Albert Aloysius Casey,
guitarist and bandleader: born Louisville, Kentucky 15 September 1915; married
(one son); died New York 11 September 2005. Casey came from a musical family
and was forced to learn the violin. He hated the sound of it and as soon as he
could jettisoned it for the ukulele. Once in New York he studied guitar at
DeWitt Clinton High School before his uncles sent him to the Martin Smith Music
School for three years.
During the first part of his
career Casey played a mainly chordal style on the guitar and it was only later,
after Fats Waller's death in 1943, that he concentrated on electric guitar and
the delightful single string solos that swung so much. He had such a powerful
ability to swing that he had no need for complex solos and compared to other
guitarists used a minimum of notes. This style can best be heard on the
remarkably swinging blues feature that he recorded with Waller "Buck
Jumpin' " (1941). This was a big hit at the time and Casey continued to
play it regularly for the rest of his career. As far as could be judged it
never lost any of its irresistible swing in later performances. ~ Extract by Steve
Voce, Independent.co.uk.
Moodsville Records, MVLP 12,
1960
Recorded 10th
November, 1960 Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Musicians:
Al Casey - Guitar
Lee Anderson - Piano
Jimmy Lewis - Bass
Beltan Evans - Drums
Tracks:
A1. Blue Moon {Richard
Rodgers, Lorenz Hart} (4:35)
A2. These Foolish Things
{Harry Link, Jack Strachey, Eric Maschwitz} (6:45)
A3. All Alone {Irving Berlin}
(5:25)
B1. Don't Worry About Me
{Rube Bloom, Ted Koehler} (5:51)
B2. Dancing In The Dark
{Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz} (4:23)
B3. I'm Beginning To See The
Light {James, Ellington, Hodges, George} (4:47)
B4. A Case Of Blues {Jimmy
Lewis} (2:52)
Total Time: 34:38
Credits:
Recording Engineer - Rudy van
Gelder
Liner Notes - Joe Goldberg
