All due respect to Dick Hyman and his little repertory group at the 92nd st. Y.I have this session fresh in my mind as i just found the lp at as swap meet for a buck and have owned the cd for many years.This music is representative of what was known as the "Jazz Party" circuit which enjoyed an audience in the 70's and 80's and struggled into the 90's and sputtered out as the new century came in.This idea was fostered by Dick Gibson who started his Colorado Jazz party in the late 60's.These were private Jazz festivals that usually hosted around 25 likeminded musicians and the audience was made up of older fans who could travel to these events and spend the weekend with some great players in intimate and casual settings.The players ranged from Swing era vets,seasoned traditional oriented players and much in between.The Eddie Condon school always had a place with some free swinging,hard driving,vein bursting playing.Pretty much a celebration of pre- Bop music.I heard many greats at some of these events,and got to hang out with the players in casual settings afterhours when many the bottom of a bottle was visible as the sun came up.Joe Venuti,Bud Freeman,lots of great players.We got to spend the afternoon with drummmer Gus Johnson and took him to the San Diego Zoo,that is a great memory as Gus stopped playing not too long after that and passed.We talked a lot about Charlie Parker, as he was the drummer with Jay McShann's Orchestra when Bird made those records for Decca and they traveled together.I was about the same age as the "younger" players who were invited.
One of those was the brilliant Warren Vache who performs on the Hyman recording.Warren was just hitting his late 30's and playing some remarkable trumpet and cornet,as he does on that recording,as a matter of fact he outplays everybody on that date,his solos are simply incandescent.Warm and intense like Bobby Hackett.With the wit and charm of Ruby Braff.He is such a gifted player who gets little recognition nowadays,this is a pity as his last few cd's are about as good brass playing as you can hear today.This is just meat and potatoes Jazz improvisation.People always lament that this kind of honest music has died out,well it is still alive in Warren Vache and you would do yourself a solid to seek out his most recent works.They are a thing of beauty.
