Sidney De Paris Story 1928-1944, The

Trumpeter Sidney DeParis was a native of Crawfordsville, IN, just west of Indianapolis. Born in 1905 he was five years younger than his brother, trombonist Wilbur DeParis. Both men were solid interpreters of the fundamental jazz tradition who helped establish the style that came to be known as swing while maintaining life-long links with the New Orleans jazz repertoire. When it first appeared exactly 30 years after his death in 1967, EPM's Jazz Archives salute to Sidney DeParis was virtually the only CD entirely devoted to his memory, and this artist has yet to receive the recognition he deserves. A more complete overview of Sidney DeParis' life in jazz could easily fill a four- or five-disc set, especially with the inclusion of the New Orleans-style albums he cut with his brother during the '50s. What EPM did with this superb little memorial album was to follow his footsteps from September 1928 through December 1944, using a chronological sampling of his work with Charlie Johnson's Paradise Band, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Don Redman's Orchestra, Jelly Roll Morton's New Orleans Jazzmen, Sidney Bechet's New Orleans Feetwarmers, the DeParis Brothers Orchestra (which recorded for Milt Gabler's Commodore label in 1944), and a veritable platoon of great tradtionalist Blue Note ensembles led by Bechet, James P. Johnson, Edmond Hall, and DeParis himself. Until someone assembles a truly comprehensive history of Sidney DeParis as leader and sideman, The Sidney DeParis Story 1928-1944 must be regarded as his definitive memorial album. EPM really ought to consider a second volume containing the rest of his Blue Note sides combined with another dazzling assortment of highlights from his career in order to further underscore his still grievously underappreciated contribution to authentic traditional American jazz. ~ arwulf arwulf|