From the last Arkansas Travellers session, a real gem from Red and Miff – their take on the Duke Ellington composition, “Birmingham Break-Down”.
Red and Miff worked together with many similar lineups for various labels alternately called “Red Nichols and his Five Pennies”, “Red and Miff’s Stompers”, “Miff Mole and his Molers”, “The Red Heads”, and “The Charleston Chasers”.
Harmony was the low-budget label owned by Columbia – along with sister labels Velvet Tone and Diva. The surprising quality of the acoustic recording and the outstanding laminated pressings made this label hold its own against even the big labels of the time who were all recording electrically. One could argue that between the Harmony and Edison labels, acoustic recording techniques had reached the height of its sound quality and audio fidelity.
Now, let’s break down the Break-Down: Red and Miff share the intro – playing the head melody in unison. Red takes a solo, followed by clarinet, trombone, and piano before the ensemble brings us back home.
0:00 Intro
0:40 Trumpet (Red Nichols)
1:04 Clarinet (Fud Livingston)
1:26 Trombone (Miff Mole)
1:39 Piano (Rube Bloom)
2:02 Ensemble
2:26 Outro
Recorded in New York City on September 14, 1927.
Released as Harmony 505-H
Credits:
Red Nichols – trumpet
Miff Mole – trombone
Fud Livingston – clarinet
Fred Morrow – alto sax
Rube Bloom – piano
Vic Berton – drums
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