The record changer (Mar-Dec 1947)

ART HODES' HOT FIVE Save 1+ Pretty Mama Darktown Strutters' Ball Shine Memphis Blues St. James Infirmary Way Down Yonder in New Orleans Blue Note Album 103 The "Hot Five" consists of Hodes (piano), Sidney Bechet (clarinet and soprano sax), Wild Bill Davison (cornet), Pops Foster (bass), Fred Moore (drums). It was a fine idea, choosing six jazz standards including the pleasant Memphis Blues, and placing them in the hands of musicians who are among the best of those now based in New York. I get from these sides, however, a program of tension just the other way around from that produced in "South Side Shake." The Hodes' Hot Five does its best at the beginning. After the first or second chorus the music becomes crowded or indifferent and there are no surprises left. In Shine, taken at an exceedingly fleet tempo, the initial thematic duet between Davison and Bechet is a lovely instance of collaboration. Hodes' solo, which follows, lacks ideas — as do most piano solos taken at this speed — but it is normally rhythmic and sustaining. After that is heard a succession of Bechet and Davison displays with Sidney rolling up and down in his roller-coaster style and Davison pushing himself off-pitch on occasion. The final chorus is evidence that partnership has been dissolved under the demands of tempo. I believe the key to the failure of this album can be found in the words "featuring Bechet and Davison" which appear on the labels. Both soloists have done remarkable virtuoso work in the past, Bechet on any number of records, Davison notably on the Commodore Confessin . Perhaps it seemed wise to join their virtuosity. But the "feature" or the "virtuoso" performance is alien to the forms of jazz and cannot be made the basis for development as the Hodes' Hot Five attempts. This attempt further establishes the reason for the split that exists between the excellent rhythm section and the equally excellent melodic team. The Blue Note surfaces are very raw. LU WATTERS 1919 Rag Ostrich Walk Pineapple Rag Minstrels of Annie Street Friendless Blues I'm Goin' Huntin' West Coast 109, 110, III The emphasis of this group is on ensemble melodic playing supported by a rhythm section that bounces in a rather strict but gentle fashion. There are no savage flights of improvisation, no bursts of tempo, no nervous riffs repeated over and over as a substitute for the inability to settle down into genuine contrapuntal cooperation. The Yerba Buena band never succeeds in accomplishing a hot tonal quality. It lacks the color of, say, the Kid Ory band, as well as the individual techniques which belong to Ory, Carey, Howard, Simeon and Bigard. But its easy, rocking attack, its "choirs," its distribution of effort, its "ringing" sound, make the Yerba Buena group one of the real integrated modern jazz bands. As such it is the actual answer to the demands for progress which come from the Broadway academicians. Look at the tunes A Joplin rag played by Walter Rose witl the rhythm section, the traditional 1919 Rat and Friendless Blues, the Waller I'm Goin Huntin' , the Original Dixieland Ostrki Walk, and Minstrels of Annie Street, a original by trombonist Turk Murphy com posed and arranged in the Red Hot Peppe style of Jelly Roll Morton. Lu Watters an< the other musicians have obviously decide that there's plenty of sea room in America musical history without sailing away to fin : Debussy. To me the most satisfying aspec of the band is its demonstration of the er thusiasm and drive that can be picked u cruising South. Borneman, Mike Levin an Leonard Feather would say it's going bac to slavery. But to me it's the escape fror the grinding slave conditions imposed upo creative musicians by the big music trust. I ever there was a band which has found i possibility of freedom it's the Yerba Buer — and found it in its native land. ESQUIRE'S ALL AMERICA! HOT JAZZ Blow Me Down Rockabye River Jivin' With Jarvis Buckin' The Blues Indian Summer Sugar I Cried For You Indiana Winter Victor Hot Jazz Album 10 This volume is much more of a documc; than the worksongs, blues, hollers, and (Continued on Page 15) ftr Vl ts id I pi I I Ijiil, I And then what did Tony Jackson say to you?!!" Jus 111 I k\ 1 | Id THE RECORD CHANQ