Customer Reviews

Blue Clarinet Stomp: Complete Sessions 1928-1929

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a CD that should be part of every bass player's collection. One can only guess what the great cornet player Buddy Bolden must have sounded like--one need not guess when it comes to Bill Johnson--widely acknowledged as the Buddy Bolden of jazz bass playing. Bill is cited as "The First Man to Pluck the Bass." But what is most astounding about these recordings is the outright power of tone displayed by Bill. Dancing around effortlessly on his instrument--either pluckin' or bowin'--it ain't no thang! Bill is the man! It's been said that Jimmy Blanton broke the 4/4 beat constraint in jazz--but listening to Bill, it is obvious that the great New Orleans bassists playing prior to the swing era were doing anything BUT playing four beats to the bar. Bill is the great-grand-daddy of New Orleans bassists--along with Pops Foster, Al Morgan, Ed Garland, John Lindsay, and Wellman Braud. On these recordings, especially the trio dates, Bill sounds one-hundred times more "modern" than many of the great Swing bassists who would follow him decades later. Could it be that cats like Blanton and Crosby were listening more closely than was once thought to the New Orleans cats of old? An amazing CD--20th century bass playing starts here! To hear the only other six sides Bill cut with Dodds (unfortunately not included here) check out Dodds' 1927-1928 CD on the Classics label--and enjoy!

A model re-issue from the British Frog label, featuring all the recordings the great New Orleans clarinetist Johnny Dodds made for Victor in 1928 - 1929. Dodds, a veteran of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, mainstay of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five & Seven and recording artist with Jelly Roll Morton's 1927 Red Hot Peppers, is featured here with members of his regular band from Chicago's Kelly's Stables. Dodds sounds far more relaxed here than in some of the later Hot Five and Hot Seven sides.

Tracks 1 - 3, are lively trios with pianist Charlie Alexander and veteran New Orleans bass player Bill Johnson, and provide a showcase for Dodds' beautiful tone and ability to pace a solo. Tracks 4 - 7, by the five piece "Johnny Dodds' Washboard Band" are among the greatest classic jazz recordings of the 1920s, and tracks such as "Weary City" and "Bull Fiddle Blues" see Dodds playing with enormous drive, freedom and passion. Tracks 8 - 20 by the "Johnny Dodds Orchestra" are rather more serious, and the cornet playing of Natty Dominique is sometimes quite sour in tone, but they are important sides. Tracks 21-22 are trio sides which again showcase Dodds' clarinet. The final track, an accompaniment to classic blues singer Sippie Wallace, is a welcome rarity.

This CD was remastered by John R.T. Davis, and so sound quality is predictably excellent. Recommended for all lovers of New Orleans clarinet jazz.

This is one of if not the most special of New Orleans' clarinetists from the 20's. These old recordings are in pretty good shape, and along with Dodds you get to hear several other excellent jazz players from that era. For those that are still in grief over the loss of Michael Jackson, this may not help, but for those that love deep jazz, you'll find this a treat from the old days.