Buddy De Franco Quartet Blues Bag

In 1997, Blue Moon released Blues Bag/Louis Hayes, which contained two albums on one compact disc - Blues Bag, a 1965 disc originally released on Vee Jay by Buddy DeFranco), and Louis Hayes, a 1960 record also originally on Vee Jay) by Louis Hayes and his quintet.
Blues Bag (1965). For this unusual set clarinetist Buddy DeFranco is exclusively heard on bass clarinet while joined by drummer Art Blakey and an interesting group of players, some of who were with Blakey's Jazz Messengers at the time. DeFranco, Blakey, pianist Victor Feldman, and bassist Victor Sproles are featured as a quartet on four numbers while the other three songs add trombonist Curtis Fuller and either Lee Morgan or Freddie Hill on trumpet…

Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw were among the most famous and beloved figures in swing music both as clarinet soloists and orchestra conductors. They were still very active musically in 1957, when Buddy De Franco decided to record a series of sessions paying homage to them. Thirty-five performances were recorded (including four medleys containing three songs each) in four extended sessions made on four consecutive days and with two different groups (guitarist Barney Kessel, however, is present on most of the tracks). The first two sessions included trumpeter Don Fagerquist, tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and On all tracks plu: pianist Carl Perkins. The second group includes trumpeter Ray Linn and another modern jazz pianist: Jimmy Rowles.

There aren’t many living and active drummers that can be labeled “legendary”, but Louis Hayes is definitely one of them, having played with Horace Silver, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Oscar Peterson just to name a few. This latest album from the 86 year old vet is comfort food for the jazz soul, with a team of Abraham Burton/ts, Steve Nelson/vib, David Hazeltine/p and Dezron Douglas/b mixing together jazz standards with a couple originals.
Of the former, Hayes’ own title tune is an upbeat charmer featuring Burton’s beefy tenor, while “Carmine’s Bridge” is an easy bopper with composer Hazeltine swinging with style. Hayes uses his mallets with the cymbals to lead into Nelson’s gentle vibes on “Is That SO” while his high hat pops on the bopping “Mellow D” and percolating “Ugetsu”…