The third installment in the
Classics Buck Clayton chronology documents the trumpeter's European adventures with recordings made between April 2 and October 21, 1953.
Clayton had toured Europe in 1949, and after savoring the social atmosphere in the U.S. was happy to head back to France in February 1953 with drummer
Kansas Fields, pianist
Red Richards, and trombonist
Big Chief Russell Moore, a Native American whose Pima heritage places his ancestral turf within the Gila and Salt River valleys in southern Arizona. In addition to playing live gigs with
Mezz Mezzrow, the North Americans made phonograph records. On April 2,
the Buck Clayton Quintet cut five sides for the
Vogue label;
"Patricia's Blues" is a particularly attractive example of
Clayton at his most subtle, sensual, and soulful. A concert performance by this band led by
Mezzrow with
Gene Sedric in the front line took place at
the Theatre de Champs-Elysee near the end of May. The recordings made at that event have been reissued under
Mezzrow's name.
Buck Clayton and
Kansas Fields participated in four different recording sessions in Brussels, Belgium, between August and October, 1953. These would be the only records ever released under the name of
Marion Joseph "Taps" Miller, a trumpeter and rowdy vocalist who became marginally famous for a minute when
Count Basie named a tune after him in 1944. The heavy-handed Belgian musicians who participated in these sessions made enough noise to match
Miller's extremely boisterous vocals.
"Hot Dog," with its repeated demands for mustard and pickles, epitomizes
Miller's approach to entertainment. Fortunately, tracks 16-23 find
Clayton sitting in with a
big band led by
Django Reinhardt session man
Alix Combelle, an intelligent, hip, and sophisticated tenor saxophonist whose complete chronological recordings occupy their own niche in the
Classics Chronological series. ~ arwulf arwulf
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