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
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
