Sidney Bechet's Blue Note Jazz Men – March 23 1949
Max Harrison - The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Sidney Bechet - Mosaic Records MR6-110
[Walter] Page and [Slick] Jones were advantageously brought in on bass and drums for the next session, but Diehl's undistinguished trombone is no benefit to ensemble clarity, though he plays his part well enough in BASIN STREET BLUES and TAILGATE RAMBLE, and takes a respectable solo on AT THE JAZZ BAND BALL. CAKE-WALKING BABIES is a popular song from the early 1920s that remained in Bechet's repertoire and seemed always to get him going. Sure enough, his solo on the 1949 version is exceptional and this is very much his track; again one notices the continuity between his solo and ensemble passages. AT THE JAZZ BAND BALL establishes a lusty beat from its first instant and one hears once more the point of Wilber's comments on Bechet's role in collective passages. But it is no use pretending that the ensembles here are as well articulated as those on the first two sessions with Davison. JOSHUA FIT DE BATTLE 0B JERICHO is scarcely the tidiest performance of this date, and there seems little point to the very minor novelty of having off-beat hand-clapping behind Bechet's opening and closing statements of the melody. FIDGETY FEET is thought of as a dixieland piece yet in another masterful solo the leader shows that the whole repertoire is grist to his mill, as he does, twice, on TAIL GATE RAMBLE. Otherwise these two performances consist largely of ensemble playing
Dan Morgenstern – Hot Jazz on Blue Note CD Liner Notes
Fidgety Feet was concocted by the [Original Dixieland Jazz Band] in 1918 as “War Clouds,” but that was too serious a name for such a jaunty dance number. The third (blowing) strain is characteristic New Orleans stuff, and Bechet bites into it with verve. Wild Bill’s also in fine fettle, and bassist Watler Page and drummer Slick Jones make a swinging team. The same lineup tackles At The Jazz Band Ball, also from 1918 and one of the ODJB’s hottest numbers. Only two strains here, of 16 bars each, the first in minor, the second in major. They don’t take this as fast as most hands would, which is all to the good. Ray Diehl is quite accomplished in the ensemble and takes a relaxed solo; his tone is mellow. Bechet, as usual, builds to a climax, and that good rhythm team shines again.
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| Bechet in Paris, 1949 |
Down Beat 12 August 1949 Volume 16 Issue 5
Three of these sides were done with Hodes, piano; Moore, drums; Davison, trumpet; Page, bass, and Bechet, soprano sax. Ball, Babies and Basin and Basin add Ray Diehl on trombone and replace Freddy Moore (drums) with Slick Jones, of old Waller fame.
Bechet is, of course. the grand old man who just finished breaking it up at the Paris Jazz festival. His playing here is in his usual virile, firm use of by-now-often-heard jazz ideas. However, his power and drive prevent them becoming mere cliches.
The recording was done in a more resonant studio than are most small combo jazz sides of this type. At times, therefore, the solo horns lose presence though Bechet is always heard. You might listen to the stomped Babies for a fine sample of the old man's hell-for-leather attack; it's my cowering opinion that this group as recorded here by sheer power alone could blow any other two-beat group in the country right off the stand. Walter Page is underbalanced, making the bass line hard to follow. Bill Davison has a soft, sobbing chorus and some pretty bars on Basin. All six sides are worthy of hearing, especially since they represent the work of an older musician who can hardly be expected to play another 40 years. (Blue Note 105.)
Audio Magazine March 1951 Sidney Bechet with Wild Bill Davison Blue Note LP 7001 Sidney Bechet Jazz Classics Blue Note BLP 7002 Hot Jazz at Blue Note - Art Hodes Hot Five Blue Note BLP 7005 Three LP's featuring Sidney Bechet and practically every other big man in the business, including Meade Lux Lewis, Sid Catlett, Max Kaminsky, Pops Foster, Wild Bill Davison, Art Hodes, Teddy Bunn, Fred Moore and others ... all dull, tired, banal, and terribly recorded. Soprano sax isn't easy to record, but this is just smeared all over the place. These are all dubs and characterize all the worst aspects of the process. Balance is awry, surfaces poor, range limited to the hollow of a peanut shell . . . why bother. Bechet is a genuine artist and rarely fails to produce great moments, but even the job on "Dear Old Southland." a specialty of the house, gives one a beddy-bye feeling. Abe Kaplan and Stanley Rosenberg, able mentors of the record department at Rabson's and cognoscenti of all kinds of music, shuffled these out for me with the despairing look that comes from knowing what to expect these days. Why review them? To point out and point up the argument at the beginning of this month's piece. No matter how good the discs would have been, the musical content is sorely deficient. A blast, a bang and a couple of old hat tricks don't represent a decent session in my book.
Session Information
"Wild Bill" Davison, cornet; Ray Diehl, trombone; Sidney Bechet, soprano sax; Art Hodes, piano; Walter Page, bass; Wilmore "Slick" Jones, drums.
WOR Studios, NYC, March 23, 1949
BN355-0, Cake Walking Babies (alt)
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