Sun Ra
Pee Wee Russell
CD Reviews

Given these beginnings it should be of little surprise that his solo piano playing embraces the qualities of the masters of this genre, that Waller, Duke, Hines and Monk should appear in his language. The four standards, "Take The 'A' Train", "St. Louis Blues", "Penthouse Serenade" and "Honeysuckle Rose" are treated with respect, their harmonic and melodious characters intact. His own compositions range from the charm and elegance of old fashioned swing, through gangly blues to even an invitation to attend a party on Jupiter.

This wonderful recording is a rare occasion, for not many examples of his solo artistry exist. If not for the encouragement of Paul Bley early in 1977, which resulted in two recordings on his label Improvising Artists, Sun Ra may never have embarked on a solo career, and this gem of a recording, from November that same year, would not exist.

Both myself and the audience agree that this was a very special occasion.

Pee Wee Russell Quartet

Ask Me Now
Impulse lA-96

"You got the wrong pitch, copper", he snarled. "That stuff is hotter than Pee Wee Russell's clarinet." Farewell, My Lovely Appetizer - S.J. Perelman

Not many "current jazzmen" are the stuff of legends, or perhaps this epoch does not allow for an enigmatic character such as Pee Wee Russell. His life, a short, turbulent 63 years (1906-1969), encompassed almost the entire chronicle of jazz - Bix to Monk - performing and recording along the way with other original voices: Jack Teagarden, Coleman Hawkins, Jimmy Giuffre, Gerry Mulligan…. His early years were served in the apprenticeship of dance bands. At age 19 he met the brilliant young cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and his destiny as a jazz musician seems established. For much of his life he was associated with Dixieland music, with the Eddie Condon Chicago gang, although he had never spent much time in Chicago and hated Dixieland music. In the 1950s, after a brush with death from acute alcoholism, he reestablished himself, in the world of mainstream music, with the likes of Ruby Braff and Buck Clayton. Early in 1962 he started rehearsing with the quartet under review, and after its World Premiere at Toronto's Town Tavern, recorded the first of these two CDs on November 12th of that year.

The quartet of himself, Marshall Brown (valve trombone, bass-trumpet), Russell George (bass) and Ron Lundberg (drums) is pianoless, an unusual situation for a musician whose past is based in chordal methodology. But this is no ordinary project as the repertoire indicates, with the compositions "Red Planet" by John Coltrane, Monk's "'Round Midnight and Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait" mixed with such charming tunes as "My Mothers Eyes", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Old Folks", plus swinging versions of "Taps Miller" and "Moten Swing", and an original blues by himself.

In character the music has a light open feel, a certain delicacy brought about in part by the rhythm section; the solid bass playing holding the songs in place, and the sensitive drumming, mostly utilizing brushes, fashioning additional colouration. Marshall Brown, although not a particularly inventive trombonist, has contributed lucid uncluttered arrangements, a format in which Pee Wee flourishes. As for Pee Wee's playing, it would seem that his very life is projected into his music - his somewhat sad history, the demons that created his fragility - transferring his elusive temperament to his clarinet. Always, regardless of tempo or content, he is superb, the ballads delicate, the blues second nature, and the swinging - well just that.

The second CD, by the same quartet, is from April 9th & 10th the following year. It again presents an unusual selection of compositions, including again pieces by Coltrane ("Some Other Blues"), and Monk ("Ask Me Now" & "Hackensack"), and surprisingly Ornette Coleman's "Turnaround". "How About Me", "Prelude to a Kiss" and "Angel Eyes" are the standards, with three originals by Brown. If anything the music is tighter, more facile, introducing a certain brashness. Not less than the first, just different.

Pee Wee Russell died in his sleep on February 15th, 1969. There will never be another like him.