Hugues Panassié. 4th October 1959 -  KID ORY IN PARIS

Bulletin du Hot Club de France No. 92, November 1959

The Dadaist poet Jean Van Heeckeren once wrote that "Age does not mean anything". Some musicians regarded as "young", are really dodderers (Miles Davis) and others are "yet unborn", as Jo Jones once said about Chet Baker. On the other hand, 73 year old  Kid Ory plays the trombone with the same fire, the same sappiness, the same punch as he did in his prime. Some fans, seeing him at the Salle Pleyel, have commented on "How thin he's become. Of course he cannot blow like he did three years ago." They remind me of those others who complained a while back that Velma Middleton had put on weight! How about you, just for once, stop criticizing how an artist looks, and just judge by what you hear? Does the 30 year old bopper that called Ory a fossil ever suspect that it's him that's the senile one, well before he has reached Ory's age?

During the two concerts that he gave on October 4th, Kid Ory played the trombone just as marvelously as he did three years ago, and has proved himself to be a bandleader just as punchy and intelligent as before. One of the reasons that his concerts rise above the average jazz concert today, is that one does not have to suffer through an avalanche of "specialties" that force one to unwillingly swallow, among others, those fastidious never ending solos, from the bass player, the drummer, even the flautist or whatever!

With Ory you hear an orchestra, not a collection of individuals. Even if they were not of the quality of the 1956 one, Ory's group was excellent. Alton Redd, (Whom you may know through a few recordings he made with Ory in 1944) is a superb drummer, he played a great part in the concert's success: few breaks, no frills, but a strong beat with a whole lot of swing. I heard some complaining about his dreary playing! Come on! Are they now going to request that the drummer of a New Orleans outfit should play a soloist's part, like a bop drummer? You may like Max Roach if you please, but don't go criticizing drummers that play with a real jazz beat!

The piano player Cedric Haywood, whom we already heard with Ory back in 1956, was better miked than during the previous tour. Thus we have been able to fully appreciate his talents as an accompanist as well as a soloist, his pairing with Alton Redd made up a perfect whole rhythm section, it did not matter that the bass player, Squire Gersh was average. Henry "Red" Allen, after a weak start, (he did not have his chops during the first part of the matinee concert) had a lot of good moments. Kid Ory has the knack to get the best out of Henry Allen, by surrounding him with a band that makes him play more laid back and with less eccentrically. Furthermore, Henry Allen is one of those musicians that sound better live than on record, his inspiration is still uneven, but when he is hot, one can have a really good time. He was most inspired on Peoria and Aunt Hagar's Blues, but then it must be said, such a dull clarinet player as Bob McCracken unwillingly makes any of his fellow musicians shine!

Kid Ory on TV.

Thumbs up to the RTF (French Television Network) for letting us have such a brilliant jazz programme. Unfortunately, on October 31st, the recording was so ill balanced that the trombone solos were almost inaudible (unlike those of Bob McCracken on clarinet) ! We also had to bear with Simon Copens' long and boring commentaries, which annoyingly drowned the music, and they were not that accurate either. Regarding Royal Garden Blues, Copens said that Ory had played at the Royal Gardens in Chicago in 1922-1923 in King Oliver's band, along with Louis Armstrong. Now, as any jazz fan knows, the trombone player in that famous orchestra was Honore Dutray and not Kid Ory. Ory did not play with King Oliver at that time. A later interview that Copens made with Ory that was broadcast later, unveiled Copens' mistake, as Ory stressed the fact that he was playing in California all the time between 1921 and 1925.

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