It’s a labor of love keeping up with the conveyor belt of 2 cd reissues put out by the UK-based Avid Records. They just continually churn out some wonderfully obscure music from the 40s and 50s that makes mince meat of 90% of what is currently labeled as jazz. Here is there latest hat trick:
Trombonist Vic Dickenson is (I’m going to be saying this a lot during this article) one of the true unsung heroes in jazz, having a 
respectable career that included stints with Basie, Carter, Bechet and a gazillion touring groups that featured “traditional” jazz. These sessions from 46-59 find him in a plethora of settings, sometimes as a sideman, but usually as a leader. Of the former, a collection of tunes with Louis Armstrong from ’46 with Barney Bigard, Red Callender and Zutty Singleton is a real treat, with Satchmo singing gloriously on “I Want A Little Girl” and “Sugar.” A short stint with Scatman Crothers from 1948 is a hoot as well with some down and dirty playing on material like “Dead Man’s Blues.” Everything else has Dickenson leading a collection of various septets that includes swingers like Buck Clayton/tp, Hal Singer/ts, Danny barker/g, Jimmy Forrest/ts, Sir Charles Thompson/p, Shorty Baker/tp, Jo Jones/dr, Ruby Braff/tp, Paul Gonsalves/ts, Dickie Wells/tb, Kenny Burrell/g Milt Hinton/b and Hilton Jefferson/as, just to name a handful. Most of the tunes like “Russian Lullaby,” “Jeepers Creepers” “Old Fashioned Love” and “Everybody Loves My Baby” are fairly long jams, clocking in at around 8-10 minutes, so everyone gets a chance to stretch out, a rarity for the early 50s. Casual, relaxed and relentlessly enjoyable. What a concept!
Tenor saxist Bud Freeman is also one of those overlooked giants of the earlier days of jazz, displaying a unique tone that is infectiously attractive. He was part of the Chicago-Trad revival of the 50s, but don’t let that dissuade you from this 2 cd set-it’s got some of the hottest playing you’ll run across. The 1957 classic Chicago/Austin High School Jazz in Hi-Fi is included here, and it’s a doozy. Vets like “Jimmy McPartland, Pee Wee Russell, Milt Hinton, Billy Butterfield, Jack teagarden and Peanuts Hucko give the hot jazz two step treatment to stuff like “China Boy,””Chicago” and “There’ll Be Some Changes Made.” Ruby Braff teams up with Freeman on the hot Bud Freeman session that includes a marvelous”Perdido” and “Exactly Like You.” The 1961 Chicago and All That Jazz! features Gene Krupa along with Eddie Condon, Pee Wee Russell, Jimmy McPartland and Jack Teagarden, as well as a special appearance by Lil Armstrong. The ringer here is the quartet session that has the tenorist with the simple accompaniment of Al Hall/b, George Wettling/dr and Dick Cary/p. They make some lovely sounds on “Sweet Sue” and “Rosalie,” making you wonder why Freeman didn’t go out on his own more often. Fun times!
Altoist Lee Konitz is still on earth with us, and is still as experimental as ever. These four sessions from the mid to late 50s find him in his prime form, when his tone was both warm and cool, and his solos elegant yet searching. The 1958 session An Image has the altoist accompanied by a string quartet, and the takes of “’Round Midnight” and “What’s New” are hauntingly alluringing. Some originals like “Mood For Alto Saxophone and Stings” and “An Image of Man” are a bit more abstract, but they keep you involved. The 1959 You and Lee is not only notable for some very hip Jimmy Giuffre charts of tunes like “Ev’rything I’ve Got Belongs to You” and “The More I See You,” but it also includes Bill Evans, Jim Hall and Roy Haynes along for the ride. Two sessions from 1954, In Harvard Square and Konitz have the altoist in a pared down quartet mode with Ronnie Ball/p, Peter Ind-Percy Heath/b and Jeff Morton-Al Levit/dr. The tool cool for comfort material like “Easy Livin’” and “My Old Flame” wears extremely well, with Konitz’s tone as refreshing as a pina colada. Great listening
Avid Jazz Group