B-6501

Sidney DeParis - DeParis Dixie

Released - 1969

Recording and Session Information

WOR Studios, NYC, June 21, 1944
Sidney DeParis, trumpet; Vic Dickenson, trombone; Edmond Hall, clarinet; James P. Johnson, piano; Jimmy Shirley, guitar; John Simmons, bass; Sidney Catlett, drums.

BN981-0 Everybody Loves My Baby
BN984-0 The Call Of The Blues (Who's Sorry Now)

WOR Studios, NYC, June 14, 1951
Sidney DeParis, trumpet; Jimmy Archey, trombone; Omer Simeon, clarinet; Bob Green, piano; George "Pops" Foster, bass; Joe Smith, drums.

BN386-0 When You Wore A Tulip (alternate take)
BN386-1 When You Wore A Tulip
BN387-2 Weary Blues
BN388-0 Moose March
BN389-1 Panama
BN390-0 Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
BN391-1 A Good Man Is Hard To Find

See Also BLP 7016

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Everybody Loves My Baby	Jack Palmer- Spencer Williams	June 21 1944
Who's Sorry Now	Kalmar-Ruby-Snyder	June 21 1944
When You Wore A Tulip	Jack Mahoney-Percy Wenrich	June 14 1951
When You Wore A Tulip No.2	Jack Mahoney-Percy Wenrich	June 14 1951
Weary Blues	Matthews-Cates-Greene	June 14 1951
Side Two
Moose March	Traditional	June 14 1951
Panama	William H. Tyers	June 14 1951
Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone	Sam Stept-Sidney Clare	June 14 1951
A Good Man Is Hard To Find	Eddie Green	June 14 1951

Liner Notes

For jazz, the 1940's was a period of incredible activity and musical diversity. A vast number of apparently conflicting styles and idioms vied for the attention of the jazz fan. The large Swing orchestras that had come to the fore in the '30's still exerted a huge influence; for the popular record buyer, jazz generally meant the music of the white popularizers like Benny Goodman, the Dorsey brothers, Artie Shaw and the like. For the more dedicated and knowledgeable listener, there were all manner of small groups; New York's "jazz street" (52nd Street) was jumping and its numerous clubs supported a large floating population of jazz musicians who came together in various, ever-changing permutations. Too, the new music, eventually to be called bop, was beginning to stir uneasily in the wings.

Then, there was "traditional" jazz, an imprecise but sufficiently comprehensible term to describe that brand of music which had its roots planted solidly in the traditional musical practices and instrumentation of New Orleans jazz of the early years of the century. While this music had enjoyed a continued, though ignored existence all through the 1930's — the period during which the large Swing orchestra had dominated jazz and American popular music — it resurfaced in the last years of that decade primarily as a result of the serious attention increasingly paid it by a number of young dedicated student-collectors of the old recorded classics of New Orleans jazz and its offshoots.

Beginning about 1938, these amateur historians, discographers and collectors had amassed a sufficient quantity of data and speculation about the music they admired to initiate a consistent program of publication and research devoted solely to traditional New Orleans jazz. This interest was even more sharply accelerated with the publication of Jazzmen in 1939, a highly influential collection of essays about classic jazz (its masters and their recordings) edited by Charles Edward Smith and Frederic Ramsey, Jr.

Inevitably, of course, students of the music were led to those practitioners of the music still alive, active or inactive. In the face of that interest, a number of the veteran performers were drawn to a resumption of playing activity. By the early 1940's a full-scale revival of traditional jazz was in progress. In addition to a number of bands — such as the two groups led so brilliantly by trumpeter Sidney DeParis here — playing a relatively straightforward, authentic, though updated brand of New Orleans-based music, there were large numbers of groups opportunistically pursuing a vastly modified, Swing-influenced hybrid labeled "Dixieland." Additionally, there were several latter-day Crescent City bands led and staffed by New Orleans natives, among them the colorful Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, Kid Shots Madison and other of their fellows. And, to compound an already complicated situation, there were the so-called "revivalist" bands of such white emulators of "pure" New Orleans traditional music as Lu Watters, Bob Scobey and the like, who followed their own ultimately self-defeating path.

Of those bands of the period engaged in any significant activity along more or less traditional New Orleans lines, those led by the DeParis brothers (trumpeter Sidney and trombonist Wilbur) were generally of more than passing interest. Unlike the traditionalists, the DeParises pursued a much less rigorously purist line. Preferring a music that was full of life and vitality, they lived in the iazz present instead of looking to the past for its inspiration, a music that recognized and drew strength from the changes that had token place in the fabric of jazz in the decades following the so-called "golden age" of classic New Orleans jazz.

