Klarinet Archive - Posting 000204.txt from 2004/05

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Mystery jazz clarinetist
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 17:34:13 -0400

<<<I'm trying to identify the clarinetist (and others) shown in some
photos that my late father-in-law took in jazz clubs in (I think) New
York in (I
think) the late 1930s. I've posted the photos at
http://www.bobdavenport.freeserve.co.uk/jazz. If anyone can shed light
on this I'd be very grateful.>>>

I can't identify the clarinetist, but photo 3 appears to have been taken
at about the time that Count Basie made some recordings with a small
group which he called his "Kansas City Seven." That would have been in
mid- to late-1939. This was a short-lived experiment at the time, but
after WW II, about 1949 or 50, he again folded the big band and toured
and recorded with a smaller group. At first this group was a sextet,
without guitar, but he soon recalled Freddie Green to the band, and it
also became a septet.

If this is in fact the earlier small group and if the time period is
about right, I would suggest that the man pictured between Basie and Jo
Jones might be trombonist Dickie Wells. The person missing from the
photo would be the bass player, who probably would have been Walter
Page, but there were others who played bass with Basie during this time.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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