The First Recordings of a Titan
Michael D. Robbins | San Antonio, Texas United States | 02/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sidney Bechet, master of the clarinet and soprano sax, was the greatest reed player in the New Orleans style, and one of the greatest in any style of jazz. This disk presents his first recordings, from 1923-1925. Bechet was 26 years old on the earliest tracks, and his style was fully formed. He was as great in 1923 as he would be three decades later, and his style never really changed. Bechet's brilliance shone through the sonic limitations of these accoustical records, which are remastered beautifully here. He is featured mostly with the Clarence Williams Blue Five, using a traditional New Orleans instrumentation. There are instrumental numbers, as well as accompaniments for singers such as Sara Martin, Eva Taylor, and Alberta Hunter. These records were originally aimed at an African-American audience, and most tracks are blues numbers. With one exception, the other musicians were merely compentent. The exception was Louis Armstrong, who is present on nine tracks, and was probably Bechet's only peer at the time. The tracks featuring Armstrong were landmarks in his discography as well as in Bechet's. The best tracks are "Wild Cat Blues," "Kansas City Man Blues," "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues," "Texas Moaner Blues," and two astounding versions of "Cake Walking Babies From Home." The music on this disk is essential. After these sessions, Sidney Bechet stayed out of the recording studios until 1931, and his brief stay in the nascent Duke Ellington Orchestra was unrecorded."
Armstrong discography
Michael D. Robbins | 03/14/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is fascinating and important early jazz, with the two greatest of the early jazz musicians. The sound quality is sometimes difficult to listen to (hence less than 5 stars), even after the optimization by wizard-remasterer John R.T. Davies. Still, this music is important, not just for its glimpse into the beginnings of Bechet, but also because it completes the sequence of early Armstrong recordings available on CD. Armstrong's first recordings in sequence are as follows: 1) with Joe King Oliver 1923-1924, best represented in "King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band: The Complete Set" (John R.T. Davies remastered, Challenge label) => 2) with Fletcher Henderson 1924-1925, best represented in "Louis Armstrong with Fletcher Henderson: The Complete Recordings" (Johns R.T. Davies remastered, 3-CD set, Forte & Jazz Oracle label) => 3) with Clarence Williams Blue Five and Sidney Bechet (last 8 tracks of the CD listed here) in 1925 => 4) with Hot Five and Hot Sevens 1925-1929, best represented by JSP 4-CD set remastered also by Davies. To extend the line farther into Armstrongs turn toward Big Band, JSP also offers the next recordings in sequence as "The Big Band Recordings: 1930-1932", remasterd by John R.T. Davies. For those fascinated by early Armstrong, and his remarkable maturation during the few middle years of the 1920s, all of these CDs are a must."
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1