Art Hodes - Sweet Lorraine

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 24:57
Size: 57.1 MB
Styles: Jazz-blues piano
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[2:59] 1. Caravan
[3:06] 2. Rose Room
[3:51] 3. C Jam Blues
[3:41] 4. Blues
[3:39] 5. Perdido
[3:27] 6. Sweet Lorraine
[2:36] 7. High Society
[1:35] 8. When It Is Sleepy Time Down South

Throughout his long career, Art Hodes was a fighter for traditional jazz, whether through his distinctive piano playing, his writings (which included many articles and liner notes), or his work on radio and educational television. Renowned for the feeling he put into blues, Hodes was particularly effective on up-tempo tunes, where his on-the-beat chordings from his left hand could be quite exciting. Born in Russia, he came to America with his family when he was six months old and grew up in Chicago. Hodes had the opportunity to witness Chicago jazz during its prime years in the 1920s, and he learned from other pianists. In 1928, he made his recording debut with Wingy Manone, but spent most of the 1930s in obscurity in Chicago until he moved to New York in 1938. He played with Joe Marsala and Mezz Mezzrow before forming his own band in 1941. Hodes recorded for Solo Art, his Jazz Record label, Signature, Decca, and Black & White during 1939-1942, but he made more of an impression with his heated Dixieland recordings for Blue Note during 1944-1945 (all of which have been reissued on a Mosaic box set). During 1943-1947, Hodes edited the important magazine the Jazz Record, had a radio show, and became involved in the moldy fig versus bebop wars with Leonard Feather and Barry Ulanov; jazz on a whole lost to the latter. In 1950, he returned to Chicago, where he remained active locally and made occasional records. Hodes hosted a television series, Jazz Alley, for a time in the 1960s, wrote for Downbeat, and was a jazz educator. Art Hodes recorded frequently during the 1970s and '80s, and was widely recognized as one of the last survivors of Chicago jazz. His later recordings were for such labels as Audiophile, Jazzology, Delmark, Storyville, Euphonic, Muse, Parkwood, Candid, and Music & Arts. ~bio by Scott Yanow

Sweet Lorraine

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Art Hodes - Pagin' Mr. Jelly

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1989
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:38
Size: 134,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:34)  1. Grandpa's Spells
(5:06)  2. Mamie's Blues
(3:09)  3. High Society
(4:23)  4. Mr. Jelly Lord
(5:23)  5. Buddy Bolden's Blues
(2:52)  6. Pagin' Mr. Jelly
(3:54)  7. Original Jelly Roll Blues
(6:11)  8. Winin' Boy Blues
(2:34)  9. Beale Street Blues
(3:32) 10. Wolverine Blues
(3:11) 11. Ballin' the Jack
(3:34) 12. The Pearls
(4:56) 13. Gone Jelly Blues
(3:27) 14. Doctor Jazz
(2:45) 15. Oh! Didn't He Ramble

Art Hodes was just ten days short of his 84th birthday at the time of this Candid solo piano CD. Hodes had his own style for quite a few decades by then. A masterful blues player, on the more up-tempo tunes, Art's left hand tended to state each beat in double-time, a very effective device. For this tribute to Jelly Roll Morton, Hodes performs 13 tunes recorded by Morton (eight of which Jelly Roll wrote) along with two of his own originals: a blues number and "Pagin' Mr. Jelly," which is partly based on Morton's "King Porter Stomp." The five faster performances really stomp, the three medium-tempo renditions swing, and the seven more introspective pieces are quite soulful. Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/pagin-mr-jelly-mw0000308546

Pagin' Mr. Jelly

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Art Hodes Quintet, Don Ewell Quartette - S/T

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:14
Size: 163.1 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[3:33] 1. After You've Gone
[3:22] 2. Apex Blues
[4:42] 3. Ain't She Sweet
[3:12] 4. Libert Inn Drag
[2:50] 5. I've Found A New Baby
[4:07] 6. Dardanella
[3:52] 7. B-Flat Blues
[4:40] 8. Chimes Blues
[2:36] 9. Angry
[4:32] 10. Michigan Water Blues
[5:42] 11. Atanta Blues
[5:10] 12. Tishomingo Blues
[4:47] 13. Georgia Bo Bo
[4:08] 14. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues
[4:11] 15. Blues (My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me)
[4:42] 16. Ole Miss
[4:57] 17. Yellow Dog Blues

This CD features two small group sessions recorded in the late 1950s featuring two of the finest traditional jazz pianists - Art Hodes and Don Ewell. (Tracks 1-9 - Art Hodes Quintet. Tracks 10-17 - Don Ewell Quartette.)

