Goose Pimples - Jim Cullums & Bobby Hackett

 

Chloe

Goose Pimples

Jim Cullums' Happy Jazz 

With Bobby Hackett

Happy Jazz Records AP-96

The Happy Jazz Band Volume 5

1967

Jim Cullum, Sr. - Clarinet

Gene McKinney - Trombone

Jim Cullum, Jr. - Cornet

Bobby Hackett - Cornet

Willson Davis - Sousaphone

Cleff Gillette - Piano

Curly Williams - Banjo

Harvey Kindervater - Drums

From the back cover: If I came charging in with a mouthful of superlatives, bellowing "Bix lives!" I would make an ass of myself. But it would honestly reflect my feelings about the music packaged herein as "Goose Pimples."

I can't afford insinuations that I'm a sort of musical Manchurian Candidate, a patsy for that notorious Texas syndicate known far and wide as Jim Cullums Happy Jazz. So I played the tape of Goose Pimples for Andy Mitchell. Mitch looks like Brunis, plays like "Papa Mutt" Carey, and has dug small band jazz for 40 of his 56 years. He is the only cornet in Philadelphia who can play all five strains of Panama. And he tells it straight.

Mitch settled himself with a pot of black coffee and a small thermos of Gilbey's. "Okay, let's hear it."

As the first track came through Mitch was frowning (no bad sign; he frowns when he sings "Ugly Chile"), but his feet were tapping.

We sat through the tape without exchanging a word. I started to rewind. Finally, Mitch broke the silence. "Oh, man," he said, softly, almost in disbelief, "These guys are just the greatest. This is out of this world."

He asked for a replay of "Buddy Bolden's Blues." It rolled, and he jammed a finger into my face. "Listen to those voicings!" he commanded. "There's no cats in the country get a sound like that."

I agreed wholeheartedly. But I wanted it to come from someone else. In their fifth record, Jim Cullums Happy Jazz has gone and done it again: Proved that you can doff your hat to the jazz past without falling flat on your face; proved that creative musicians can find plenty of artistic scope within the disciplines of traditional jazz.

Jim Cullums Happy Jazz is what happened when good fellows began getting together five years ago to jam in the San Antonio home of James Cullum, Sr., a clarinetist and one-time Jack Teagarden sideman turned wholesale grocer.

Cullum didn't have to look far for a cornet. Jim Cullum, Jr. supplied that. Other San Antonians joined the fun – Gene McKinney, trombone; Willson Davis, sousaphone; Cliff Gillette, piano; Harvey Kindervater, drums.

All had done stints in dance bands. But only Curly Williams, who replaced the group's original banjo player (the late Ben Valfre), works as a full-time musician today.

On this record the lads get a friendly assist from another full-time "musicianer," a great admirer of the band sound which developed from those living room sessions.

His name is Bobby Hackett, and he needs no further introduction to anyone who owns a record player, let alone a record collection.

Bobby and Jim, Sr. have been friends for years. In July (1967) both played several nights at Peanuts Hucko's Club Navarre in Denver. Bobby happened to mention how much he liked the Happy Jazz Band's relaxed two-beat rock (Jim, Sr. calls it "buggy-trot rhythm").

A few weeks later Bobby turned up in San Antonio. By rare coincidence, so did E. D. Nunn, president of Audio- phile Records. Nunn is to high fidelity what Pablo Cassels is to the cello. He happened to have his gear with him. Hackett was packing his cornet.

Working Bobby into the act was a snap. He and Jim, Jr. unpacked their Getzen cornets, and for a warm-up Jim, Jr. stomped off "You Gotta See Mama." Nunn had the second go 'round on tape.

What you will hear has such rare cohesion for a traditional jazz band that someone is bound to ask about written scores. They were used in two instances only. Bix's lead on the outgoing choruses of "Goose Pimples" was scored for two cornets, working from the 1927 Okeh record. Cliff Gillette worked out harmonic interludes and sousaphone high jinks on "Chloe."

Twice-weekly sessions at The Landing in San Antonio, appearances at jazz concerts, musicianship and a rare flair for ensemble teamwork not scores have developed the Happy Jazz sound.

For Bobby Hackett, Armstrong was, is and always will be the greatest." Jim, Jr. feels Lu Watters should get the palm for the best ensemble lead. But there is a lot of Beiderbecke lurking around this record, and not just in the choice of tunes, either. Or maybe that silver bell-struck-with-a-padded-mallet tone is built into Getzen cornets!

