1945 - December 26

Baby Dodds' Jazz Four – December 26 1945 

 

Dan Morgenstern - B-6509 Liner Notes 

The relaxed Baby Dodds session with fellow New Orleanians Braud and Nicholas, shows Art's empathy for relaxed, blues-based music making. Dodds is a gas on Careless Love, and Nicholas' liquid and sometimes pleasantly buzzy tone is joy. 

Dan Morgenstern - The Complete Art Hodes Sessions - Mosaic  

Art [Hodes]'s final session for Blue Note in a leader's role (though it is in Baby Dodds' name, the pianist no doubt functioned as musical director) finds him surrounded by elderly New Orleanians. Another great man here joins our roster of clarinet stars: Albert Nicholas. Born in 1900, he played with King Oliver and other local legends prior to the First World War. and had his own band after peace was made and before taking off to Chicago to join Oliver, in 1924. He went to China two years later. made his way to Egypt from there, and wound up in Paris. Back home in 1928, he joined the great Luis Russell band in Harlem, staying five years, did some small group swing work, rejoined Russell under Louis Armstrong, participated in the traditional revival, and settled in France in '53, working steadily until shortly before his death 20 years later. Nick had a sweeter tone than the other New Orleans reeds in this collection, and a unique fast vibrato. His facility and taste were of the first rank. Bassist Wellman Brand (1891-1966). best known for his years with Ellington, had a very active and varied career both before and after. His style was similar to pops Foster's, but he had greater sophistication and flexibility. And Baby Dodds, of course, is considered the first great jazz drummer, though Zutty Singleton, seven months older, would have argued about that—with me in his corner. Baby was unique, however, and still in good shape in late 1945. It must have been a kick for Art to be the junior member of a quartet.  

FEELIN' AT EASE is Nick's blues line, medium tempoed, with Baby's press rolls moving it along. Nick's in fine form, putting that edge on his sound. In the final chorus, he states the theme in lower register, punctuating it with upper-range stabs. The first take of CARELESS IOVE is quite fast for this ancient tune (it is traced back to Elizabethan England). Nick has plenty of solo room, Art takes one enlivened by Baby’s rattling on the rim of his snare, Brand slaps four solo bars, and Baby also solos briefly. An effective stop-lime sequence precedes the out chorus. 

HIGH SOCIETY, a favorite New Orleans march (though it was composed by a New Englander, who wrote in the piccolo part that became the basis of the famous clarinet solo) is presented here in two takes, the first never issued before. It starts off at a good clip, and Nick holds the stage. He had his own sound. Art romps for a chorus and gels into a Jess Stacy groove. Nick solos again, getting away from the formal solo routine On this piece, and then rides out in fine fettle. Take two is a bit shorter, Nick taking just one chorus in the finale. Art's solo is quite different. Jelly Roll Morton's WININ’ BOY BLUES was recorded by the composer in 1939 with Nic and Braud in the band. This quartet does the pretty melody justice, with Nick again front and center, displaying his full lower register along the way. The piano solo is more Hines than Morton, but mostly Hodes.  

The two additional takes Of CARELESS LOVE that end this session (and this fine collection) follow a routine similar to take one, but slow down the tempo considerably. The first and previously unissued alternate has particularly good bass work, but skips the stop-time passages. The final take is more than a minute longer, even slower, and the best of the three. Nick takes two to start with, in his mellow middle range. Then Art and Baby really get together, and Art finds a blues groove. Baby solos, backed by the band, playing on his snare rim throughout, in dancing patterns. The drummer's also active behind the bass solo, and Nick returns to take things out with two stylish choruses.  
 
Art Hodes ought to feel good listening to what he put on wax more than 40 years ago. Because he played his jazz the way he felt it then, with no other motive than making good music, he has not the slightest cause for regrets. He can leave those to the schemers, the cats who wanted to make hits and be up-to-date. Il's their work that now sounds old- fashioned, while the music of Art Hodes and his friends remains timeless, and still moves the listener. You might call it art for Art’s sake. 

Record Changer – May 1947 

Jazz record of the month...is High Society and Feelin' At Ease by Baby Dodds' Jazz Four (Blue Note 519). Once more clarinetist Albert Nicholas demonstrates that he is equally at home with a march and a blues. He plays that fine New Orleans way, and there is nothing else to say. Pianist Art Hodes, bassist Wellman Braud, and drummer Baby Dodds push Nicholas beautifully throughout both numbers. 