"The Hodes session is 'Some Legendary Art' and was recorded in Chicago on December 8, 1957. Musicians are Hodes on piano, Eddie Burleton on clarinet, Marty Grosz on guitar, Truck Parham on bass and Freddie Kohlman on drums. A beautiful session. The Ewell session may even be better. Also recorded in Chicago this session is from May 21, 1959 and has Ewell on piano, Nappy Trottier on trumpet, Marty Grosz again on guitar and Earl Murphy on bass.

The music on both of these sessions is very well recorded (by Ewing D. Nunn) and swings wonderfully. It's classic traditional jazz at its best. Anybody familiar with Art Hodes and Don Ewell will know exactly what to expect from this disc. This is legendary stuff and thanks must go to the wonderful folks at Jazzology/GHB Records for making this music available to all." ~Jazzman

Art Hodes Quintet, Don Ewell Quartette mc
Art Hodes Quintet, Don Ewell Quartette zippy

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Art Hodes - The Authentic Art Hodes Rhythm Section

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:47
Size: 114.0 MB
Styles: Jazz-blues, Dixieland
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[3:45] 1. Maybe Not At All (Not On The First Night Baby)
[4:55] 2. Wasted Life Blues
[3:53] 3. Big Butter And Egg Man
[5:32] 4. Jelly Roll Blues
[4:11] 5. There'll Be Some Changes Made
[6:53] 6. Back Water Blues
[3:42] 7. You Rascal You (I'll Be Glad When You're Dead)
[6:10] 8. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
[3:54] 9. What A Friend We Have In Jesus!
[6:48] 10. Silent Night

The title of this Parkwood set is a bit ironic, since pianist Art Hodes is the entire rhythm section. Hodes performs a pair of duets ("Jelly Roll Blues" and "When It's Sleepy Time Down South") with the great trumpeter Doc Cheatham, and joins Doc in accompanying singer Carrie Smith. The feeling throughout is of 1920s classic blues recordings, helped out by Smith's ability to emulate another Smith, Bessie. Among the more memorable vocal selections are "Big Butter and Egg Man," "There'll Be Some Changes Made" and "Backwater Blues." ~Scott Yanow

The Authentic Art Hodes Rhythm Section

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Kenny Davern - The Hot Three

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:16
Size: 99,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:00)  1. Fidgety Feet
(5:29)  2. Chimes Blues
(3:43)  3. Shim-Me Sha-Wabble
(4:43)  4. Liberty Inn Drag
(3:31)  5. Some of These Days
(3:38)  6. Ballin' The Jack
(4:11)  7. See See Rider
(5:34)  8. It Don't Mean A Thing
(4:13)  9. Tennessee Waltz
(3:08) 10. My Blue Heaven

Described in The New York Times as "the finest clarinetist playing today" in the 1990s, that high praise wasn't far off the mark, as it applied to Kenny Davern in the autumn of his life, at the peak of his powers. Call him a jazz purist, even a snob, but Davern believed in playing standards, and that he did. Tunes by George Gershwin, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Irving Berlin; what are sometimes referred to as Great American Songbook tunes. He was often praised for the clarity and pureness of his tone, and often played outdoor festival gigs without amplification. Davern was born in Huntington, on New York's Long Island, on January 7, 1935. He lived with his grandparents in Queens, New York after his own parents split up, and was shuffled through a maze of foster homes in Brooklyn and Queens in his youth. He began playing clarinet when he was 11, via the radio. He heard Pee Wee Russell playing "Memphis Blues" with Mugsy Spanier's Ragtimers, and right then, he had a revelation. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life playing traditional and blues-based jazz.  One big break was a phone call from trumpeter Harry "Red" Allen, who he accompanied locally on gigs around Queens while still in high school. He began playing clarinet and switched to saxophone for a time in high school, but switched back to clarinet before auditioning for pianist Ralph Flanagan's big band in the early '50s. Davern recalled he got the clarinet-playing part in Flanagan's band by bluffing his way in, saying he had another gig and the sooner he could audition, the better. He played with the bandleader in 1953 and 1954.