For the record, Jim, Jr. plays ensemble lead on all tunes except "Mama." Bobby plays harmony or counter melodies. So... let's get on with it.

Goose Pimples. Associated with Bix but written by Jo Trent and Fletcher Henderson and recorded by Fletcher with his Dixie Stompers for Harmony October 24, 1927, a scant 24 hours before Bix cut the same tune for Okeh. Both labels were Columbia subsidiaries. Bobby solos first, building on a series of descending phrases. Jim opens his 12 bars with a series of ascending phrases. Bobby's tone is always velvet. Jim lets a little edge creep into his..

Memphis Blues. Jim, Jr. opens W. C. Handy's first published blues with a solo on the infrequently played first strain. After ensemble on the second and third strains, Jim, Sr. solos on the first strain with a tone as round and full as the late Jimmy Noone's capacious belly. Another ensemble leads into what to these ears is Hackett's choicest solo of the date. Louisiana. More Bixiana. Jim, Sr. glides gracefully over loose-limbed, "buggy-trottin'" rhythm; a cornet flurry, a la Chicago, brings on Gene McKinney for some simple but effective trombone ruminations. Then the cornets are off on "The Great Chase," swapping four-bar phrases. Jim gets in first licks and sounds downright aggressive in spots; Bobby never loses his cool.

Sorry is still a third tune from the 1927-28 "Bix and His Gang" recordings for Columbia. The Cullum cornet opens this version. Hackett solos after Jim, Sr. and the gang heads happily for home. Maybe this is how Bix would have sounded if he had ever recorded with jazzmen in his own league?

Buddy Bolden's Blues was cut before Bobby's arrival. As compensation, there is some really gorgeous voicing in the opening ensemble, with McKinney playing a harmony line above the cornet and clarinet. Listen, too, to the eloquent plunger work on his solo. Mr. Jelly Lord gets credits for the tune, but chances are it pre-dates his alleged "invention" of jazz in 1902.

Wang Wang Blues. Not a blues at all but a 1920 "jazzy" tune by New Orleans clarinetist Gussie Mueller, White- man cornetist Henry Busse, Leo Wood and Buster Johnson. Bobby's cornet leaps out of the ensembles like a playful deer, and he solos twice, with McKinney getting in some good 'bone between solos.

Mood Indigo. Some Duke's mixture here. Hackett embellishments are a highlight. Very pretty, restrained blowing by all hands, with Jim, Sr. taking the traditional clarinet chorus against soft noodling by Bobby.

Chloe. The dawn comes up like thunder in the guise of Willson Davis's big bass horn. Then Jim, Jr. plays the pick-ups, and Bobby takes the melody solo. Neil Moret the same fellow who penned the rag. "Hiawatha," fathered "Chloe" in 1927.

You've Got To See Mamma Er'ry Night Or You Can't See Mamma at All shows how four skilled front line men can put their horns together without stumbling over one another. Fine ensemble clarinet by the elder Cullum, Bobby and Jim, Jr. swap leads here, and the score card reads as follows: Jim leads ensemble on first chorus and verse; Bobby leads a second chorus into Gene McKinney's solo; Jim leads on the verse into a lower register chorus by his Pa; two ensemble choruses out, Hackett leading the first, Cullum the second.

A Biento translates as "Until We Meet Again" and is a delightful melody by Peanuts Hucko. It's the clarinet of Jim, Sr. all the way, backed by Curly Williams on guitar and Gene McKinney on string bass. The trio sustains a warm, nostalgic mood throughout, while the rest of the mob cool their horns.

Westmoreland Weare. A sort-of-original romp builds on a riff reminiscent of the "Farewell Blues" train whistle and moves into a theme which sounds like "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" after the captain has taken a couple of slugs of Geritol. Garner Clark, Dallas cornetist and old buddy of Jim, Sr. worked up the riff. In the folly of his youth, Clark liked a glass now and then. He lived on Westmoreland Street in Dallas, and his homeward treks are here immortalized by Jim Cullums' Happy Jazz. – ALAN WEBBER Philadelphia, September 27, 1967

Goose Pimples

Memphis Blues

Louisiana

Sorry

Buddy Bolden's Blues

Wang Wang Blues

Mood Indigo

Chloe

You've Got To See Mamma Ev'ry Night

Westmoreland Weave