Banjoist Eric Silk may be somewhat forgotten today but during 1955-58 he and his Southern Jazz Band recorded 32 songs for the British Esquire label; the first 16 are reissued on Blues Down South. It is surprising that the group, which also recorded an album in 1966, was not documented much more for it existed for 24 years (1949-73) and the music on this CD holds its own with most British trad bands of the time.
The first 12 songs on the reissue have both Dennis Field and Alan Littlejohn on trumpets, trombonist Ken Shepherd, either Don Simmons or Harry Lock on clarinet, Peter Rees or Ron Weatherburn on piano, Lester Roberts or Colin Thompson on bass, and drummer Tony Budd in addition to the leader. The last four numbers have a similar group sound even though the lineup is a lot different with only one trumpeter (Dennis Field), trombonist Pete Strange, clarinetist Teddy Layton, pianist Weatherburn, bassist Thompson or Norman Bunce on tuba, and drummer Stan Lewis.
The group, which despite the two trumpets does not sound like Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Band, has its own subtle but often hard-driving style. Silk took advantage of the added time that LPs had over 78s with the result being that many of these performances are 4-7 minutes long, letting the band take longer solos and a lot more ensembles. On such numbers as “Tiger Rag,” “Milenburg Joys,” “Sensation Rag,” “Hiawatha,” and “Just A Little While To Stay Here,” one is grateful for the added time.
Blues Down South (Lake LACD 163, 16 selections, TT = 75:46) www.fellside.com
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
