48 KHz 24 Bit Records
DATA_1 DATA_2 DATA_3 DATA_4
SIDE 1
01 - Royal Garden Blues (C. St S. Williams) 4:10
02 - Cáreless Love (Hastdy-Williams-Koenig) 4:45
03 - Basin Street Blues (Williams-Plante) 4:55
04 - Please Don’t Taik About Me (Youmans-Stept-Clare) 5:30
SIDE 2
05 - Albert’s Blues (Nicholas) 4:25
06 - Rose Room (Williams-Hickman) 3:30
07 - Savoy Blues (Ory) 4:10
08 - Black and Blue (Waller-Brooks-Razaf) 4:10
09 - I’ve Found a New Baby (Williams-Palmer) 6:00
ALBERT NICHOLAS (clarinet)
THE TRADITIONAL JAZZ STUDIO:
LUBOS ZAJICEK (cornet)
JlRI PECHAR (trumpet)
PAVEL SMETÁCEK (clarinet, olto sax, leeder)
JOSEF REJMAN (tenor sax)
IVO PLUHÁCEK (banjo)
JIRI JIRÁSEK (drums)
Guest-performers:
VÁCLAV FIALA (trombone)
PETR SKOcDOPOLE (piano)
LUDÉK HULAN (bass)
Arronged by
PAVEL SMETÁEK (1/1, 2/3, 5)
LUBOS ZAJÍCEK (1/2, 3)
JOSEF REJMAN (1/4, 2/4)
ANTONIN BILLY (2/1)
RECORDED AT THE SUPRAPHON, “MOZARTEUM” STUDIO,
PRAGUE, ON 23/24 APRIL, 1972
Recording directors:
Tony Matzner and Kvétoslav Rohieder
Hecording engineer: Jan Chalupskt
Cover design © Zdenék Ziegler
Cover photos © Jití Janeéka
Liner notes © Pavel Smetáéek
Comment:
Jazz
defies academic definitions. It is one of the specifics of jazz that
the very features of that music which characterize it best and which
differentiate it most - despite its extreme variety - from other
music, are even more resistarit, in the various stages of their
cievelopment, to attempts at describing them in formalized terms than
other kinds of creative effort. To be sure, special instructional
material and exclusiveiy jazz-oriented instruction have been making some
progress recentiy, but such practice is not yet wide - spread, and
attempts at communicating methodically the very essentials of jazz music
continue to have to do with a trial-and -error approach. This means, in
effect, that it is impossible to synthesize jazz expression merely
through the study of theory and instrumentai techniques, no matter how
speciaUzed the study. After ali, jazz musicians shape their mode of
expression primarily in living contact with the actual sound of jazz
music, i. e. by sensitiveiy listening to its various elements as well as
the final integrated sound units; by practising them on their own
instruments or in group playing they keep developing their inclividuai
abilities. The most frequent instructionai material in that respect are
sound récordings of performances by the accompiished masters of that
music; yet the absoiuteiy most valuabie source of knowiedge and
practical experience remains the opportunity to piay “live” with one of
the jazz greats.That was why, after some - not very extensive -
meetings with a Íew major jazz musicians, we took the bold step to
arrange for an opportunity to collaborate actively for a few days, both
privateiy and in public, with one of the prominent ciassical
personaiities of traditional jazz, with a man who helped to shape that
music and who piayed with the best of his generation, such as Louis
Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Jerry Roll Morton. Our daring attempt
fortunately succeeded, and in April 1972 we welcomed as our celebrated
guest the outstanding Creoie ciarinet player, a native of New Orleans,
Albert Nicholas, He was born 27 May 1900; by a strange coincidence, many
of his future New Orleans partners were born that year, inciuding
Armstrong. A member of the Creole section of the New Orleans population
which had inherited from the uropean element of its ancestry a
relatively powerful inclination towards Latin culture, Nicholas embraced
from the very outset that ot the two main streams ot New Orleans jazz
which is made sophisticatedly elegant by its easy flow and emphasis on
melody and which is somewhat calmer than the more impetuous and more
spontaneous Negro stream represented by Arrnstrong. His ciarinet piaying
profited most from the art of the earliest known Creole ciarinet
players in New Orleans jazz, Lorenzo Tio Sr., Lorenzo Tio Jr., and Big
Eye Nelson. Nicholas iater found more varied sources of inspiration, and
he worked with almost ali prominent jazz musicians ot his generation,
by no means mereiy those of New Orleans extraction; still later, he
became gladly accepted by musicians much younger than himself, and that
popularity continued. In addition to the jazzmen mentioned above, his
co-piayers included, before World War 1, Joe King Oliver and Edward Kid
Ory, and between the two wars Fats Waller, Barney Bigard, Louis Russell,
Paul Barbarin, Chick Webb arid others. At that time he also went on
extended tours to China, India and Egypt with Jack Carter’s orchestra.
In World War II he worked for some time on a postai boat and as subway
ticket controller. After World War II. he added Art Hodes, Bunk Johnson,
Ralph Sutton, Rex Stewart, Mezz Mezzrow and others to his already broad
circie ot co -players. He first visited Europe in 1952, and he worked
there continuously for seven years, rnostly in France, and there mostly
in Paris. After a short trip back to America he settied permanently in
Europe in 1959. His pnncipai partner during his initial stay in Paris
was André Reweliotty, and later also his old New Orleans cofleague,
Sidney Bechet, by that time also a permanent expatriate in Paris. In
1968, Albert Nicholas again changed his domicile, this time to Basle,
Switzerland. That year also marked his first visit to Czechoslovakia -
to Bratislava where he had been invited by young local musicians
specializing in traditional jazz. The selection of themes for this
recording was made under Albert Nicholas’ guidance. In the
expression-rich “Albert’s Blues”, his authorship extended mostly to his
own broad improvisation, with economical accompaniment by ali
instruments in the orchestra; Nicholas entrusted the orchestration to
Antonmn Bfl, the Traditional Jazz Studio’s permanent pianist. In
addition to the permanent members of the Traditional Jazz Studio, this
recording features several well-known Prague musicians; we believed that
their individual excellence was certain to make a special contribution
to such interesting collaboration. They are Ludék Hulan (bass), Petr
Skoédopole (piano), and Václav Fiala (trombone). It goes without saying,
of course, that the honour to play with Albert Nicholas also meant
enrichment of oneself. Unfortunately, his death in 1973 put an end to
such visits and meant a great loss to our musicians and their art.
Pavel Smetácek