But then, the DeParises owed no obeisance to any real or imagined ideological position on the subject of traditional jazz. They were not New Orleans natives, having been born and raised in Crawfordsville, Indiana — Wilbur in 1900 and Sidney five years later — where they were exposed to a wide range of music, thanks to their years of travel with their father, a professional musician of some competence. The youngsters had the enviable experience of hearing large numbers of groups and orchestras all over the United States during the period in which jazz was developing from a ragtime and blues base into a complex orchestral music. Inevitably the two youths were drawn to the new music and soon had developed proficiency in the idiom.

Trombonist Wilbur DeParis began professional activity as early as 1919 with a small band in the Philadelphia area and through the 1920's worked with most of the important Negro jazz and dance orchestras. He was a member of the Benny Carter, Teddy Hill and Louis Armstrong bands in the 1930's and in the following decade worked with those of Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Eldridge and Duke Ellington before forming a band with his brother Sidney in 1943.

Trumpeter Sidney DeParis pursued a similar career beginning in 1924, when he joined the Sam Taylor Orchestra in Washington. Two years later he had become a member of the Charles Johnson Orchestra and in 1931 worked with McKinney's Cotton Pickers before taking on a four-year stint with the Don Redman Orchestra. Several years of free-lancing in the New York City area in the late 1930's preceded his joining Benny Carter in 1940, his last regular orchestral work before joining his brother in the formation of a traditional-styled group similar to that heard here.

Given the diversity of their musical backgrounds, as well as their many years of solid experience in Swing orchestras, it is scarcely surprising that the DeParises should have opted for the supple, Swing-tinged brand of traditional jazz heard herein. They knew that in playing jazz, one "played himself," and so it was natural that the music of their traditionally-modeled group should reflect the musical experiences — all those experiences — of its leaders and members. The traditional format would not be inflexible or restrictive but would be, instead, an elastic framework for the articulation of the band members' ideas. The DeParis approach would be creative, adaptable, fluid, and the music would, as a result, be vibrant and exciting.

It is interesting to note that Wilbur described the pair's music as new New Orleans jazz. He claimed that their music had followed a logical development along lines that would have been paralleled by the New Orleans musicians if they had been permitted an unbroken continuity of playing through the '30's and on into the '40's. Certainly it is a provocative speculation and not without merit when one considers the kind of music played by Bunk Johnson, doyen of the New Orleans traditionalists, when in 1947 he was finally allowed to assemble and rehearse a band according to his own lights.

The DeParis' perspective, too, was a lot wider than that of most New Orleans musicians. Far-ranging travel from infancy was responsible for that. Recalling those days, older brother Wilbur stated, "I've always felt that though New Orleans was a focal point of the South, most of the large cities in various parts of the country also made their contributions and helped to set styles. For instance, the type of trumpet playing that came to be identified later with Bix Beiderbecke was quite common in the Midwest among Negro musicians. I came from Indiana, and I can name half-a-dozen trumpet players who were playing that style. Charlie Hart, one of the trumpet men in a road show called Old Kentuck', was one; another was Frank Clay of Indianapolis, who led a military band as well as a theater pit orchestra. Then there were the Wolfscale Brothers, and Roy Pope, the Hoosier cornetist; and there were clarinetists like King Phillips, who wrote the 'King Phillips Rag' and the 'Florida Blues.' These were a blend of brass band and orchestra men. They played dances; they played jazz.

"There was a whole other school that should complement the New Orleans school, and that was the school I came up in. Basically, these men were musically and technically better than most of the New Orleans musicians. They got their foundation from amongst the teachers, Italian and German, across the country and throughout the Middle West. They were equivalent to jazz, and this wasn't necessarily the same thing that we knew as ragtime. Jazz was growing up in different parts of the country without one part necessarily knowing what the other part was doing—that is, aside from these musicians that I came up with. We knew what was going on in other parts of the country because we traveled a lot, but a lot of people didn't know about New Orleans at all until much later." (Leonard Feather, The Book of Jazz, 1957, pages 21-22.)

This sophisticated, far-ranging view of traditional jazz is perfectly reflected in the several bands trumpeter Sidney DeParis assembled for recording, two of the more interesting of which are to be heard in this appealing set. In the very midst of the traditionalist wave he brought together a septet of musicians of widely varying backgrounds who produced, in "Everybody Loves My Baby" and "Who's Sorry Now?" (even the tunes reveal the band's openness), some of the most joyous and compelling traditional-styled music of the period.

