I’ve been on many quiet crusades, but one that I’ve been carrying out in these pages is to encourage people to give Vic Dickenson his due. Too many listeners and writers have been content to place him in a series of confining definitions: a “Dixieland” musician with a “sly” talent for double-entendre growling in traditional ensembles.
Vic told Stanley Dance that he loved melodies, but his art transcended playing the notes on the paper with proper respect. I would have you hear him anew as a great passionate voice — I use the word ARIA intentionally — when he was given free room to do so.
Here he is playing Jerome Kern’s YESTERDAYS, not his expected feature, with a band he was leading (again, something unusual): the “Mahogany Hall All-Stars,” who appeared at George Wein’s establishment in the Hotel Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts. They broadcast on radio station WBZ in early 1953 with Vic, Doc Cheatham, trumpet; Al Drootin, clarinet; Claude Hopkins, piano; Al Morgan, double bass; Buzzy Drootin, drums.
Please put aside all that you’ve heard or read about Vic for the next four minutes. He will reward your attentive focus:
I’ve heard that Jerome Kern disliked jazz improvisations on his melodies. I think he might have put that aside to glory in the passion Vic brought to YESTERDAYS.
This jewel comes to us from the late jazz enthusiast, producer, and collector Joe Boughton, and is shared here thanks to Bill Boughton and Sarah Boughton Holt.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 