Vic Dickenson

Edmond Hall, James P. Johnson, Sidney De Paris, Vic Dickenson - The Complete Blue Note Sessions (1985) {4CD Mosaic rec 1941-52}
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© 1941-52, 1985 Mosaic Records / Blue Note | MD4-109
Jazz / Early Jazz / New Orleans Jazz / Swing / Dixieland / Stride

To say that this limited-edition six-LP Mosaic box is overflowing with classics is an understatement. Included are a variety of small-group sessions (with overlapping personnel) from the early days of Blue Note. The Edmond Hall Celeste Quartet has five songs that are the only existing examples of Charlie Christian playing acoustic guitar; clarinetist Hall, Meade Lux Lewis (on celeste), and bassist Israel Crosby complete the unique group. The king of stride piano, James P. Johnson, is heard on eight solos; other combos are led by Johnson, Hall (who heads four groups in all), trumpeter Sidney DeParis, and trombonist Vic Dickenson (heard in a 1952 quartet with organist Bill Doggett).

A distinctive trombonist with a sly wit and the ability to sound as if he were playing underwater, Vic Dickenson was an asset to any session on which he appeared. He stated out in the 1920s and '30s playing in the Midwest. Associations with Blanche Calloway (1933-1936), Claude Hopkins (1936-1939), Benny Carter (1939), Count Basie (1940), Carter again (1941), and Frankie Newton (1941-1943) preceded a high-profile gig with Eddie Heywood's popular sextet (1943-1946); Dickenson also played and recorded with Sidney Bechet. From then on he was a freelancing soloist who spent time on the West Coast, Boston, and New York, appearing on many recordings (including some notable dates for Vanguard) and on the legendary Sound of Jazz telecast (1957)…

Pee Wee Russell - Pee Wee Russell Plays With Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson & Bud Freeman (1958) {2008 Lone Hill Jazz Remaster}
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© 2008 Lone Hill Jazz | LHJ10347
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Clarinet

This edition presents, for the first time ever on CD, two of the best albums made by Pee Wee Russell in the late 50s. “Pee Wee Russell Plays” (1959), featuring the leader (who is also the composer of all the tunes) along with stars like Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson and Bud Freeman. As a bonus, the complete album “Portrait of Pee Wee” (1958), selected as one of 100 best jazz albums of all time, and also featuring Vic Dickenson and Bud Freeman, plus the great trumpeter Ruby Braff.

Ostensibly a jam session with ABA head-solos-tail formatting, Hawkins proves again and again why his sound is not only the epitome of jazz, but forever timeless. Trumpeter Joe Thomas and trombonist Vic Dickenson are by no means showboats, and they cannot steal the spotlight from Bean. But Tommy Flanagan threatens to on occasion, as he asserts himself on solos with a fervor that goes beyond Hawkins. Bubbling under all this virtuosity, bassist Wendell Marshall and drummer Osie Johnson do their swinging thing with open ears and instruments always at the ready to fire.

The main fault to this set is simply that there is not enough of it. Trombonist Vic Dickenson, who receives top billing, is just on two of the six selections, for a total of 11 minutes. Dickenson's octet (which also includes trumpeter Buck Clayton, Hal Singer on tenor, clarinetist Herbie Hall, pianist Al Williams, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Gene Ramey, and drummer Marquis Foster) is fine, the arrangement on "The Lamp Is Low" is catchy and Clayton takes honors. But one suspects that the Dickenson name was used originally to help sell the music of the other band, which is led by trumpeter Joe Thomas. The lyrical Thomas is joined by the extroverted trumpeter Johnny Letman, trombonist Dicky Wells (who has a few speechlike solos), tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate, clarinetist Buster Bailey, pianist Herbie Nichols, guitarist Everett Barksdale, bassist Bill Pemberton, and drummer Jimmy Crawford…