Listen To:


Selected MP3s of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, and classic easy listening from the original vinyl.

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Guitars & All That Jazz was a radio station that webcast via Live365 for 11 years, ending in June 2011. The playlist consisted of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, early rock 'n' roll, lounge music and classic easy listening.

I hope to share some of this music with you via this blog. Most of it will be taken from the original vinyl (LPs and 45s) , cassettes and the occasional commercially unavailable CD.

Here's hoping you'll find something to enjoy. Please note files are available only for a limited time.

I urge you to purchase the digital version of the albums featured, either on CD or via download, wherever possible.

Listen to the Music
There are now two music streams. Click the appropriate player to the right.
1. Guitars & All That Jazz: Five hours of the best in jazz, guitars and other instrumental gems. New songs are added weekly.
2. Tiki Shores: Music to sweep you away to a tropical isle, a South American dance floor or a bossa nova on the beach at Rio. About 4.5 hours of classic exotica music, Latin rhythms and bossa nova.
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Saturday, August 17, 2013

Billy Maxted & His Manhattan Jazz Band - Bourbon St. Billy and the Blues


Pianist and arranger Billy Maxted (1917-2001) led a top notch Dixieland group, the Manhattan Jazz Band, which he formed in the late 1940s and held together for more than a decade. He began playing with trumpeter Red Nichols's group in 1937 and during the Second World War wrote arrangements for the bands of Benny Goodman and Claude Thornhill.

But Maxted is seldom remembered today, partly because most of his recordings were for small labels like Seeco, which issued Bourbon St. Billy and the Blues in 1959. The personnel on this session included Chuck Forsyth on trumpet, Johnny Dengler, tuba, bass sax and clarinet, Lee Gifford on trombone, Dan Tracey on clarinet, Jack Fay on bass and Maurice Purtill, drums. A sample tune is below. My copy of the LP showed considerable wear and tear when it was added to my collection some years ago, so there's a bit of distortion evident.

Billy's Delight



Bourbon St. Billy and the Blues does not appear to have crossed the digital frontier to CD or downloads. In fact, only one collection of Maxted's recordings is available on CD.


Most major online merchants are selling this good quality collection of recordings made between 1955 and 1966. Choose from CD or downloads.

There are several other Maxted albums being marketed as downloads, but they are from the substandard Hallmark imprint and are not recommended.

Billy Maxted's recording of Satin Doll (it's included in the compilation album pictured above) got quite a bit of airplay after its release in 1961 and here it is from YouTube.


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