There is no trumpet solo in "I Can't Get Started," but judging from the phrasing
and choice of notes, Davis is among the soloists on "Rose Room" and "Night and Day."
On the former, he plays phrases that echo his solo on "Jump Call" from
another Carter date from around this time. On the latter, the phrase at 3:57-3:59
is the same as that from take 1 of "Don't Sing Me the Blues" (0:32-0:34), recorded
in Los Angeles in October. The abbreviated
solo on the incomplete "One O'Clock Jump" at the end of the set is probably Howard
McGhee: at 1:44-1:46 a phrase appears that is repeated at 1:48-1:50 of McGhee's
solo on "Back Bay Boogie" from the April 29
Jubilee session.
Davis joined the Carter band after a January 1946 engagement at the Riviera Club
in St. Louis, and traveled to Los Angeles in February. In addition to playing with
Carter's orchestra and a smaller Carter group, Davis began sitting in with Charlie
Parker at the Finale Club. In March he became a regular member of the Parker Quintet,
and he participated in a Dial session on March
28. He continued to play regularly with Carter's bands, as evidenced by a March 31 broadcast from the Streets of Paris.
(An announcement from that broadcast mentions that "Benny Carter and his boys, of
course, appear through the courtesy of the Trianon in Southgate, where their band
currently appears," so the current session is very likely from around the same time.)
Eventually the musicians' union caught up with him and he was fined; he chose to
leave the Carter group. Exactly when this happened is not clear. On April 12 Parker
brought an eight-piece band -- Davis, Britt Woodman (tb), Parker, Lucky Thompson
(ts), Dodo Marmarosa (p), Arvin Garrison (g), Red Callendar (b), and Perc White
(d) -- to a concert at UCLA's Carver Club. Also on the bill were Lester Young,
the Nat Cole Trio, Herb Jeffries, and Kay Starr.
I'm grateful to Craig Neilson for his help with this session, and to Tommaso Urbano
for his expertise in identifying the trumpet solos.
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