Godfrey Hirsch At Pete's Place, New Orleans

Love For Sale

Godfrey Hirsch At Pete's Place, New Orleans

Coral Records CRL 57475

1965

The instrument used on this Album is the "Musser Century Vibe" used exclusively by Godfrey Hirsch.

From the back cover: You know Godfrey Hirsch if you've ever seen Pete Fountain's group in action. He plays vibes, and his choreography for mallets is certainly something to behold. A great showman, he also makes an invaluable contribution to the ensemble in terms of color, and when the rhythm needs extra punch he shifts over to the second percussion chair to beat a snare drum.

As Pete's right-hand man, Godfrey works and lives a great deal of the time in Pete's Place, New Orleans. Indeed, when the boss is away on missions of importance, it is Godfrey who usually takes over his place. That's right. He takes Pete's place in Pete's Place. Pardon the emphasis.

Most of the performances on this record were made during Mardi Gras in 1964 and 1965, when Pete Fountain was out on the streets, not roistering or behaving in any unseemly fashion, but marching his music like a well-brought-up son of the Crescent City,

There were some musician guests down there for the festivities, and after a while they hied their weary feet to Pete's place of refreshment. You may have heard drummer Nick Fatool enjoying himself in 1964 on the earlier album, Pete's Place (57453), but this time there is another visitor, Eddie Miller. Not that Eddie is any newcomer to New Orleans, because he was born there. Normally, he is active on the West Coast, where he participates in many of those session which help to keep his hometown's jazz idiom alive, but here his tenor saxophone is heard instead of Pete's clarinet on three tracks.

Thus it is Pete's group, without Pete, but with guests, and headed by Godfrey Hirsch, that is ready to entertain you in this set. Many of the numbers are those used to introduce shows at the club before the clarinetist mounts the stand, and they roll with ease and fluidity in familiar routines, Eddie Miller fitting right in as though he were one of the regulars.

Ja-Da

Quiet Nights

Muskrat Ramble

Debbie

Red Roses For A Blue Lady

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans

Love For Sale

Panama

Willow Weep For Me

Momma Was There

Josephine

The Roof Blues