The record changer (Feb-Dec 1948)

Records Noted George Avakian row Bob Wilber's Wildcats Featuring Dick Wellstood Chimes Blues Did Fashioned Love As soon as I saw CHIMES BLUES I immediately thought of the Oliver recording on Gennett, but when I put the Wilber side on I was pleasantly surprised to find that it Dore not the slightest resemblance to Genlett 5135. I played it again, however, and 9s I listened two things ran through my Tead — Ellington and something vaguely familiar, yet a little illusive. On the third playing I got it — no mental giant he, but a mind relentless as a bulldog. The opening should have been a dead <?ive away, but the Chimes Blues business nad me off on a tangent. Well, to make a ong story short, I got out Jelly Roll Morton's recording of Mournful Serenade mid played it through, then played the Wilber side again. Finally, just to make things i little interesting I put on the old Brunswick Black and Tan Fantasy by the Duke, later, when I compared the three labels, I saw that on the Wilber side Oliver was -redited as the composer, as he was on the Morton side, but on Brunswick 3526 the composers are listed as Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley. All three, of course, are the same number. But to get back to the Wilber side. Though it does follow almost the exact Morton pattern — the familiar introduction md piano by Jelly, a clarinet solo followed jy one on the trombone, ensemble, another rombone solo, and a final ensemble — this ■ecord convinces me that the kids ain't dug hemselves into a rut yet. If anything I liink this record shows that they have not as yet jelled into any set style, which seems o me all to the good. Then I remembered /hat Dick Wellstood had told me last w inter when I was in Chicago and happened o drop around to hear him playing with Sidney Bechet. Dick Wellstood 'ULY, 1948 Bncklin Moon Paul Bacon "I think the critics have us all wrong," he said. "All we're trying to do is play dance music, the kind of music that makes people want to dance. Oliver and Jelly had it, but we don't want just to play like they do. We want to experiment until we find out what it was they had that made people want to dance instead of just standing around to listen." I like both sides very much, by the way. I like the way Wellstood takes the familiar introduction a la Jelly, slips in a little of the flavor of the Great One, but then settles down into something that is all Wellstood. I like Wilber's chorus on the Chimes side, and hearing Mielke's fine trombone chorus reminds me again how much he has added to the group. Maybe when you hear this side you will think of Jelly, of Omer Simeon and of Geechie Fields, but if you listen carefully you will see that these youngsters are playing their own jazz and playing it with grace, deep emotional feeling and a haunting beauty. The other side, the familiar old James Popus, Old Fashioned Love,, is built almost entirely around the barrel house 'piano of Dick Wellstood, though there are fine choruses by Wilber and Jerry Blumberg. This is a very satisfying record to listen to and one that keeps that delicate balance between nostalgia and the jazz idiom which is so seldom obtained. It is never banal, nor sloppily sentimental, yet I have a feeling that if it were on a jook organ in a Third Avenue bar it would have the customers crying in their beer, and make the syndicate a million dollars. I don't know how Wellstood got the mechanical, Frankie Froeba sound effect, but it merely proves more conclusively that he is a player of rare taste, and growing technique. Don't miss this one; in a month that stands out for its dearth of good records this is welcome fare indeed. (Rampart 3.) (B.M.) Bob Scobey I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover Wild Man Blues A Bay Area group headed by Lu Watters' trumpet sidekick, Bob Scobey, has produced two interesting sides on this well-timed release— although the record is hitting the east coast only now, it has been out in California for the last six months, so it has evidently cashed in its chips as far as the commercial aspect of Four Leaf Clover is concerned — ■ and if you can pick up a loose copy somewhere you'll find it up to standard from the jazz point of view and yet palatable to your corny friends as well. Clover is done with the ensemble riding the melody into a banjo chorus by Harry Mordecai, and the band sings the third BOB SCOBEY chorus just like everybody else, only not so obnoxious. Trombonist Jack Buck rips out a good solo after that and the band goes all out for the last chorus. It's a rousing performance, and although nothing exceptional, the band plays the tune the way it should be played. It should be worth observing the reaction of your more conventional friends who have been weaned on the Art Mooney disc. Oddly enough, the recording level is much higher on Wild Man Blues, so stand by to adjust your volume control as you flip this cutting. At the risk of observing that everybody's over-recording the piano in this month's releases, it must be noted that Wally Rose is unusually prominent throughout this side, and the balance makes for an interesting study of the counterpoint between Rose's full piano backing and the solo work in front of it. Fortunately, the conventional pattern of more or less copying the Armstrong and Dodds fireworks has been avoided, and a pleasantly original interpretation of this fine Morton-Armstrong number is the result. The line-up of the band is quite interesting— in addition to Scobey, Rose, and Mordecai, the Watters band is represented by its drummer, Bill Dart, and its original bass player, Squire Girsback. Buck and Clarinetist Jack Crook represent the Frisco Jazz Band, which I hear is defunct now. The combination is a sound one, and indications are that there are a couple of more sides due later. (Trilon 220.) (G.A.) Pete Daily's Rhythm Kings Jazz Man Strut Sobbin' Blues Yelping Hound Blues Clarinet Marmalade Pete Daily does it again — top-drawer dixieland, cleanly played with the light swing which is so important in putting across this kind of music. This band is one of the best white dixieland groups jazz has ever known. And its records have shown 19