Charlie LaVere & his Chicago Loopers - His 25 finest 1933-1951

Jazz pianist, singer and bandleader, Charlie LaVere (1910-1983) was the catalyst who, with his band the Chicago Loopers, created some of the finest so-called ‘Dixieland jazz’ ever recorded. Long sought out by jazz connoisseurs, these 16 great tracks, comparable in some ways to Muggsy Spanier’s “Great 16”, have never been collated onto a single CD until now. Such all-time greats as Jack Teagarden, Billy May, Matty Matlock and Joe Venuti joined LaVere in just four historic sessions from 1944-1950. There are so many classics here, including LaVere’s Very 8’n Boogie, and what is possibly Teagarden’s finest on-record tour de force, Lover.

But, additionally, our Retrospective covers the entire span of Charlie LaVere’s recording career in terms of both time and style, beginning with his 1933 debut recordings with Jack Teagarden’s band (I’ve Got “It”) and his first session as a bandleader, with his Chicagoans in 1935 (Ubangi Man). As a smooth-voiced vocalist he had a million-selling hit in 1947 with Gordon Jenkins (Maybe You’ll Be There), whose orchestra also accompanies Louis Armstrong in the closing Indian Love Call from 1951, which has Satchmo’s trumpet happily duetting with LaVere’s piano. This is a compendium of seldom-aired tracks that warrants a place in any jazz collection.