Although
Delmark
never got heavily into fusion, it was quite eclectic in the 1970s -- a decade that found the Chicago-based label recording everything form
avant-garde
AACM
jazz
to
hard bop
Dixieland
. One of the
artists who recorded for
during the latter part of the 1970s was trombonist
Jim Beebe
, who provided two LPs for the label back then:
Saturday Night Function
in 1978 and
Cornet Chop Suey
in 1979. Both albums were reissued in 2001, when
combined them on this generous CD. Born in 1931,
Beebe
was in his late forties when these recordings were made -- he was about the same age as a lot of
bop
musicians. But you won't hear a trace of
J.J. Johnson
,
Curtis Fuller
, or
Kai Winding
in his playing.
has more in common with
Kid Ory
or
Jack Teagarden
, and a 1920s-like mindset prevails on spirited performances of
"Indiana,"
"Struttin' With Some Barbecue,"
and
"Limehouse Blues"
-- in other words, the usual
/
classic jazz
repertoire. The trombonist and his sidemen (who include trumpeter
Spanky Davis
in 1978 and drummer
Barrett Deems
in both 1978 and 1979) don't offer a lot of surprises, but what they lack in ambition they make up for in enthusiasm on this generally enjoyable release, if reissue. ~ Alex Henderson