With Jean-François Bonnel
1. Willie the Weeper
2. Chicago Buzz
3. Straight from the Wood
4. Cakewalkin' Babies from Home
5. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me
6. East Coast Trot
7. Blues Galore
With Bent Persson
8. I'm Going Away Just to Wear You off My Mind
9. Southern Stomps
10. Blue Grass Blues
11. Room Rent Blues
12. Once in a While
With Pierre Atlan
13. Mandy Make up your Mind
14. Buddy's Habit
15. Beale St. Mama
16. Hotter Than That
17. It Makes My Love Come Down
18. Blame It on the Blues
Humphrey Lyttelton - Trumpet, clarinet (tracks 1-4, 6-9, 11, 13,
14, 16, 17)
Jean-François Bonnel - Clarinet, soprano sax (tracks 1-7)
John R. T. Davies - Alto sax, baritone sax (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 8,
11)
Jim Shepherd - Trombone (tracks 1, 3, 7)
Johnny Parker - Piano (tracks 1-7)
Paul Sealey - Banjo (tracks 1-18)
Tiny Winters - Bass (tracks 1-7)
Stan Greig - Drums (tracks 1-7, 13-18)
Bent Persson - Cornet (tracks 8-12)
Mac White - Clarinet (tracks 8-12)
Jens Lindgren - Trombone (tracks 8-12)
Keith Nichols - Piano, trombone (tracks 8-18)
Annie Hawkins - Bass (tracks 8-12)
Kenny Milne - Drums (tracks 8-12)
Wally Fawkes - Clarinet, soprano sax (track 12)
Martin Litton - Piano (track 12)
Pierre Atlan - Clarinet (tracks 13-18)
Graham Read - Tuba (tracks 13-18)
My father used to say that Humphrey Lyttelton's bands worked their
way through the history of jazz - moving from revivalism to trad and
thence gradually to mainstream and even "modern". By the
1980s, Humph had already reached his mainstream period, so it is surprising
to find him here playing very much in trad style on sessions recorded
in 1985 and 1987. Lyttelton slides back easily into the trad genre
and makes a fine lead trumpeter on all the recordings, which put him
with various European jazz musicians.
The first European guest was French clarinettist Jean-François
Bonnel. He's a fairly ordinary clarinet player but he sounds remarkably
like Sidney Bechet when he takes up the soprano saxophone for Cakewalkin'
Babies. Humph switches to clarinet for his own composition, Straight
from the Wood - an attractive clarinet duet with Bonnel. Several
of the tunes are old trad warhorses, and this is a lively but not
outstanding trad session.
The second guest was Swedish cornettist Bent Persson, with a band
that included another Swedish jazzman: trombonist Jens Lindgren. The
backing band sounds more stodgy than in the previous tracks but perhaps
that was a deliberate result of following the classic King Oliver
style. Humph's trumpet and Bent's cornet (why does that remind me
of Dizzy Gillespie?) sound close to the classic recordings of King
Oliver and Louis Armstrong, with a rather dated feel.
Leaving the last till best, the final guest was the virtuosic French
clarinettist Pierre Atlan. The presence of tuba as well as banjo threatens
to impose a rigid two-beat style, but Atlan's clarinet flows effortlessly
over the rhythm, and Humph sounds entirely at ease. The pianists on
this and the previous session (Keith Nichols and Martin Litton) deserve
special mention for some sparkling solos.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Lake LACD 276
