The
Hep
record label deserves high praise for having reissued 25 broadcast acetate recordings by the
Claude Hopkins
orchestra dating from the autumn of 1935. Using arrangements by
Benny Carter
,
Fred Norman
and
Hopkins
himself, this band sounded better at times than they did on their commercially issued records. Soloists include clarinetist
Edmond Hall
, saxophonists
Hilton Jefferson
Bobby Sands
, and trumpeters
Sylvester Lewis
and Washington D.C. native
Ovie Alston
, who possessed a pleasant singing voice. Three exceptional titles from this collection represent this band at its very finest and more than justify the purchase of the entire album: they are the
"Farewell Blues,"
the
"Washington Squabble"
"Chasing the Blues Away,"
a veritable masterpiece that gradually evolves into an exotic shuffle propelled by growling trumpet and Caribbean percussion. ~ arwulf arwulf