Search - Pee Wee Russell :: Weary Blues

Don't be Weary--Buy Happy.

George H. Soule | Edwardsville, Illinois United States | 06/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just discovered these Quadromania sets from Membran. They are simply treasures if you want a one-stop, broad retrospective of major jazz figures. This set of four discs compiles the career of Pee Wee Russell---a career that started in the late 20's and ended in the late 60's. Not a bad run for a clarinet player without a big band to call his own. The striking thing is that creativity and excellence were never lacking. Russell played with the best. He lived with Bix Biederbecke and in this collection he plays in Eddie Condon traditional jazz settings with trumpet greats like Bobby Hackett, Max Kaminsky, Mugsy Spanier, and Wild Bill Davidson and trombonists Jack Teagarden, Miff Mole, and Bob Brookmeyer. Pianists include Fats Waller, Joe Sullivan, and Jess Stacy. The range of Russell's career is simply astounding. This set is a great survey of a traditional jazz clarinetist with clearly modern intonations and extraordinary musical inventiveness. Disc 4---from `60's sessions that included Coleman Hawkins on tenor and Emmett Berry on trumpet---is worth the price of the set. It showcases Russell near the end of his career as the consummate jazz musician that he was. The collection contains 68 tracks (the official count is 69, but Earl Hines' "Rosetta" is repeated on disc 2 in place of Gershwin's "'S Wonderful"--I wanted to hear the Teagarden solo on that one, but c'est la vie, Dude). Given the time span covered, the recordings were cleanly remastered."

Pee Wee Russell, the man with the 'licorice stick'

DR JAZZ | Portland, OR | 01/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pee Wee was a gifted clarinetist, back in the advent of the developmental days improvising on original New Orleans style, and helping the genre meld into Chicago/New York and eventual European Trad style , heading for the West Coast Revival of Trad Jazz and swing in the 30's, 40's and beyond. He associated with the best in the business, like Eddie Condon, Teagarden, Wild Bill Davison, George Wettling, Mugsy Spanier, etc. The Quadromania 4-CD sets are all impeccably done, and beautifully remastered. All should have these German issues in their collections."