Wild Bill Davison, Bob Wilber, Eddie Hubble, Ralph Sutton, Isla Eckinger & Cliff Leeman - The Chicago Jazz Giants Live! (Remastered) (2017) [Hi-Res]

Chicago jazz supreme played by the generation of musicians who grew up breathing in the fresh music that ‘Satchmo’, ‘Fatha’, ‘Bix’ and his gang had blown out of the Windy City. With the word ‘Wild’ thrown in front of his name, ya gotta figure trumpeter Bill Davison’s music will be hot. Wild Bill was best known for his work with trad jazz icon Eddie Condon, Pee Wee Russell, and Bill’s classic recordings with Sidney Bechet. Critic Richard Sudhalter said of Wild Bill’s play, “with a fierce, uninhibited way of attacking the beat…the music comes out as from a flame-thrower…” Saxophonist-clarinetist Bob Wilber was also a Condon Alumnus as well as a Bechet protégé; trombonist Eddie Hubble played with Condon and Muggsy Spanier, pianist Ralph Sutton resided as a sideman with Peanuts Hucko, Jack Teagarden, and Condon. Known as “Mr. Time”, drummer Cliff Leeman kept the beat for some of the greatest swing bands of the era, including Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and, of course, he also played with Condon. Wilber, Hubble, Sutton, and Leeman were all members of the sensational World’s Greatest Jazz Band. The ‘baby’ of the group and the only non-American, Swiss bassist Isla Ickinger had played with the likes of Oscar Klein, Ben Webster, and Mal Waldron. Such pieces as W.C. Handy’s Ole Miss Rag and Beale Street Blues, and the classics When Your Smiling, As Long as I Live, and the Blues My Naughty Sweety Gives to Me combine the infectious joy of Orleans-style ensemble play and riveting virtuoso solos. New City Ditty features its composer Bob Wilber on soprano with the rhythm section, as Wilber tips his hat to his idol Sydney Bichet. The walking ballad Blue Again features a gritty, soulful Davison solo. The final cut features Sutton all by himself, displaying his stride roots on Thanks a Million and Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’. Joyous, hard-swinging classics played by musicians who lived the music. Some of the best second-generation Chicago-style jazz to be heard anywhere.

Wild Bill Davison, cornet
Eddie Hubble, clarinet, soprano saxophone
Isla Eckinger, bass
Cliff Leeman, drums
Ralph Sutton, piano

Recorded May 10-11, 1976 live in concert at "Theater am Ring", Villingen, Germany
Produced by Hans Zurbrügg

Digitally remastered