Up in Volly's Room in Bloomington, MN

Clarinetist
Volly DeFaut
made a few notable recordings during the first half of the 1920s, including some with
Jelly Roll Morton
, and then largely dropped out of music. Fortunately, he never completely gave up playing, and his contributions to these 1972 sessions (reissued on CD) are one of the main reasons to acquire this release. While seven numbers match
DeFaut
with pianist
Art Hodes
, bassist
Truck Parham
and drummer
Barrett Deems
, there are also four
Hodes
-
Parham
duets and versions of
"Ja Da"
and "Panama Rag" that add trumpeter
Nappy Trottier
and trombonist
George Brunies
to the full group.
, who is really rollicking on the more uptempo material, adds a strong blues sensibility to each of the songs. Among the many highlights of the delightful set (mostly comprised of Dixieland standards) are "St. Louis Blues," "Struttin' With Some Barbeque," "After You've Gone" and "Volly's Room." ~ Scott Yanow