Considering that he was one of the big names on the early St. Louis
jazz
scene, trumpeter
Dewey Jackson
(1900-1966) has been ill-represented on recordings -- this live session, taped by
Delmark
honcho
Bob Koester
when he was an underage producer of a
radio show, is in fact the first full album under
Jackson
's own name, so it goes a long way toward providing evidence to support his lofty place in the city's musical history. Although it was taped in 1952, this music bears no relation to the progressive
bop
revolution then sweeping
, or anything else approaching a modern
sound, for that matter.
was a traditionalist who had been at it since the '20s, and his set this night was packed with
ragtime
, giddy New Orleans-style staples, and rootsy
blues
. Familiar fare like
"Tiger Rag,"
"When the Saints Go Marching In,"
"Bugle Call Rag,"
and
"St. James Infirmary"
were the stuff that
was built on, and while
and his band didn't rewrite the book, they did pump some new life into those warhorses. Still, although his repertoire was ancient even by the early '50s,
wasn't so much of a traditionalist that he couldn't imbue those
standards
with some fresh ideas, and his playing takes more than a few surprising turns during his solos and the sometimes tricky arrangements.
was joined for the gig by the superb pianist
Don Ewell
, clarinetist
Frank Chace
, trombonist
Sid Dawson
, and drummer
Booker T. Washington
, all of whom were more than capable ensemble players as well as idea men who pushed the music about as far as it could go. One caveat: the recording quality, as might be expected from a 1952 homemade tape, is dodgy, with audience chatter and clatter often audible, though rarely distracting enough to be bothersome. ~ Jeff Tamarkin