Smokey Stover's Original Firemen - Where There's Fire
Released 1960
Recording and Session Information
Smokey Stover's Original Firemen
Smokey Stover, trumpet, vocal; Floyd O'Brien, trombone; Jimmy Granato, clarinet; Gene Raebourne, piano; John Gilliland, tuba; Don Chester, drums; Betty Brandon, vocal
Chicago, September, 1959
9686 Firemen's shuffle
9687 There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight
9688 Keep the home fires burning
9689 Firemen's paradise
9690 Hot lips
9691 Firefly
9692 My old flame
9693 I don't want to set the world on fire
9694 Smoke rings
9695 Where's the fire?
Track Listing
| I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire | Benjamin, Durham, Seiler, Marcus | September 1959 |
| Smoke Rings | Gifford, Washington | September 1959 |
| Firefly | Leigh, Coleman | September 1959 |
| There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight | Stover | September 1959 |
| Firemen's Shuffle | Granato, Gilliland, Stover | September 1959 |
| Where There's Fire | Stover | September 1959 |
| Hot Lips | Busse, Lange, Davis | September 1959 |
| My Old Flame | Johnston, Coslow | September 1959 |
| Keep The Home Fires Burning | Novello, Ford | September 1959 |
| Firemen's Parade | Lamonte, Stover | September 1959 |
Liner Notes
SMOKEY STOVER is an ex-Marine with shoulders like a bull, an embrouchure made of cast iron, and a trumpet sound that could bore a hole through a brick wall.
He is also the leader of a band of romping Dixielanders who have been doing an excellent job of breaking up audiences wherever they appear.
Here they dig into a collection of 'fire" tunes with zest and glee, kicking off with a rollicking I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire and ending with an original march, Firemen's Parade. Sandwiched between are such items as Smoke Rings, featuring the trombone of one of the all-time Dixie greats, Floyd O'Brien; Firefly and My Old Flame, sung by young Betty Brandon; Firemen's Shuffle, highlighting the tuba of John Gilliland; Keep The Home Fires Burning, on which Jimmy Granato's clarinet work is a stickout, and Where There's Fire, kicked off by the sturdy piano of Gen Raebourne.
"Although the idea of doing all tunes associated with fire may seem like a gimmick idea for an album," says Smokey, "it actually didn't start that way.
"What started it all was people in our audiences asking if we would play something other than the same old standards all the Dixieland bands do—Saints, Muskrat Ramble, Dixieland One-Step, those kind of things.
"So we started looking around for some fresher tunes. One we came up with was I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire, a big hit song about 20 years ago. That led to other fire songs and, eventually, the album."
Stover has been playing trumpet for 20 of his 29 years (he was born January 29, 1931, in Iowa City, Iowa). His father, who was a Dixieland cornetist, was his first teacher. Smokey was playing with the town band by the time he was 13, then began playing with territory bands and with groups he'd form himself. From 1948 to '52 he played in Marine bands and orchestras, then organized the Firehouse Five in 1953. He gave that up to work with Jig Adams' Dixie band in Las Vegas for 18 months, finally leaving to form his present group.
This is his first album, but it won't be the last. The fire in his horn is his insurance of that.
Jack Tracy