Titled "Sidney DeParis' Blue Note Jazzmen" on its recordings, this 1944 unit consisted of: Ohio-born trombonist Vic Dickenson, one of the most individual, intelligent and probing soloists of the Swing period; New Orleans clarinetist Edmond Hall, one of the most recorded musicians of the late '30's and early '40's and who on these two numbers almost unconsciously affected a Sidney Bechet-like attack and phrasing; the veteran and awesomely versatile pianist James P. Johnson, a New Jersey native who had been one of the preeminent fixtures of the New York jazz, blues and show business scene from early in the century; DeParis on trumpet of course; guitarist Jimmy Shirley, another Ohioan who had been active in small group and orchestral jazz through the '30's and who was a member of Herman Chittison's popular trio at New York City's Blue Angel when these records were made; Los Angeles bassist John Simmons, who had played in a variety of large and small jazz settings through the '30's and early '40's, including stints with both Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong; drummer Sid Catlett, like DeParis a Hoosier, with a vast experience in jazz and Swing through the 1930's and long considered by musicians as one of the most advanced and sensitive percussionists in jazz.

The music the septet made was memorable. Over the supple four of the rhythm section, the band simply explodes. Sidney DeParis' incendiary, flaring trumpet spears and drives the group on, while Hall weaves sinuously in and out, above and below the trumpet with imaginative agility, and Dickenson provides his wry burry punch and plenty of the yeast pungency that was his forte. While the textures of the music are those of the traditional New Orleans ensemble, the music is decidedly of a much more modern cast. This is of course most clearly evidenced in the solo segments of the two numbers, but it informs the ensemble playing as well. Even Shirley gets a solo turn on "Who's Sorry Now?" and acquits himself with distinction. And DeParis fairly crackles in his improvisations; at his best he could phrase with both lyricism and driving power. The two go hand-in-glove in his playing here. The two performances are masterful samples of traditional music that is suffused, that fairly glows in fact, with excitement, inventiveness and plenty of wit. Its commitment to total, whole-hearted playing, and its freedom from ideological positions, gave the music of Sidney DeParis' Blue Note Jazzmen freshness, contemporaneity and a chance at timelessness.

The second group heard here, Sidney DeParis And His Blue Note Stompers, was organized just one week shy of seven years after the first. If its music seems a bit more stylized than that of the Blue Note Jazzmen, it must be remembered that seven years during which a music is subjected to great commercialization can exert a strong influence even on the most creative, best-intentioned musicians working in that musical idiom. Something of this accounts for the feeling of formulaic ensemble and solo playing that occasionally marks the work of the later DeParis group. There are plenty of fine moments in the music of Stompers DeParis, trombonist Jimmy Archey, clarinetist Omer Simeon, pianist Robert Green, bassist Pops Foster and drummer Joseph Smith, to be sure, but at the some time there is a certain glossiness and pattern-feeling to the group's work. For these ears, the greater polish and admirable precision of the Stompers' stereotypical work here are no substitute for the rough-hewn textures, striking freshness and truly inspired playing of the earlier Jazzmen group. I'll take that feeling any day.

Having remarked on what I feel is the crucial difference between the music of these two DeParis groups, I can now go on and invite your attention to the many beauties of the Stompers' exuberant, unaffectedly natural playing, There's the absolutely stunning way they bring the dixieland form to bristling life, and there's the fine rapport and interaction that occurs among the band members. There's the sense of restraint and elegance that is shot through the collective and individual playing here and, above all, the tastefulness of everything the band turned its hands and minds to. It's a fine band by any standards, as its ardent and sincere performances here attest. They're almost as interesting and satisfying as the beautiful pair of performances in which the Sidney DeParis Jazzmen so lovingly celebrated the joys of traditional jazz seven years earlier. Thanks be that Blue Note was on hand both times. We jazz fans are in their debt.

—Pete Welding
January, 1969

Discographical Data

Everybody Loves My Baby
Sidney DeParis, trp,; Vic Dickenson, trb.; Ed Hall, clt.; James P. Johnson, pno.; Jimmy Arthur Shirley, gtr.; John Simmons, bs.; Sid Catlett, dms.—recorded June 21, 1944 (rnx. BN 987-1; unissued)

Who's Sorry Now
same date and personnel (mx. BN 983-7; orig. issue Blue Note 41, BLP 7007 / Jazz Parade E2)

When You Wore A Tulip
Sidney DeParis, Trp.; Jimmy Archey, trb.; Omer Simeon, clt.; Robert Green, pno.; Pops Foster, bs.; Joseph Smith, dms.—recorded June 14, 1951 (mx. 386; unissued)

When You Wore A Tulip (no. 2)
same date and personnel (mx, 386-1; orig. issue Blue Note BLP 7016)

Weary Blues
same date and personnel (mx. 387-2; orig. issue Blue Note BLP 7016)

Moose March
same date and personnel (mx. 388; orig. issue Blue Note BLP 7016)

Panama
same date and personnel (mx. 389-7; orig. issue Blue Note BLP 7016)

Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
same date and personnel (mx. 390; orig. issue Blue Note BLP 7016)

A Good Man Is Hard To Find
same date and personnel (mx. 391-7; orig. issue Blue Note BLP 7016)