The New Orleans - Chicago Connection
Jazz clarinetist Albert Nicholas played with King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton in the 1920s, Louis Armstrong in the '30s and was a major figure in the traditional jazz revival in New York in the '40s. Pianist Art Hodes was also on the scene in the '20s and recorded for numerous labels including many successful sides with Nicholas for Blue Note in the '40s. In a review of the original LP of this 1959 session Brian Rust said ''One is left without any doubt about Nicholas being far and away the greatest living jazz clarinetist.'' - The Gramophone. Hodes ''plays with a darting vivacity which adds a stimulating sense of excitement to even the more mellow easygoing pieces.'' - High Fidelity Magazine.