (1950 single)
Boogie Man Boogie (1950 single)
Confusin' (1950 single)
Indian Love Call (1951 single)
Mountain Melody (1951 single)
My Crazy Heart (1951 single)
Crazy Rhythm (1951 single)
In the Mood (1951 single)
Rainbow (1952 single)
Spanish Fandango (1952 single)
Meet Mr. Callaghan (1952 single)
Tennessee Rag (1952 single)
Galloping on the Guitar (1952 single)
St. Louis Blues (1952 single)
Black Mountain Rag (1952 single)
Imagination (1952 single)
Chet Atkins' Gallopin' Guitar
Midnight (1952 single)
It Goes Like This (That Funny Melody) (1952 single)
Guitar Polka (1952 single)

"I'm Pickin' the blues" by Chet Atkins


"Wildwood Flower" by Chet Atkins


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Big Three Trio - The Big Three Trio (1952)

"Reno Blues" by Big Three Trio


The centerpiece of these next two entries is Chess Records talent scout, session bassist (including for Chuck Berry), and the most-covered blues songwriter of all time (and it's not even close):  Willie Dixon.  Originally, I was only going to do one entry on Dixon's first solo album and just lump in the recordings he made with blues groups decades before.  However, Big Three Trio, Dixon's third group, left such a considerable backlog of singles and such a palpable influence on the Chicago scene and the development of Rock and Roll that I felt obliged to make an emergency stop in order to highlight this three-piece blues band.

Although a retrospective importance has been placed upon the role of Willie Dixon because of his imminence in the growth of the recording industry and rock and roll, his bass playing and bass vocals would be nothing without the Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston's piano and Ollie Crawford's guitar.  Together, they'd found their sound on the interplay of their instruments and the three-part harmonies of their voices.  They were a major presence in the Chicago blues scene and would join it as it went electric by the late forties.  All of the members were established in the community and had been jumping between blues groups starting before World War II in The Five Breezes, Four Jumps of Jive, and The Rhythm Rascals Trio.

The band formed in 1946 and broke up by 1952 with the departure of Caston from lineup.  Their singles have since been gathered in a couple of incomplete compilations including the Willie Dixon-centric The Big Three Trio from 1990 that compiles a majority of the Trio's body of work up until their dissolution.

Here is the complete discography for Big Three Trio:

Sweet Louise (1940 single with The Five Breezes)
Laundry Man (1941 single with The Five Breezes)
My Buddy Blues (1941 single with The Five Breezes)
What's the Matter With Love? (1941 single with The Five Breezes)
Satchelmouth Baby (1946 single with Four Jumps of Jive)
Cigarettes, Whiskey & Wild Wild Women (1947 single)
Signifying Monkey (1947 single)
Lonely Roamin' (1947 single)
Baby, I Can Go Without You (1947 single)
No More Sweet Potatoes (1947 single)
You Sure Look Good to Me (1947 single)
Big Three Boogie (1947 single)
Reno Blues (1947 single)
Since My Baby's Been Gone (1947 single)
Hard Notch Boogie Beat (1949 single)
Big Three Stomp (1949 single)
No One to Love Me (1949 single)
Don't Let That Music Die (1949 single)
Goodbye Mr. Blues (1949 single)
Why Do You Do Me Like You Do (1949 single)
Blip Blip (1949 single)
Lonesome (1951 single)
It's All Over Now (1951 single)
Blue Because of you (1952 single)
You Don't Love Me No More (1952 single)
Come Here Baby (1953 single)
I Feel Like Steppin' Out (compilation album of songs up to 1952)
The Big Three Trio

"Big Three Boogie" by Big Three Trio


"My Love Will Never Die" by Big Three Trio


"My Buddy Blues" by The Five Breezes


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