Daily Archives: March 24, 2023

EIGHTY MINUTES OF JAZZ HISTORY FROM SIDNEY BECHET and FRIENDS IN CONCERT: HARRY CARNEY, SIDNEY and WILBUR DePARIS, BABY DODDS, EDDIE EDWARDS, POPS FOSTER, ART HODES, MARTY MARSALA, MONETTE MOORE, JIM MOYNAHAN, ALBERT NICHOLAS, TONY PARENTI, TONY SPARGO, JOE SULLIVAN, SANDY WILLIAMS (Town Hall, New York City, October 26, 1946)

This Town Hall concert was produced by Bob Maltz as a tribute to Baby Dodds, Eddie Edwards, and Tony Parenti. I don’t know how a recording of it was made (presumably on disc) but a copy came to me thanks to the late John L. Fell almost thirty-five years ago. (Two tracks have been issued on a CD included with their Tony Parenti book.) It’s time to share the music with people who might never have heard it otherwise: a cross-section of the jazz riches that were at hand in 1946, with veterans of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band still active.

Here are the details, which I find head-spinning.

ORIGINAL DIXIELAND ONE-STEP / talk: Eddie Edwards, trombone (and Tony Parenti, clarinet) and Maltz

FIDGETY FEET (NC): Marty Marsala, trumpet; Tony Parenti, Eddie Edwards, Joe Sullivan, piano; Tony Spargo, drums and kazoo on FIDGETY

DIPPERMOUTH BLUES (NC) / talk: Albert Nicholas, clarinet and Maltz

CLARINET MARMALADE: Sidney and Wilbur DeParis, trumpet and trombone; Sidney Bechet, soprano saxophone and clarinet; Albert Nicholas, Art Hodes, piano; Pops Foster, string bass; Baby Dodds, drums

GRACE AND BEAUTY Parenti, Hodes, Foster, Dodds

BALLIN’ THE JACK DeParis band plus Marsala, Sandy Williams, trombone; Jim Moynahan, clarinet / talk: Parenti and Dodds with Maltz, about fifteen minutes

BLUES Hodes, Nicholas, Marsala, Sandy, Harry Carney, baritone saxophone [!], Wilbur DeParis, Parenti, Sullivan, Sidney DeParis, Bechet, onette Moore, vocal; Bechet, Sullivan, Foster

AFTER YOU’VE GONE Sullivan, Dodds, Marsala, Sandy Williams, Parenti, Spargo, Edwards, Nicholas, W. DeParis, Moore, S. DeParis, Moynahan, Bechet:

Amazing that it happened; wonderful that it was preserved.

May your happiness increase!