Pic Magazine – Volume 19 January 1947 

Baby Dodds' Jazz Four, with Albert Nicholas (clarinet). Art Hodes (piano). and Wellman Braud (bass) presents a fine, nostalgic improvisation on Jelly Roll Morton's Winin' Bov Blues (Blue Note 518) backed by a Careless Love which suffers from the jam session complex that everyone must take a solo. Remember the old Jelly-Roll trio records? Well, just add a bass like Wellman Brand for good measure and you have something! Baby's Jazz Four features Nicholas on clarinet and Hodes on piano, backed and kicked of course by Braud and Dodds. All four play wonderfully. Careless gets handled far differently from the Ory interpretation, and you ought to contrast the two for yourself. Kid's is more a traditional version. This one, taken at a faster clip by smaller unit, breaks some unwritten rules and gets away with it. Albert and Baby star. Winin' Boy, which nobody can play like Morton, finds Hodes making a valiant effort and doing unusually well. Again, Nicholas really shines. Baby's snare work on both sides is a study in itself. All in all, this is a fine hot disc! 

Down Beat – November 18 1946 – Volume 13 Issue 24 

Here’s the perennial problem: traditional jazz, technically proficient in spots. You will note Albert Nicholas’ clarinet, playing what I find intonation-specked but still interesting ideas. The Hodes piano solo, much like some things Stacy plays, is tasteful here. Baby Dodds’ drumming is too heavy though it certainly carries the group. While this isn’t my fare, it is undeniably sincere playing, and in that alone, more interesting than some of the facile riffs whip-creamed around these days, Baby indulges in some drumnastics on Love, though, that are very, very unnecessary. 

Down Beat March 23 1947 Volume 14 Issue 9 

Another attempt, far better than most, to recreate the traditional blues. Al Nicholas’ succinct but powerful clarinet steals At Ease, and Society as well. It certainly is a great shame that the power and expressed sincerity of these musicians as well as their familiarity with the great jazz tradition isn’t being passed on to their younger and more broadly trained brethren. One has the conviction of feeling, the other a broader gamut of technique and color with which to express it; yet welding the two would gray-beard a Solomon. (Blue Note 519) 

Dan Morgenstern – Hot Jazz on Blue Note CD Liner Notes 

On Winin’ Boy Blues we can hear where [Danny] Alvin got that [woodblock] stuff, for here is none other than Baby Dodds, in a quartet setting that is three-quarters New Orleans. (The exception is Mr. Hodes, who fits in comfortably.) From Albert Nicholas we get our fourth example of the diversity of New Orleans clarinet sounds. Heard first in lower register, then in mid-to-upper, Nick had a slight hoarseness to his tone that cut the sweetness effectively. He knows this tune well, as he should: he recorded it with Jelly in 1939. The song first surfaced in those Library of Congress sessions; the lyrics deal with Jelly's earliest days in Storyville and celebrate his amatory prowess. He liked it well enough to choose it for his first commercial record date after the LC marathon, late in 1938, as a piano-and-vocal vehicle (though "commercial" may be a misnomer for the tiny Jazzman label, which made its debut with two Morton discs), then again as a vocal with band nine months later, and for a third time as another piano-and-vocal three months after that. No vocal here, but the melody is Morton at his most lyrical, and the quartet does it with the right touch. 

Variety – October 2 1946 

The most exciting hot release of the week is "Winin' Boy Blues" and "Careless Love” by Baby Dodds' Jazz Four (Blue Note 518). The quartet has Dodds on percussion, Art Hodes on piano, Wellman Braud on bass. and Albert Nicholas on clarinet. "These faces are obviously not for general consumption, but a "must" with hot fans. Grooved New Orlean style, they have unimpeachable integrity and some splendid talents. Dodds' drumming is well worth catching. Jocks might insert a change of pace into their shows by inserting "Winin' Blues" between two fast numbers. 

Down Beat 5 November 1952 Volume 19 Issue 22 Three of these numbers were not previously issued, which will doubtless be interesting news to Hodes collectors. The best sides are Low Down and Jug Head, (recorded in April, 1944), thanks to the presence of guitarist Jimmy Shirley. Others sprinkled through these sides include Max Kaminsky, Albert Nicholas, Omer Simeon, Sandy Williams and Baby Dodds. When you come down to essentials, there's only 12 bars of music in the whole LP, but they sure repeat it plenty of times. (Blue Note LP 7021)

Session Information 

Albert Nicholas, clarinet; Art Hodes, piano; Wellman Braud, bass; Baby Dodds, drums. 

WOR Studios, NYC, December 26, 1945 

BN272-2, Feelin' At Ease, Blue Note 519, BLP 7021, B-6509 

BN273-2, Careless Love, Blue Note 518 

BN274-0, High Society (alternate take) 

BN274-2, High Society, Blue Note 519 

BN275-0, Winin' Boy Blues, Blue Note 518, BLP 7013 

BN273-4, Careless Love (alternate take) 

BN273-5, Careless Love (LP take), Blue Note BLP 7021, B-6509