I am more than excited about this post. Frankly, it's this type of share that makes me love doin this blog thang. I will unroll as much of the story around these sessions, and the albums, as I can - hopefully without boring you to death. Lately I have been getting my albums from a local jazz radio DJ, and I had to work hard to convince him to let these babies go.
Here we go...
Sidney Bechet. Grandfather of modern sax, he practically created the concept of what we all know as jazz. The beauty of players like Bechet, is that they innovated and created with little foundation. There was no Coltrane or Rollins... his genius was that of pure creativity. For anyone who is unfamiliar with his playing, or his life - Sidney Bechet was a wild man. He was erratic, ecclectic and this poured into his music. There wasn't alot of musicians who could share a stage with him, and many others didn't want to. You see, Sidney had a bad rep for "killing at will". He was so competetive, he would sometimes cut his bandmates during a gig!
These sessions were performed in 1945. Up to that point, Bechet's career had seen a decline. Partly due to changing tastes, and partly due to his negative views of the scene. The late 30's/early 40's began the revivalist movement, which brought back the appeal of small group "hot" jazz. Bechet was viewed as a living legend (and rightly so!) to this scene, and he was perfectly positioned for a comeback. He decided he would put together the most smokin' N'awlins styled group, and use this rejuvenated celebrity status to his benefit. Quite literally, world domination was on his mind - but first, he would have to put the group together and work out the kinks.
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| FCJ010: Royal Garden Blues |
And so, Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Rhythm Kings was founded. The rhythm section would remain the same from start to finish; Ray Parker on keys, Pops Foster on bass and George Thompson on the skins. Bunk Johnson was brought in as the other half of the front line, on trumpet. Bechet picked the Savoy Cafe in Boston, MA for an extended engagement, essentially a warm up before storming the world.
The entire jazz world was buzzing from the news, and as a result, the local radio station WCOP secured broadcasting rights. They would feature the gigs on their nightly show - Jazz Nocturne. It was being hailed as the biggest jazz event of the decade, and they probably weren't too far off from the truth. Of course, fate had other ideas for the Rhythm Kings...
Firstly, Bunk Johnson didn't work out. He was a raging alcoholic, and was butting heads with Bechet on stage. So they called down south for Peter Bocage to replace him. During the week of waiting for his arrival, local 18 year old Johnny Windhurst managed to get the gig. Bocage finally arrived, but after only a few nights it became evident that Bocage and Bechet were stylistically not working. So with Bocage's departure, Bechet called back Windhurst, and with the young trumpeter the band was finally complete. This quintet played night after night until the engagement was finished.
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| FCJ011: Struttin' With Some Barbecue |
So now... skip ahead to 1981. A small group of afficianados start the Fat Cat's Jazz imprint, for the sole purpose of releasing the WCOP archives. 12 volumes were pressed, in small quantity, featuring rehearsals, live performances and interviews from the Savoy engagement. The albums were tracked chronologically, with Volume 1 featuring the group with Bunk Johnson, and Volume 12 ending with Windhurst.
Moving into the late 90's, a small label called Jazz Crusade decided to transfer the Jazz Nocturne albums to CD. Curiously, they only released everything up to Volume 5 and then stopped. While these 5 albums are historically important, the best performances in terms of music are on the latter half of the albums, once the group had solidified it's line up.
And that's where the Crypt steps in folks. Here for you are volumes 10, 11 and 12. Each LP is in mint condition. Of course, the fidelity from the source can be sketchy. The music however is wildly rewarding, and worth a listen. The liner notes are fantastic, and are of course included. Since I think this is a blogland first, I also scanned the LP labels...for completion sake I suppose. These were ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC. Cryptheads get ready!!! Enjoy!!
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| FCJ012: Blues In The Air |
Fat Cat's Jazz - Jazz Nocturne
FCJ010, FCJ011 and FCJ012
Recorded off the air, by WCOP Boston, MA 1945
Released 1981
Sidney Bechet - soprano sax; Johnny Windhurst - cornet; Ray Parker - piano; Pops Foster - bass; George Thompson - drums
Bob Brenner - announcer/host
Wynne Paris - interviewer
