Ralph Sutton

  • Ralph Sutton, Peanuts Hucko, Jack Lesberg, Cliff Leeman - The Big Noise From Wayzata [Chaz Jazz Records CJ 112] (1981)

Biography

Scott Yanow [allmusic.com]

Ralph Sutton was the greatest stride pianist to emerge since World War II, with his only close competitors being the late Dick Wellstood and the very versatile Dick Hyman. Nearly alone in his generation, Sutton kept alive the piano styles of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson, not as mere museum pieces but as devices for exciting improvisations. Although sticking within the boundaries of his predecessors, Sutton infused the music with his own personality; few could match his powerful left hand. Ralph Sutton played with Jack Teagarden's big band briefly in 1942 before serving in the Army. After World War II he appeared regularly on Rudi Blesh's This Is Jazz radio show and spent eight years as the intermission pianist at Eddie Condon's club, recording frequently. He spent time playing in San Francisco, worked for Bob Scobey, moved to Aspen in the mid-'60s, and became an original member of the World's Greatest Jazz Band with Yank Lawson, Bob Haggart, and Bud Freeman. In the 1970s, he recorded many exciting albums for the Chaz label and then cut albums for quite a few labels. Despite suffering a stroke in the early '90s, Sutton kept a busy schedule through the mid-'90s, playing at jazz parties and festivals. He died suddenly on December 29, 2001, in his car outside a restaurant in Evergreen, CO. Although he would have received much greater fame if he had been born 20 years earlier and come to maturity during the 1930s rather than the 1950s, at the time of his death it was obvious that Ralph Sutton had earned his place among the top classic jazz pianists of all time.



Peanuts Hucko long had a sound on clarinet that is nearly identical to that of Benny Goodman. A fine tenor player in his early days (although he largely gave up the instrument after the 1940s), Hucko's clarinet is an attractive addition to any Dixieland or swing combo. He started out as a tenor saxophonist playing in the big bands of Will Bradley (1939-1941), Charlie Spivak (1941-1942), and Bob Chester. Hucko was a member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band, where he was a star clarinet soloist. After being discharged from the military and playing with Benny Goodman (1945-1946) and Ray McKinley (1946-47), Hucko started an on-and-off association with Eddie Condon. He worked in the studios in the 1950s, visited Europe with Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines in 1957, toured the world with Louis Armstrong's All-Stars (1958-1960), and in the 1960s often led his own Dixie/swing band. In the 1970s, for a period, he was the leader of the Glenn Miller ghost orchestra and is credited with returning the group to an authentic swing sound. In the '90s Hucko often headed groups featuring his wife, vocalist Louise Tobin. He continued to play until the very end of the '90s, but health problems eventually sidelined his playing career. On June 19, 2003 Peanuts Hucko passed away at the age of 85 in a Fort Worth, Texas hospital.



A solid timekeeper and a colorful soloist, Cliff Leeman was versatile enough to be equally skilled both in big bands and Dixieland-oriented combos. When he was just 13, he was already a talented enough musician to play with the Portland Symphony. As a teenager he went on a vaudeville tour as a xylophonist. During the swing era, Leeman worked with several major big bands including most notably Artie Shaw (1936-1938), Glenn Miller (very briefly in 1939), Tommy Dorsey (1939), Charlie Barnet (1940-1943), Johnny Long, and Woody Herman (1943-1944). After a few months in the Army, Leeman freelanced with small and large bands for the next few years (including Don Byas, the 1944-1945 John Kirby Sextet, Raymond Scott, Jimmy Dorsey, and Ben Webster). He then left the music business for two years before becoming part of the Casa Loma Orchestra (1947), Charlie Barnet's bebop orchestra (1949), and Bob Chester's big band (1949-1950). Leeman worked regularly on radio (including The Hit Parade) and television during the '50s but also appeared often at Eddie Condon's club and at Nick's with Bobby Hackett. He played with (among many others) Pee Wee Erwin, the Yank Lawson/Bob Haggart band, Ralph Sutton, Billy Butterfield, Bob Crosby (1960), Wild Bill Davison (1962), the Dukes of Dixieland (1963-1964), Peanuts Hucko, and Condon. Leeman freelanced during most of his last two decades including stints with Joe Venuti, the Kings of Jazz (1974), Davison, Bud Freeman, Don Ewell, the World's Greatest Jazz Band (1976-1977), Jimmy McPartland, and Joe Venuti; he appears on an all-star video (which is available) from 1976 with McPartland and Venuti. As a leader, Cliff Leeman is at the head of a couple Fat Cat Jazz albums from the '70s, jam sessions recorded at the Manassas Jazz Festival.



Jason Ankeny [allmusic.com]

A premier bassist of the postwar era, Jack Lesberg's rock-solid and versatile playing supported a who's-who of jazz giants including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Billie Holiday. In addition, he served a lengthy tenure with the New York City Symphony Orchestra under conductor Leonard Bernstein. Born in Boston on Valentine's Day, 1920, Lesberg first studied violin and earned notoriety on the Beantown club scene. He moved permanently to double bass in the late 1930s and landed with Muggsy Spanier's band in 1940. After surviving the November 28, 1942 nightclub fire that killed 492 patrons at Boston's Coconut Grove, Lesberg relocated to New York in 1943 and hired on with Eddie Condon the following year. In 1945, he began a three-year stint under Bernstein, concurrently studying under double bass master Fred Zimmerman and playing on record with everyone from Coleman Hawkins to Sarah Vaughan (her first studio date, no less). During this busy time, Lesberg also began playing with Louis Armstrong, a collaboration inaugurated in 1947 and resumed often in the years to follow. After parting ways with Bernstein, Lesberg backed Sidney Bechet, Tommy Dorsey, Kai Winding and Jimmy McPartland. In 1956, he toured Australia, England and Africa behind Armstrong and the following year he supported Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines during their trek across Europe. After spending the late 1950s backing Billy Butterfield, Lesberg spent much of the early 1960s overseas, touring Europe with Georgie Auld and Doc Severinsen in 1962. A Pacific jaunt with Condon followed in 1964 as did a 1965 Icelandic tour with Armstrong. Gigs with Urbie Green, Bobby Hackett and Joe Venuti preceded Lesberg's 1970 decision to relocate to Australia, where he spent four years with the Sydney Symphony. Upon returning stateside, Lesberg recorded for Famous Door in 1977. He toured Europe several more times during the 1980s with the Tribute to Louis Armstrong group and served in 1986 with Goodman's last band, but his pace slowed in the years to follow. After a long bout with Alzheimer's disease, Lesberg died at a convalescent home in Englewood, New Jersey on September 17, 2005.