Alphonse Picou's "High Society" solo
D Royko
In article <jx13f5a...@northshore.shore.net>,
da...@northshore.shore.net (Dale Smoak) writes:
>I know I've got a record of Alphonse Picou playing his famous clarinet
solo
>on "High Society," but I can't remember who the leader is, and the
>reference books I have aren't helping.
>Can anyone say who led recording sessions that include Picou playing
"High
>Society?"
You know you're a serious record/CD junkie with way too many discs when
you have to start asking other people where something is in your own
collection :-) I know, I've been there, am there, will always be there.
Dave Royko
Scott Gordon
> In article <jx13f5a...@northshore.shore.net>,
> da...@northshore.shore.net (Dale Smoak) writes:
>
> >I know I've got a record of Alphonse Picou playing his famous clarinet solo
> >on "High Society," but I can't remember who the leader is, and the
I didn't even know that Picou himself recorded it. Johnny Dodds
recreated it with King Oliver in 1923, as did many others later.
Picou really recorded a version?
Scott
Carlos May
Indeed Picou did record High Society. He lived to be at least
in his 80s, maybe 90s. (some debate about when he was born-- he gave
different dates at various times. Died about 1961.)
Here's a list on the subject from the dixiel...@islandnet.com
mailing list:
[Note: the video he mentions is a collection of black & white New
Orleans jazz films by Don Perry, from the 50s and early '60s.
I know it's availible throught the Louisiana Music Factory in
New Orleans, tel. 504/523-1094.]
-- Frogggy
---------begin included text---------------------------------------
Picou made several recordings of this tune while a member of Oscar "Papa"
Celestin's Tuedo Band in the 50s:-
1. on New Orleans Bandwagon No. 5 (78rpm) - reissued on Storyville in Denmark,
Esquire and Saga in Britain. Feb 1950
2. On Southland LP - from a broadcast. Available from Jazzology Records in New
Orleans - or see Fred Hatfield on this listserver.
Others:-
3. with Ricard Alexis' Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, 1951. issued on Bootleg
Acetate LP2 - and impossible to find!
4. with the Paddock Band (remains of Celestin's band after he passed on, as was
Alexis' band I just mentioned) - 1953 - issued on Center LP10 - terrible
recording quality. Described by Center's owner as "Piss Poor Fidelity".
5. on Metronome JEB100 - Joachim E. Berendt Presents JazzLife 1. - does anyone
have this item? Please let me know.
6. Finally, the best is the very first - recorded by John Reid in 1940asd by
Kid Rena's Jazz Band and originally issued on the rare Delta 78 rpm label. It
was issued recently on an American Music CD - part of Jazzology records out of
New Orleans.
There is also an example of Picou playing this song on film/TV:-
7. A New Orleans Telecast with Picou playing the song as part of an Art Ford TV
show - 1958. I have a video of this somewhere. I think a buddy of Fred
Hatfield's was selling videos of this some years ago. fred is on this
listserver.
I think that's everything.
Hope that helps
Regards
Colin J. Bray
Department of Geology
University of Toronto
Dale Smoak
THANK YOU. The Kid Rena one is the one I have. After seeing your post it
finally occured to me to go leafing through my "various artists" LPs. It's
on a BYG LP called _New Orleans Legends_ that contains six tracks by this
Rena band, and three apiece by Bunk Johnson and Kid Ory.
The "Coltrane the Thief" thread got me thinking about that solo. A few
years ago, when I taught a how-to-listen-to-jazz adult ed class, Bob
Blumenthal gave me an idea for a way to present how rich jazz is in its
references. Picou's "High Society" solo, though not recorded until 1940,
had become a set piece and the basis for a number of other snippets. The
Picou solo has one particularly florid phrase that Louis Armstrong dropped
into one of his recorded solos in the early 1930s (I forget which one).
And no doubt many other players used pieces of that solo elsewhere, too.
That same phrase became one of Charlie Parker's pet licks, and was hence
adopted by scads of other players. Parker used that lick in his recording
of "Now's the Time."
Miles Davis was on that "Now's the Time," and played a trumpet solo. A
dozen years later, Davis recorded "Straight No Chaser," with Red Garland
the piano player (the _Milestones_ album). Garland finished his piano solo
by playing Davis's *entire* trumpet solo from "Now's the Time" in block
chords.
And all that's just one example of how to build a string across several
generations of jazz.
And I'm sure Coltrane did some borrowing in his tunesmithing, too...
In article <4mtp8h$5...@uuneo.neosoft.com> fro...@praline.no.NeoSoft.com (Carlos May) writes:
Indeed Picou did record High Society.
<snip>
Here's a list on the subject from the dixiel...@islandnet.com
mailing list:
<snip>
6. Finally, the best is the very first - recorded by John Reid in 1940asd by
Kid Rena's Jazz Band and originally issued on the rare Delta 78 rpm label. It
was issued recently on an American Music CD - part of Jazzology records out of
New Orleans.
--
Dale Smoak | da...@shore.net
| http://www.shore.net/~dales/
Gary Milliken
>The
>Picou solo has one particularly florid phrase that Louis Armstrong dropped
>into one of his recorded solos in the early 1930s (I forget which one).
That would be "Sweethearts on Parade", a fairly awful song which has become
a trad-jazz standard because of Louis' wonderful recording. I first heard
this on Martin Williams' Smithsonian box set.
GM
Guattery Stephen
da...@northshore.shore.net (Dale Smoak) writes:
>
> That same phrase [from "High Society"] became one of Charlie Parker's pet
> licks, and was hence adopted by scads of other players. Parker used that
> lick in his recording of "Now's the Time."
Actually, Parker played the lick at least 3 times on that session, but not
on "Now's the Time." He plays it on "Warmin' Up a Riff", the alternate take
of "Thrivin' from a Riff" (a.k.a. "Anthropology"), and, most famously, at the
start of his second chorus on "Koko".
As you note, this was one of Parker's favorite licks. He typically played it
over "Cherokee" and "Rhythm" changes; I can't recall an example from a blues.
Does anyone know of one?
Steve Guattery
s...@icase.edu
Dale Smoak
da...@northshore.shore.net (Dale Smoak) writes:
>
> That same phrase [from "High Society"] became one of Charlie Parker's pet
> licks, and was hence adopted by scads of other players. Parker used that
> lick in his recording of "Now's the Time."
Actually, Parker played the lick at least 3 times on that session, but not
on "Now's the Time." He plays it on "Warmin' Up a Riff", the alternate take
of "Thrivin' from a Riff" (a.k.a. "Anthropology"), and, most famously, at the
start of his second chorus on "Koko".
You're right, of course. I didn't recheck my examples before posting
them. The connection I was thinking of was to "Koko," then there's a
connection between "Now's the Time" from that same date to "Milestones."
My main point was to show a couple of examples of how reference in jazz can
work.
Thanks for the correction.