No, not Cortot-Thibaud- Casals, or any more formally garbed trio. Rather, another visit to the marvelously melodic world of Hot Classicism, the trio of Kris Tokarski, piano; Andy Schumm, cornet and clarinet; Hal Smith, drums, described here.
One of the pleasures of visiting New Orleans last September for the Steamboat Stomp was the opportunity to visit some places new to me off the steamboat, one of them being Snug Harbor — living up to its name — to hear the trio perform on September 25, 2016. I posted five glowing performances, glowing even in the purple haze, here, some time back, so now it’s time for more.
What makes these performances a little different is that they all have Andy on clarinet, which he plays with his usual passion and precision, here summoning up Noone, Dodds, early Benny, Don Murray, Fud, Tesch, Mezz who had stuck to practicing, and a few others — all nicely combined in his own beautiful personal synthesis. Incidentally, Andy does play some cornet here, but you already noticed that. Kris and Hal show why they are intensely and intently reliable, creative, swinging, and surprising.
And some beautifully obscure, seldom-played songs to improvise on.
I’D RATHER CRY OVER YOU:
ORIENTAL MAN (where “Oriental” means generically Asiatic rather than Chinese, if I recall correctly):
FORGET-ME-NOT:
RED RIVER BLUES (with the most gorgeous Hal Smith press rolls):
There’s more to come from this peerless hot chamber trio.
May your happiness increase!
LOVELY!!
…reminds me of latter-day Nichols & his Five Pennies, despite Schumm’s Bix-ish style. Ol’ Red lived/played long enough to MATURE, for all those out there still feuding with me over my preference for R.N.
Amazing trio. 🙂
I didn’t know that Andy plays trumpet so good.
Nice to hear these cats again.Tookarski Sounds better each time I hear him.Andy and Hal complement each other-a fine set,Michael.