• Track Listing

Daniel F. O’Brien at Melodisc Records on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard took one of the clearest "audio pictures" of jazz activity on Central Avenue in Los Angeles during the mid-’40s. This 46-track anthology by celebrated archivist, collector and writer Opal Louis Nations offers a fascinating insight into a highly entertaining strand of musical history. Between June 1945 and the fall of 1946, O’Brien captured a flurry of activity that matched the urgency and raw excitement going on in the halls and venues around Hollywood. Clubs no longer booked New Orleans revival bands to fill seats; instead, they picked up on fashionable be-boppers, who with their new-found harmonic sophistication and rhythmic complexities, competed with blues and smaller swing units in an economic climate inhospitable to the maintenance of orchestras and large bands. These recordings by King Perry, George Crawford, Slim Gaillard, Marion Abernathy and more have been transferred from original 78s, and much care was taken to preserve the character, integrity and sheer potency of the original performances!