Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy

Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy were no longer based in Kansas City when this film was made in 1948. Although the likes of Claude "Fiddler" Williams had been gone for years, a Midwestern sensibility stuck to the band's sound like sticky red clay. Elements of Western swing, boogie and jump blues are easily discernible. Even so, it's startling to hear how dramatically Kirk's band had transformed itself. The seminal rock'n'roll number that starts at the 3:30 mark bears almost no resemblance to the Kansas City-based band of 1930 heard on this 78.