Sidney Bechet - Albert Nicholas Blue Five – February 12 1946
Max Harrison - The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Sidney Bechet - Mosaic Records MR6-110
Something different again was produced by the fusion of Nicholas' light and Bechet's heavier sounds on the February 1946 date. With their double flow of well-contrasted invention, nearly equal-voiced counterpoint, superior swing and less heavy pulse, these duets are generally preferrable to those between Bechet and Mezzrow. If they are less famous it is because they never had the strident boosting in the jazz press which attended every record involving Mezzrow. It is good to have two versions of BLAME IT ON THE BLUES (sometimes reissued as QUINCY STREET STOMP, a title derived from the Brooklyn street in which Bechet was then living), but it in no way alters our perspective. Nicholas adds grace, light mobility, a degree of understatement to Bechet's expected qualities, and each adds a cogent secondary part to the other's solos.
OLD STACK O' LEE BLUES is a memorable traditional melody that Bechet might have had at the back of his mind when he composed OUT OF THE GALLION and GONE AWAY BLUES for the quintet sessions with Mezzrow the previous August. Nicholas' improvisation is especially fine and Hodes backs it well, going on to one of his better piano solos. BECHET'S FANTASY gives rise to an exceptional lyrical flight, this time on soprano saxophone, its intensity varied artfully. Bechet is at the center of the stage throughout. He then goes back to clarinet, and the duets are most evenly balanced on the two versions of WEARY WAY BLUES, although the second is the more completely achieved.
Leonard Feather - BLP 1201 Liner Notes
The free-swinging up-tempo Blame It On The Blues and the lighter-rhythmed A Flat Weary Way Blues feature Albert Nicholas (himself a favorite in France during the past few years) on clarinet, Art Hodes, Pops Foster and back to 1919 and Reisenweber's Cafe.
Leonard Feather - BLP 1202 Liner Notes
Old Stack O' Lee Blues team up the clarinets of Bechet and Albert Nicholas. On this Bechet original the two masters offer an excellent demonstration of the unique New Orleans clarinet style.
George Avakian - Pic Magazine – December 1946
Tops this month is the Bechet-Nicholas Blue Five, consisting of Sidney B. and Albert N. with Art Hodes,
Danny Alvin the rhythm section socking out Quincy Street Stomp & Weary Way Blues, (Blue Note 517).
The combination of soprano sax and clarinet alone stacks up well here as the Mezzrow-Bechet Quintet sides for King Jazz earlier this year, and the net score is easy-to-take rough-and-tumble jazz.
The Record Changer – December 1946
This coupling presents a noble experience that succeeds completely. It succeeds because both clarinetists play so beautifully, and because Sidney in particular makes one forget all about the missing trumpet. This is even more noticeable on the great recent Mezzrow-Bechet discs for King Jazz, but it's plenty evident here too. The pair play together with almost the same spellbinding effect, that Mezz and Pops so consistently obtain. Albert is, of course, a greatly underrated jazz clarinetist. Sidney simply can't be overrated. The combination is superb!
The blues, written by Ida Cox and Lovie Austin, is really the blues. The stomp, a Bechet-Nicholas original stomps all the way. Whatever these boys play, they play it just right. Their backing here is ideal: Art Hodes on piano, Pops Foster on bass, and Danny Alvin on drums. Come on, Al Lion, let's have some more from the Bechet-Nicholas Blue Five!
Dan Morgenstern – Hot Jazz on Blue Note CD Liner Notes
Weary Way Blues is by Lovie Austin, who was active in Chicago in the 20s as a pianist, arranger, bandleader, and recording director (she inspired the young Mary Lou Williams to follow in her footsteps). Bechet, now on clarinet, leads as he and Nicholas converse in a relaxed manner, then shift to upper register for Nick's lead solo. Sidney then takes two, phrasing forcefully, before the pleasant theme resumes. This session may well have been inspired by the Bechet-Mezzrow record dates for Mezz's King Jazz label, but the results were quite different.
Down Beat – March 25 1949 – Volume 16 Issue 5
Al Nicholas’ clarinet and Sidney’s soprano are about as compatible a couple of instruments as one could assemble for a session of the blues. Both Stack and Fantasy are slow blues, and they are better than average examples of the Bechet school of N.O jazz with the edge going to the Fantasy side. (Blue Note 54)
Down Beat March 23 1946 – Volume 13 Issue 5
Balance is hollow here, plus bad surfaces don’t help you hear what the Bechet soprano sax and the Nicholas clarinet are trying to do. Bassman Pops Foster and drummer Danny Alvin are supposed to be old-time, but they keep better time than lots of the real hip people recording right now. (Blue Note 517)
Down Beat 20 April 1951 Volume 18 Issue 8
George [Hoefer]: The Bechet-Johnson collaboration didn’t work out any better on record than on the one-week fiasco they did in person in Boston. It seems as though the driving Sidney couldn’t wait for the more uncertain trumpet of the late Bunk. On these sides Bunk does his best work, it having a nice lyrical quality on Lord. Sandy Williams gets off some gutty trombone on Milenberg and on Bechet’s original, Up in Sidney’s Flat.
On this LP Sidney plays clarinet almost exclusively. The two best sides, Blame It on the Blues and Weary Way Blues, come from a 1946 date by the Bechet-Nicholas Blue five. Blame has melodic quality and the clarinet-soprano duet work between Sidney and Albert Nicholas on the second unissued master Weary Way is fine. Complete personnels of sides on all Blue Note LPs are on the back of the folder. (Blue Note LP 7008.)
Down Beat 24 September 1952 Volume 19 Issue 19
Five of these titles are among the discs that put Blue Note into business when the jazz label was launched in 1939-1940. Personnel includes Frank Newton, J. C. Higginbotham. Albert Ammons, Teddy Bunn, Sid Catlett, et al. Stack O’Lee and Fantasy hail from a 1947 date with Albert Nicholas, Art Hodes, Pops Foster and Danny Alvin. (Blue Note LP 7022.)
Session Information
Albert Nicholas, clarinet; Sidney Bechet, soprano sax, clarinet; Art Hodes, piano; George "Pops" Foster, bass; Danny Alvin, drums.
WOR Studios, NYC, February 12, 1946
BN276-0, Blame It On The Blues (alternate take)
BN277-1, Old Stack O'Lee Blues, Blue Note 54, BLP 7022, BLP 1202
BN278-3, Bechet's Fantasy, Blue Note 54, BLP 7022
BN279-0, Weary Way Blues (alternate take), Blue Note BLP 7008
BN279-2, Weary Way Blues, Blue Note 517, BLP 1201
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