When the name of Joe Venuti comes up in jazz circles, inevitably there is a favorite “Venuti story” that makes the rounds, for Joe’s versatile playing is challenged only by his infamous sense of humor. Joe is a happy guy who plays a world of swing violin with gusto and uninhibited fervor. No other swing violinist has so firmly established himself in the field. Venuti started back in the early 1920s when he teamed up with his school chum, guitarist Eddie Lang, and the two improvised “for kicks.” These modest beginnings eventually blossomed into a marvelous team; the professional combination of Venuti and Lang became a must among jazz fans, and their records flooded the country. It led to the formation of the original “Blue Four” consisting of Joe, Eddie, Frank Signorelli at the piano and Adrian Rollini on bass sax. However, Eddie Lang’s tragic death in 1933 ended the association and robbed the jazz world of a remarkably advanced, sensitive artist. Joe Venuti’s new Blue Five is a fresh approach to combo jazz, featuring such able instrumentalists as Buddy W**d, piano; George Barnes, solo guitar; Danny Perri, rhythm guitar; Eddie Safranski, bass; and Bunny Shawker, drums. This album displays the variable Joe at his best. Starting with the spirited Hoedown Lowdown, a tongue-in-cheek “country style” jump, the group comes through with some unpredictable hi-fi varieties. Joe’s haunting gypsy violin puts them in a romantic frame of mind for the bewitching instrumental selection called Tango Interlude. But Le mood hot returns again in the swing novelty that’s as vibrant as a tribal chant designated for Hot ‘n’ Trot. Bohemian Bounce pits Joe’s ragtime violin against the fluid piano figurations of Buddy W**d and an accompanying uninhibited rhythm section, while the Blue Five Swing is a self-glorifying swing number with a Western flavoring straight from the Violin Bow Ranch. Swing is the dominant entry on the flip side, too. Nobody Loves Me is a capersome whoop-up which seems to think differently than the title states. Fickle Fiddle, in which Joe’s fiddling is as fickle and restless as a fawn, is a zingy selection that expresses the joys of being in love, and the modern jam session in classical form, Concerto For New Sounds swings merrily along until it ends with a Dixieland flourish. A change of pace comes form the ballad bouquet that blossoms forth with some tuneful floral patterns from violin and melody guitar… Orchids. Then Joe and the boys combine the Latin-American beat with the Oriental flavoring in the refreshing rumba rhapsody with the exotic locale, the Red Sea Rumba.