Jean Goldkette (with Bix Beiderbecke): My Pretty Girl

Jean Goldkette had fired Bix for his poor reading skills, but later rehired him, forming the hottest white dance band of its day. After a nationwide tour, the Famous Fourteen squared off against Fletcher Hendersons post-Satchmo outfit in a legendary battle of the bands at New Yorks Roseland Ballroom. Hendersons cornetist Rex Stewart called the experience humiliating, and it was partly due to audience favorites like My Pretty Girl, which the band recorded a few months later. Bix retreats to the background as Polo on clarinet and Trumbauer on saxophone take a scorching lead, bowing out only briefly for Venutis two fiddle breaks. The action, meanwhile, is driven by Browns incomparable slap bass. You know, Steve was even better known to more people at that time than Bix was, saxophonist Doc Ryker remembered.