(Jazz / Dixieland) [LP] [24/96] Rompin' and stompin' Bob Scobey's Frisco Band - 1959, FLAC (tracks)

Like the New Orleans Jazzmen of old, Bob Scobey has taken to Chicago, where there is a vitality in the night conducive to the playing of a rollicking form of American jazz. The Windy City has always been a good town for Jelly Roll Morton tunes. Scobey, born in New Mexico and raised in California, has reversed the normal procedure by coming east to settle down. He no sooner established his headquarters, opened at the Cafe Continental, than RCA Victor's Fred Reynolds rushed out from New York to etch for posterity the Scobey band under their new inspiration. To further make Scobey at home, Art Hodes sat in on piano for the recording date and instilled into the band the true Chicago tradition with his fine piano blues style. Art himself deserted New York City many years ago to become a part of the Chicago scene. The tunes included here are all numbers that used to be played nightly on the South Side during the days of Joe "King" Oliver, young Louis Armstrong, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The one exception is Colonel Bogey March, an English composition by Kenneth Alford that helped the moving picture "The Bridge on the River Kwai" win an Academy Award several years ago. It is the kind of marching tune that adapts itself well to a rousing Dixieland interpretation. The Scobey boys musically march it out in true New Orleans style with the drum roll and the ensembles alternating between a trumpet and clarinet lead. It is truly a tonic to lift the spirits on a blue Monday morning. There are five Jelly Roll Morton compositions, several of which were written while the great one was living in Chicago during the Twenties. Morton's famous The Pearls was first recorded as a piano solo and later as a band ensemble number dur-ing Jelly's Chicago period. Here, with Art Hodes' fine solo accompanied by drums and Scobey's trumpet leading the ensembles, you are reminded of both the original versions. Jelly's Kansas City Stomp opens with an appropriate swinging ensemble with Scobey at the head of the pack. Brian Shanlеу follows with a lyrical clarinet chorus in low and middle registers. Scobey then takes a trumpet break reminiscent of Bix Beiderbecke. Also noteworthy is the firm foundation banjoist Clancy Hayes gives to the rhythm section on this date. It is fitting that Art Hodes' piano serves to introduce Buddy Bolden's Blues with its familiar "Didn't He Ramble" refrain. Art once made this tune on his own record label, Jazz Record, and has a wonderful feeling for this Morton tribute to the legendary New Orleans cornetist, Buddy Bolden. Some fine low register New Orleans-styled clarinet further enhances this side. Another Morton tune, London Blues, is played here with touches of authentic New Orleans sound, as well as a rousing ensemble with a percussive slide trombone break by Jim Beebe. Drummer Dave Black inserts a bit of Baby Dodds nostalgia with his ratchet. The last Morton number is the well known Black Bottom Stomp, opening with Scobeу's horn leading the ensemble into a trumpet solo counterpoint to a high register clarinet performance. Hayes takes his longest banjo break of the afternoon on this track. One of the favorites played by Louis Armstrong at the old Sunset during the late Twenties was Skit-Dat-De-Dat, written for him by his then wife, Lillian Hardin Armstrong. Scobey does justice to the number while highlighting the trumpet—not sur-prising inasmuch as Scobey's favorite trumpet player is Louis. One of the most exciting renditions in this set is the band's version of Mel Stitzel's The Chant, which features an outstanding trumpet solo, a tuba solo by Rich Matteson, a banjo break with drums, and a gutty trombone solo. Again the trumpet evidences some Bixian influence. Clarinetist Brian Shanley is the star of the Frisco-Clark melody, Shake It and Break It, but there is also a short piano solo performed in Hodes' unique manner. Joe Oliver is represented by his composition Canal Street Blues. Once again Sсobeу leads the ensemble into a "dirty-toned" trombone solo and a typical Hodes piano break. The Original Dixieland Band with the late Larry Shields on clarinet and Nick La Rocca on cornet introduced the tune Fidgety Feet to Chicago in 1917. The Scobey boys re-create the mood with good trum-pet and clarinet solos, along with one of Hodes' best turns on the date, and a tuba solo thrown in for good measure. Another tune that Armstrong has always liked is Dallas Blues. The clarinet solo ranging from low to high register reminds one of the late Irving Fazоla, and Art Hodes' rapid tempo solo is lucidly played and "groovy." This fine album clearly indicates that being in Chicago has heartily agreed with Bob Scobey and His Frisco Band.
GEORGE HOEFER Editor, Down Beat Magazine
Recorded in RCA Victor's Chicago studios.
(c) By Radio Corporation of America 1959

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