Wholly Cats:     Guitar Solo    1^st “What’s New? – The Old Gold Show”

C&A:

It’s been five days since Charles had recorded with the Celestial Quartet and a month prior to that with the Metronome All Stars.  Wholly Cats was the first tune by the sextet at the band’s first engagement on the “What’s New? – The Old Gold Show” which aired every Monday on WJZ radio.  The band would appear on the show every Monday for thirteen weeks from 10 February until 5 May (the following Monday Charlie Christian would be free to turn up at Minton’s to record Topsy).

Dave Tough has now rejoined the band and is providing a driving rhythm for the sextet.  Another deviation from the previous aircheck was the elimination of the piano solo (Johnny Guarnieri has replaced Count Basie) after the tenor sax – the guitar solo follows right after the sax.  The whole tune from this broadcast did not get recorded but Charles’ solo is intact.

This is not the first time we’ve heard this same solo opening from Charles –the false start preceding Ad-Lib Blues comes immediately to mind– but then on the second set of four bars (mm 5-8) a long unique run crops up that cannot be found on any other recording.

After a favorite D7 phrase comes a wonderful seven-bar sequence across the two choruses (including a pinch of Pinkard-Tauber with a nod towards Lady Day) which may make this solo equally as admirable as that of 19 November.  Funky slides go immediately into an unrelated song followed by a complex jazz line and unto familiar ground – comes as a bit of a surprise but it works well.  Charles, blues, and the sound of surprise.

Later in the evening’s broadcast the sextet would record a version of Flying Home with xylophonist Red Norvo as guest.

Incidentally, in volume seven of their splendid Masters of Jazz series, Media 7’s claim that “all pieces have been restored to their original key during the transfer process to CD” doesn’t quite hold true in the case of this version of Wholly Cats, ironically listed directly below their statement in the prized booklet – this track in this one instance was restored up to the wrong key of A♭ – perhaps the only smudge in their nonpareil treasury.