1945 - April 6

Original Art Hodes Trio – April 6 1945

 

The Record Changer February 1946 

In Eccentric Kaminsky has an interesting little figure running through the first section. It is very musical but he "wears it a little thin" playing it so often. Hodes’ first solo is very good in the beginnlng but lacks interest in the end. His familiar rapid alternating hand technique with which he usually begins his solos is here sprinkled throughout the entire chorus which in this case comprises his second solo. It's very good. 

In Blues 'N' Booze there is a little stressing for tonal effects on the part of Kaminsky. It is a slow blues with three choruses sung by Fred Moore. His singing makes a good interlude but three verses are a little too long. Kaminsky's first solo is a simple and melodic statement of the blues. 

Art Hodes B-6502 Liner Notes 

"K.M.H". is without a doubt one of my all-time favorite tracks. I wrote this tune back in my Chicago scuffling days when you had no trouble getting the blues. So now we call it soul. Tell it like it is inside. As I re-hear this music I'm touched. I'm not going to plague you with phony modesty. Recording this bit is like me signing my name. This is Art Hodes; this is from deep inside me. As far as I'm concerned this track is worth the price of admission. 

Art Hodes B-6508 Liner Notes 

Eccentric, is more like a piano or clarinet effort. Here we have a piano/trumpet thing goin' with Fred Moore on drums, (trio). Fred's the kind of drummer that can keep a steady tempo interesting. Wonder if that ending was my idea. Gone man. 

Senior Scholastic February 4 1946, Volume 48 Issue 1 

Eccentric and Blues (Blue Note) by Art Hodes Trio. Definitely one of the year’s top discs. Hodes on piano, Kaminsky on trumpet and Moore on drums do terrific things with Eccentric, slowing up the beat and adding a lot of interesting kicks. Moore takes charge of Blues with a long, ex- citing vocal. Kaminsky at his best on both sides 

Dan Morgenstern Hot Jazz at Blue Note 

[That Eccentric Rag] was written as early as 1912; ten years later, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings’ record made it part of the jazz repertory. It’s usually a clarinet feature, but in this interesting trio version Max Kaminsky is the only horn. Freddie Moore does better without a bassist, I think, and lays down a fine beat here. Maxie plays with a straight mute, getting a nice sound, and Hodes shows finesse. This was a working trio, and they are good and tight here, both in exposition and solos. There’s an infectious lilt to the performance. 

K.M.H Drag brings back the Hodes-Kaminsky-Moore working trio and takes the tempo down a few notches. This is Art’s tune – melodically Mortonish. Max, with straight mute, brings it on, and then Art plays, reaching deep within. (This was his own favorite recorded solo.) Max takes it out: no upstaging here. 

The Jazz Record April 1946 – George and Al Avakian 

This is a surprising record on several counts, from Fred Moore's vocal on the first to a trumpet backing up a piano lead on the backing. The standout stuff on this pair is the close teamwork of Max Kaminsky's sea-green horn and Hodes' piano, with Fred Moore furnishing some of the most intelligent, unobtrusive drum support any trio has ever enjoyed.  

Maxie plays some surprisingly dirty horn — the likes of which he has never before recorded on the blues side, which features Moore most of the way. Presumably Fred has no relatives named Alice who used to sing on Paramount with Ike Rodgers' beat trombone, but there's something of a similarity nonetheless. This automatically makes Fred a pretty good blues singer, although nowhere in the class of Pigmeat Markham, Blue Note's colossal discovery of a few releases. ago.  

Eccentric, a good tune which has enjoyed a revival through Kaminsky and Hodes (Max made it for Commodore with the nucleus of his Pied Piper band of 1944, and Hodes' solo version is covered below)  exudes a close-knit, lively spirit which makes the side a success any way you listen to it. The teamwork is fine and not the least credit should go to Moore's resistance to the temptations most drummers succumb to when playing with only two other instruments. His beat is impeccable and not once does he intrude on the interplay of the others. The only complaint here is that Hodes begins his second solo chorus with the two-handed flurry which has become too much stock in trade. The time has come when you wait for it, and you’re seldom disappointed, but that’s no fun when it only makes you cringe. 

Dan Morgenstern – the Complete Art Hodes Blue Note Sessions 

Trumpet, piano and drums isn't the usual jazz trio, but the combination of Kaminsky, Hodes and Freddie Moore is an effective one—they'd worked together. K.M.H. DRAG, by Art, is a bit like a Jelly Roll Morton tune in structure, and also reminds me of TISHOMINGO BLUES. Max has a little straight-mute in his bell as he presents the melody. Then Art takes a model solo, cited by him as his favorite solo on a record with a group for Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia Of Jazz. It certainly ranks with his best, but every listener will find his own favorites among the fine Hodes efforts collected here. Drummer Freddie Moore (b. 1900) was a frequent associate of Art's in those days. He'd been a professional since the age of 12, working in minstrel and vaudeville shows, leading his own bands, coming to New York in 1928, touring with King Oliver in 1931-32, fronting his own trio (with Pete Brown on alto and Don Frye on piano) in Harlem for four years, and playing in John Kirby's first band on 52nd Street. A solid time-keeper, he also entertained, doing comic vocals and playing the washboard. Amazingly, he's still active at this writing (1986) in New York. Moore lays down a good beat for FUNNY FEATHERS, another entry from the Armstrong canon; Louis recorded it in 1929 with its composer, singer Victoria Spivey. We get both verse and chorus, a bit of boogie woogie from Art, and lots of interplay.  

BLUES N' BOOZE has typically humorous blues singing by Moore, but the musical meat is Max's idiomatic growl trumpet—he was greatly influenced by Hot Lips Page, his section mate in the 1941 Artie Shaw band and good friend forever after. ECCENTRIC, a nice late rag by J. Russell Robinson, is usually a display piece for clarinet; here it features Max and Art. Of the two takes, the first has the more relaxed tempo. Max uses a straight mute, and Art's solo work is two-fisted and not in the ragtime idiom. The second take was chosen for issue, but I prefer the first, for reasons of tempo, though Art's solos are more interesting on the second. 

Session Information 

Max Kaminsky, trumpet; Art Hodes, piano; Fred Moore, drums, vocal. 

WOR Studios, NYC, April 6, 1945 

BN230-0, K.M.H. Drag (Draggin' The Blues) (as KMH Blues), Blue Note 51, BLP 7021, B-6502 

BN231-1, Funny Feathers, Blue Note 51 

BN232-0, Blues 'N' Booze (as Blues 'N' Blues), Blue Note 512, BLP 7021 

BN229-3, That Eccentric Rag (alternate take), Blue Note B-6508 

BN229-4, That Eccentric Rag (as Eccentric), Blue Note 512, B-6502