While still a teen, Davern made his recording debut with Jack Teagarden, and four years later, he recorded his first album under his own name, In the Gloryland, for the Elektra Records label. Davern's discography is extensive and includes many albums for the Concord, Chiaroscuro, and Arbors labels. Like any other focused musician, Davern devoted a lot of time to what he called his apprenticeship period, when he worked as a sideman to other bandleaders and recorded little under his own name. He collaborated on-stage and in the recording studio with trombonist Teagarden, trumpeters Harry "Red" Allen and Buck Clayton, and drummer Jo Jones. After he hit 40, he began having thoughts about leading his own group, and by that point, he'd been playing professionally for more than two decades. Davern always considered himself fortunate to have played with many of the pre-bebop jazz stylists in clubs in Manhattan in the '40s.

Davern moved to the New Jersey Shore town of Manasquan from New York City in 1965, and he blamed the rise of rock & roll for diminished incomes suffered by many of his friends who played traditional jazz. He began to forge his own path and career with his own recordings, leading his own ensembles in the late '70s. For much of the '80s and part of the '90s, he spent upwards of 230 nights a year on the road, and it wasn't until the mid-'90s that he curtailed his travel schedule significantly, playing only a number of select festivals each year. His notable recordings include anything he recorded for the Florida-based Arbors Records label in the '80s and '90s and into the new millennium. "I like to play music that makes me feel good," Davern said in an interview. "I like to listen to it when I play it, and most of that music was played by people who happened to be born around the turn of the century. The lyrics may be corny, but the tunes are not. And the tunes will survive." Davern passed away at his home in Sandia Park, New Mexico, on December 14, 2006, after having a heart attack. He was 71. 

~ Bio  https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/kenny-davern/id67679938#fullText

Personnel: Kenny Davern (clarinet); Art Hodes (piano); Don DeMichael (drums).

The Hot Three

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Art Hodes - I Remember Bessie

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 59:35
Size: 136.4 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[4:17] 1. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
[3:38] 2. Alexander's Ragtime Band
[3:37] 3. You've Got To Give Me Some
[3:28] 4. Yonder Comes The Blues
[3:37] 5. Cake Walkin' Babies From Home
[4:31] 6. Back Water Blues
[3:29] 7. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
[3:31] 8. At A Georgia Camp Meeting
[4:08] 9. You've Been A Good Ole Wagon
[4:10] 10. Slow And Easy Man
[3:39] 11. Yellow Dog Blues
[3:34] 12. A Good Man Is Hard To Find
[3:44] 13. St. Louis Blues
[0:19] 14. Mayor Calling
[3:33] 15. After You've Gone
[2:22] 16. Cake Walkin' Babies From Home (Alt)
[3:51] 17. Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You

The end of World War II remains the most profound demarcation in jazz history. Jazz changed so radically and abruptly after 1945 that fans of the music split into two bickering camps. Pre-war jazz fans argued that their music had structure, charm and romanticism that post-war jazz lacked. Post-war jazz fans countered that their music was about individualism, advocacy and daring—viewing pre-war jazz as archaic, formulaic and dull.

Pianist Art Hodes [pronounced HOE-deeze] was considered a pre-war pianist and often expressed bewilderment and exasperation with modern forms like bebop. But in retrospect, his approach in the decades following the war seemed to be routinely updated, particularly in his voicings. Yet Hodes' name is all but forgotten today, disregarded by decades of post-war jazz fans deaf to the music of the '20s and '30s. Hodes deserves better.

In September 1976, Hodes recorded at a Santa Monica, Calif., bungalow of a friend. There was a Yamaha grand there along with superb engineering by Cecil Spiller. The theme Hodes chose for the session was songs made famous by singer Bessie Smith. One by one, Hodes applies his deliberate, textured style to songs like You've Got to Give Me Some, Yonder Come the Blues and Cake Walkin' Babies From Home.

Now Art Hodes: I Remember Bessie (Delmark) is out for the first time on CD with previously unreleased tracks. This is a thrilling album for many reasons. First, the sound is fantastic—Hodes is practically in your room. Second, Hodes is a positively glorious soloist—rekindling the joy and excitement of pre-war jazz. But even more important, Hodes performs as if singing through his hands, growing soft and loud in different places and tossing in a mini solo here and there with the most unusual fingering.

What I find particularly miraculous is how he offers something completely different in each bar. It's almost impossible to conceive how one person could be playing. In Hodes' hands, you hear the blues, Bessie's bossy voice and the early architecture of R&B piano, with its snap and stride. Hodes would probably insist that what you're hearing is just pre-war jazz—over easy. ~Marc Myers

I Remember Bessie

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