Taj Mahal Foxtrot was released at the Goa Literary Festival last week and will in the stores in a couple of days. The audio guide section of this website is now functional. It contains tracks that are discussed in the book. Each week, I’m going to highlight a different tune in this space. To begin with, here’s a recording by Leon Abby and the Savoy Bearcats called Stampede, which was made in 1926.
Regular readers of this site will know that Abbey, a violinist from Minnesota, caused a great deal of excitement when he performed in Bombay in 1935 because his outfit was the first “all-negro band” to play in India. Abbey didn’t make any recordings when he was in India, but here he is, directing his Savoy Bearcats a decade before he sailed for the subcontinent. The 1920s and ’30 were a period of rapid evolution for jazz, so his style had probably changed a great deal after this recording was made. He was the band’s director, which means that his violin isn’t heard here.
