Residency for Eric Seddon's Hot Club @ Christopher's Pub, Cleveland Hts!

We're happy to announce our new residency at Christopher's Pub in Cleveland Hts, beginning this Wednesday, April 13th. Every second Wednesday, come hear us play New Orleans Style Hot Jazz, in all its manifestations--from the earliest jazz tunes, through the various global revivals, to our own originals--experience the dynamic soul of this constantly growing artform!

Jimmie Noone with Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band, 1944

In the spring of 1944, the great Jimmie Noone joined Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band for a weekly gig on Orson Welles's Radio Show in Los Angeles. After only a few broadcasts, jazz lost one of its pioneers, and jazz clarinet one of its greatest geniuses of all time, when Noone suffered a massive heart attack and passed away just days short of his 49th birthday. I've listened to Noone for years, and have reviewed the comprehensive JSP Records box of his recordings elswehere on this blog. 

Until today, though, I'd never heard any of his performances with Kid Ory for Orson Welles, and assumed they just didn't exist. But it turns out some recording were preserved...and they're amazing. They're the only recordings we have of Noone playing the New Orleans standards "Muskrat Ramble" and "High Society" (including Noone's version of the famous 'test solo'). Add to that a blues, where Jimmie plays laid back virtuosic figurations behind the vocalist, and we have a real insight into how this master must have played in front of live audiences. On "High Society", Noone's legendary tone and articulation are there...but you hear him perhaps gasping for breaths at inopportune moments--maybe his heart was giving out even as he was playing this? It's a powerful moment in jazz clarinet history to have recorded and to hear. If anyone knows of any commercially available digital transfers of these performances, I'd be grateful to know about them. Enjoy. 


[UPDATE 1/19/17: I've found a CD remaster of some of these performances, reviewed here.]

Good Friday Meditation

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? recorded in my studio on a Tascam DR-40.

Jimmie Noone at the British American Club

Just Announced:

Eric Seddon's Hot Club returns to the EARLYJAS Society at the British American Club in Twinsburg, Ohio on Sunday May 22nd from 2-5pm, featuring a program dedicated to the music of Jimmie Noone.

Eric Seddon, clarinet
Jim Davis, cornet
George Foley, piano
Bob McGuire, banjo + guitar
Gene Epstein, upright bass
Bill Fuller, drums

Mardi Gras Photos from BLU Jazz +

A big easy THANK YOU to all the great folks who came out in lake effect snow to make BLU the hottest spot north of New Orleans on Mardi Gras! What an audience...dancing tangos to Sidney Bechet's 'Petite Fleur', roaring for two new songs I wrote for the occasion ("BLU Mardi Gras" and "East Market Street Parade"); they even got a second line going through the club at one point! All in all a special night for this club's first Mardi Gras bash!

Eric Seddon at BLU Jazz + (Mardi Gras 2016)

George Foley (piano), Eric Seddon (clarinet), Bill Fuller (drums) at BLU Jazz +, Mardi Gras 2016

Eric Seddon, Bill Fuller (drums), Gene Epstein (bass), Bob McGuire (guitar) at BLU Jazz +, Mardi Gras 2016

Tonight @ BLU Jazz + HAPPY MARDI GRAS EVERYBODY!

New Tunes for Mardi Gras

Readers of The Jazz Clarinet will already know that my Hot Club is playing the first Mardi Gras bash at DownBeat listed nightclub BLU Jazz + in Akron this Tuesday at 8pm. Our mission as a band has been to deliver top level performances of New Orleans style jazz, encompassing the entire history of the genre, from the earliest spirituals and songs through the various popular revivals, right up to the present day. I'm fortunate to have several songwriters in the band, and we'll be bringing you some of the best new material out there in our upcoming gigs, beginning this Tuesday, when we'll debut two new numbers: "BLU Mardi Gras (Blue Mardis Gras)" and "East Market Street Parade."

Get your beads ready, folks--hope to see you there!