Gene Sedric

[EKE BBB]

A longtime member of Fats Waller´s Rhythm, this tenor saxophonist and clarinetist had a very warm and colourful sound, that I really dig from his recordings with Fats... though we all know that many of his solos (as well as Herman Autrey´s) were usually punctuated by Waller´s comments

As far as I know, he only had three leader dates:

-four numbers cut on 1938

-sixteen sides recorded on 1946 (for Harmonia, Pathe and Keynote)

-and two tracks shared with Mezz Mezzrow in 1953

There´s a volume on Classics, covering 1938-47, that I assume includes the first 20 tracks ??? Any comments on these sides?

Are the two titles with Mezz available anywhere? Do you recommend other sideman dates for him?

Any further comments on the Honey Bear?

[EKE BBB]

The sweaty Bear

[EKE BBB]

Another one from Gottlieb´s site:

[EKE BBB]

Up!

Now listening to James P. Johnson orchestra 1939 recordings with Red Allen, Higginbotham, Sedric, James P., Eugene Fields (g), Pops Foster ( b ) and Sid Catlett (d).

Hungry blues / Memories of you / Old-fashioned love / Swingin´ at the Lido / Havin´a ball

for the Honey Bear! Love his warm tone.

Maybe this is a blasphemy, but I find his playing (phrasing, rhythm, the way he approaches melody) certainly similar to Lester Young´s... or at least Pres was the first player that came to my mind when listening to Sedric´s solos.

Milan? Anyone?

(I like to stand corrected, that´s how one can learn )

[White Lightning]

Love G.S. as well. Sweet, warm tone. A true underrated master. A dear forum member drew my attention to GS about 2 years ago, and I was hooked eversince. A pitty he didn't record enough.

[jazzbo]

Waller, Sedric, Autrey. . . Fats Waller and his Rhythm were such a great band! I can't imagine I'll ever stop listening to them!

I'm not sure I've seen or heard the Mezzrow sides anywhere yet. The Classics has those twenty you mention, plus four from January 8, 1947 by "Ruby Smith with Gene (Honeybear Sedric) and his Orchestra. . . .

[Christiern]

• I lifted this from the Fantasy on-line catalog. It's an album I did in 1961, apparently augmented by some Wellstood sides from another set. Anyway, Gene Sedric is on the session I did, which was an attempt to reunite the Waller band, with Dick at the keyboard. The Snowden tracks (I originally had the Snowden and Wellstood tracks back to back) feature him with Ed Allen, who played that memorable solo on Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," Tommy Benford on drums, Rudy Powell, clarinet, Abe Bolar, bass, and Floyd Casey on washboard.
  
  I don't have a copy of the album, but I remember the Wellstood tracks being to my satisfaction--at least back then.
  

DICK WELLSTOOD & CLIFF JACKSON

Uptown & Lowdown

Prestige PRCD-24262-2 ~ $16.98

The spirits of such great jazz pianist-composers from the 1920s and '30s--notably those of James P. Johnson and Thomas "Fats" Waller--permeate these performances by Dick Wellstood and Cliff Jackson. Jackson (1902-1970) and Wellstood (1927-1987) were themselves strong musical spirits, representing, respectively, the first generation of Harlem stride giants and the gifted young revivalists of the 1940s who revered the masters' works while at times giving them a more modern spin (as Wellstood does with some Monkish chords on his own slow blues, "Blook's Dues"). Wellstood is spotlighted on 11 of this set's 15 tracks. The first three are from a 1961 LP on which his group, the Wallerites, shared billing with Jackson's Washboard Wanderers. These find him leading a quintet in which Waller's wonderful front line of trumpeter Herman Autry and reedman Gene Sedric were reunited after 18 years. On the next eight, from an extremely rare 1954 10-inch LP, Wellstood strides artfully, backed by the unobtrusively whisking brushes of Tommy Benford, Jelly Roll Morton's former drummer. Jackson's four cuts are lividly trad jazz with jug band overtones, as banjo and washboard supply the rhythmic kick. Jackson, banjoist Elmer Snowden, trumpeter Ed Allen, and clarinetist Rudy Powell all excel.

Yacht Club Swing, Brush Lightly, Blook's Dues, Old Fashioned Love, Mule Walk, Closed Mouth Blues, The Shout, Toddlin' Home, Alligator Crawl; Oh Baby, Watcha Doing to Me; Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away), The Sheik of Araby, I Found a New Baby, Wolverine Blues, Blues in Englewood Cliffs

with Ed Allen, Herman Autry, Tommy Benford, Abe Bolar, Floyd Casey, Gene Sedric, Milt Hinton, Rudy Powell, Zutty Singleton, and Elmer Snowden.

