The Swinging Fats Sadi Combo – May 8 1954
Leonard Feather: The Swinging Fats Sadi Combo Liner Notes BLP 5061
Fats Sadi, vibraphone; Roger Guerin, trumpet & tuba; Nat Peck, trombone; Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax; Jean Aldegon, bass clarinet; Maurice Vandair, piano; Jean-Marie Ingrand, bass; Jean-Louis. Viale, drums.
IN THE DISTRIBUTION of credit for continental accomplishments in the creation of modern jazz there is one country that has been unfairly neglected. Most iazz fans are familiar by now with the contribution of the Swedish jazz elite and with the work of the leading British soloists (both countries were represented at peak form on New Sounds From The Old World, Blue Note 5019), and more recently Jutta Hipp and her cohorts made a similarly striking impression, via 5056, featuring an all-German combo.
Now it is Belgium's turn.
If Belgium has never been recognized as a factor in adding to the international jazz treasury it is not through lack of accomplishments. To cite an outstanding example, few admirers of Django Reinhardt, the gypsy guitarist who was probably the first foreign musician ever to have a profound influence on American jazzmen, realize that Reinhardt was actually Belgian by birth, not French as was commonly assumed.
It is Blue Note's privilege now to introduce, for the first time in an American LP release, the music of Fats Sadi, the Belgian vibraphone virtuoso, and his ensemble, in a swinging set of performances recorded with a degree of care and planning unusual in continental jazz sessions.
Sadi's background is not unlike that of other vibes men. Interested in music from the age of ten, he got his start as a youthful prodigy playing a xylophone novelty in a circus. After his first exposure to jazz he made the next natural step by procuring a set of vibes; inspired by Lionel Hampton, he gained much of his developmental experience as a member of one of the leading postwar Belgian jazz groups, the "Bob Shots".
Settling later in Paris, where his genial personality, his beard and his extrovert style soon won him both musical and personal recognition, he found his solo work evolving in the direction of Milt Jackson. After engagements at the Club St, Germain and the Ringside, both leading Paris jazz rendezvous, he toured France with the Aimé Barelli orchestra and enjoyed a long stint at the Palm Beach in Monte Carlo.
Among Sadi's distinguished cohorts in the present set of performances is Bobby Jaspar, another leading Belgian jazzman. Bobby, who studied to be a chemical engineer, -was playing with a New Orleans style jazz group in Liege at the time of the liberation of Belgium and was later a colleague of Sadi's in the Bob Shots.
Jaspar's subsequent Adventures were by no means those of the average jazzman. After living in Paris for a while he became disgusted with the commercial demands of the music business and took off for the South Sea Islands. While his saxophone reeds rotted away he passed many months on a remote atoll, fishing, and contemplating. If was not until some Lee Konitz records somehow reached him in his voluntary exile that he decided he must return to the scene. Back in Paris, he soon established himself 'in the front -rank of modern soloists.
Of the other sidemen, Guérin and Viale were both winners of the 1954-5 Jazz Hot magazine poll as France's No. 1 trumpeter and drummer; Nat Peck has long been a participant in continental jam sessions. Maurice Vandair is a fast-rising pianist in French jazz circles; Jean-Marie Ingrand ran second only to Pierre Michelot in the voting for French bassists. The bass clarinet of Jean Aldegon completes the unusual sound of the group.
The set opens with a Francy Boland original, Ad Libitum. Despite its title, this opus is noteworthy for the resourceful blend of rhythmic phrases and open spots, of unison and low-register voicing, in which Boland sets a somber and compelling mood. Sadi and Jaspar are intricately interwoven against the ensemble before the return to the original evocative theme.
Laguna Leap, though it does include ensemble work, riffing, is mainly a vehicle enabling Sadi to wail, and wail he does, in a cheerful, outgoing spirit. The last chorus, with Jaspar peeking in and out of the spotlight, achieves an atmosphere very much reminiscent of west coast jazz.
Karin, a slow and simple melody by Jose Bartel} is prettily played by Sadi, with the horns coming in to back him as he moves pensively through a performance that recalls some of Lionel Hampton's more restrained moments.
Bobby Jaspar composed Big Balcony and has an excellent, smoothly phrased solo in the Getz idiom; Sadi is again featured extensively, both ad lib and in a set role at the head of the ensemble, gliding almost imperceptibly from the prepared to the extemporized passages.
Sadisme starts with a curious and provocative effect as Sadi hammers out an insistent series of eighth notes to a staccato, minor-key background by the band. This one gets a feel of excitement from the first groove, and when Sadi takes off for some improvised work at this racehorse tempo some of the best moments of the whole LP are achieved. Maurice Vandair has a short but fleetly effective solo.
Sweet Feeling, written by poll-winning bassist Pierre Michelot, provides another melodic ballad vehicle for Sadi, in which his relaxation of touch and timing, and the gentleness of his phrasing, combine to maintain a quiet, serene mood.
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| June 1955 |
Ridin' High is the old Cole Porter song, newly fitted up in an arrangement by Maurice Vandair. The rhythm section really goes on this as Sadi sails into a long, leaping solo, followed by some Vandair piano and a return to the melody, with a curious delayed ending.
Thanks A Million, an old pop song, was arranged by Sadie who shares the solo honors with Jaspar and Vandair. Relaxation and inspiration permeate the whole performance, with the mellow tone of the ensemble especially effective here. The extended coda. again provides a final surprise note.
If you are used to hearing continental recordings on which the musicians let their lack of imagination run away with theme with results that sounded disorganized and disinterested, you will find the work of Sadi & Co. a refreshing and invigorating contrast.
LEONARD FEATHER
Cover Design by REID K. MILES
The greatest care has been given to every step in the manufacture of this record. The most modern factory methods end the purest vinylite material insure incomparable pressings.
Down Beat 29 June 1955 Volume 22 Issue 13
Set is called The Swinging Fats Sadi Combo, and is accurate. But there is also invention and firstrate execution. Sadi is a Belgian vibist of modern predilections but with a debt to Lionel Hampton. Now in France, he is accompanied here by another Belgian-born jazzman who moved to France, the very able modern tenorist Bobby Jaspar. Also on hand are: Roger Guerin (trumpet and tuba); Nat Peck (trombone); Jean Aldegon (bass clarinet) ; Maurice Vandair (piano); Jean-Marie Ingrand (bass), and Jean-Louis Viale (drums). The originals — by Francy Boland, Jose Bartel, Bobby Jaspar, and Pierre Michelot—are thematically provocative and the session has been planned with care (in some ensemble passages, that care has been congealed into stiffness).
My one major objection is that Sadi takes so large an amount of the solo space. True, he’s a good jazzman, but there is only a little of Jaspar and Vandair and no solos by Guerin, Peck or Aldegon. The session gets four stars because of the largely successful thoughtfulness involved in its planning, the ability of Sadi, the writers, and the good rhythm section. It could have gone higher rating-wise in its import category if Sadi had been more generous with the solo allotments. Recorded sound is one of the better examples released here from French studios. (Blue Note LP 5061)
Leased from Vogue Records
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| UK Vogue Front Cover |
Paris, France, May 8, 1954
Roger Guerin, trumpet, tuba; Nat Peck, trombone; Jean Aldegon, bass clarinet; Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax; Fats Sadi, vibes; Maurice Vander, piano; Jean-Marie Ingrand or Pierre Michelot, bass; Jean-Louis Viale, drums.
Sadisme
Sweet Feeling
Thanks A Million
Big Balcony
Karin
Laguna Leap
Ad Libitum
Ridin' High
All selections released on Blue Note 10” LP 5061
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