DESCRIPTION:
Charlie Ventura's "Big Four" was an ephemeral jazz quartet of established recording artists that played club dates together only briefly, recorded only a few sides together and then went their respective ways.

The group, consisting of Charlie Ventura on tenor saxophone, Buddy Rich on drums, Marty Napoleon on piano and Chubby Jackson bass, formed in early 1951 and disbanded by the end of the year but not before recording four sides on the Mercury, Cleff and Columbia labels.

The only four recordings they made together were: "After You've Gone", "Old Man River", "Love Is Just Around The Corner" and "O.H. Blues".

O.H. Blues is Ventura's own composition, which, according to Marty Napoleon, was probably named after the nightclub Ventura open in 1951 (and closed in 1954) named, "Ventura's Open House" in Lindenwold NJ (near Philadelphia).

Besides playing at Ventura's nightclub, during the group's short existence they also played at the Elliot Hotel in Toronto and were booked by Joe Glaser at Martin's Preview Lounge in Chicago where they played for four months.

This video of the group's rare recording was inspired by recent conversations with Mr. Napoleon, [the last surviving member of the group and still playing at 92] who still recalls the thrill of being called upon to play with these other three trailblazing giants of mid-century Jazz before he then moved on to play with (among other groups) Louis Armstrong and his All Stars.

Buddy Rich died in 1983; Charlie Ventura died in 1992; Greig Stewart ("Chubby") Jackson died in 2003.