This photo shows Al Casey, Herman Autrey, Arthur Trappier, Gene Sedric, Cedric Wallace, and Pat Flowers salute Fats Waller at WNEW's "Second Annual American Swing Festival," 1945:

[EKE BBB]

Big thanks, Chris!

[EKE BBB]

There´s also an unaccompanied tenor sax solo by Sedric playing "Saxophone doodle", included in a Ristic LP of home recordings by Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Willie the Lion Smith and Eubie Blake.

Here´s the discographical information according to Tom Lord:

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Fats Waller home recordings

Fats Waller (p-3,voice-1) James P. Johnson (p-2,voice-1) Naomi Waller (vcl-4) Willie "The Lion" Smith (voice-1,p-1) Eubie Blake, Andy Razaf (voice-1) Gene Sedric (ts-5)

private party at the Waller home, NYC, prob. May 30, 1937

*The gathering (1)

Medley:

*Baltimore buzz (3)

*Old fashioned love (3)

*I'm crazy 'bout my baby (fw vcl,3)

*Liza (2)

*Until the real thing comes along (3,4)

*I'm coming, Virginia (3,4)

*Lost love (ar vcl,3)

*Blues is bad (#1) (3,5)

*Saxophone doodle (5)

*Blues is bad (#2) (3,5)

[included in Ristic (E)22/23]

*Lost love (#2) (ar vcl,3)

[unissued]

Note: Above as identified in Laurie Wright's "Fats In Fact" (Storyville, 1992)

&

Fats Waller (p-1,vcl-2,org-3)

Private recordings, New York, September 16, 1943

*The ladies who sing with a band (1,2)

Medley

*To a wild rose (1)

*Don't get around much anymore (1)

*Martinique (1)

*Hallelujah (1)

*St. Louis blues (3)

*Organ tests

[included in Ristic (E)22/23, Euphonic ESR1226]

Euphonic ESR1226 titled "Kings of Harlem stride"; rest of LP by others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Anyone heard this disc?

[l p]

There´s also an unaccompanied tenor sax solo by Sedric playing "Saxophone doodle", included in a Ristic LP of home recordings by Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Willie the Lion Smith and Eubie Blake.

Anyone heard this disc?

i've heard the first portion of this release. that rustic lp seems to be impossible to find.

[Strideworld]

There´s also an unaccompanied tenor sax solo by Sedric playing "Saxophone doodle", included in a Ristic LP of home recordings by Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Willie the Lion Smith and Eubie Blake.

Anyone heard this disc?

i've heard the first portion of this release. that rustic lp seems to be impossible to find.

I you want, I have this disk.

(MP3 format)

Edited June 17, 2007 by Strideworld

[Christiern]

The photo I posted seems to have disappeared from the thread, so here it is again. It shows Al Casey, Herman Autrey, Arthur Trappier, Gene Sedric, Cedric Wallace, and Pat Flowers saluting Fats Waller at WNEW's "Second Annual American Swing Festival," 1945:

[Late]

Up for re-evaluation.

Now I have to track down those Classics discs ...

[brownie]

As far as I know, he only had three leader dates:

-four numbers cut on 1938

-sixteen sides recorded on 1946 (for Harmonia, Pathe and Keynote)

-and two tracks shared with Mezz Mezzrow in 1953

There´s a volume on Classics, covering 1938-47, that I assume includes the first 20 tracks ??? Any comments on these sides?

The Sedric 1938-1947 Classics include:

- the 4 tunes from 1938,

- 16 tunes from 1946 (8 for Harmony, 4 for Swing, 4 for Keynote)

- 4 tunes from a January 1947 session by Ruby Smith for RCA.

Ruby Smith also shows up on one of the Harmony session. Ruby was Bessie Smith's niece and sings in Bessie's style but without her aunt's talent!

Sorry for the late reply

[Late]

I'm guessing Sedric's unaccompanied tenor track — "Saxophone Doodle" or "Sax-O-Doodle" — isn't available on compact disc ...

[carnivore]

The photo I posted seems to have disappeared from the thread, so here it is again. It shows Al Casey, Herman Autrey, Arthur Trappier, Gene Sedric, Cedric Wallace, and Pat Flowers saluting Fats Waller at WNEW's "Second Annual American Swing Festival," 1945:

playing clarinet while holding your tenor under your arm is a neat trick , especially as it seems, with no sling....

[cortazarx]

Pitching in, twenty plus years later:

Mr. Honeybear can and should also be heard on the following Storyville cds:

Bobby Hackett,  No. 1 "DR. JAZZ SERIES", Vol. 2

Bobby Hackett,  No. 2 " DR. JAZZ SERIES", Vol. 10

Pee Wee Erwin With Vic Dickenson, Gene Sedric & Morey Feld – Dr. Jazz Vol. 14

Luvvvvvvvvvv himmmmmmmmmmm