Buddy Defranco - The Bebop Years 1949-56 (2022)

Buddy DeFranco was one of the few jazz clarinettists to come to prominence in the post-war era when the instrument generally saw a decline, and he was one of the only clarinettists to successfully find a role in the changing musical environment brought about by the emergence of bebop. His grounding was in the swing orchestras of Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet and most notably Tommy Dorsey, but having left Dorsey in 1948, he led his own bands as well as performing and recording with some of the noted leaders and musicians of the bebop era. In the 1960s and ‘70s he led the later incarnation of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. This 2-CD set selects recordings released on the Capitol, Columbia, MGM, Clef, Norgran, and Verve labels featuring DeFranco leading his bands and playing as a member of groups led by Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson. Among the top musicians of the day with whom he plays alongside on the tracks featured here are Art Tatum, Clark Terry, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Kenny Drew, Curly Russell, Art Blakey, Milt Hinton, Eugene Wright, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Louis Bellson, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, Barney Kessel and others. It’s a collection which not only provides a showcase for Buddy DeFranco’s underestimated virtuosity as a clarinettist, but presents him playing on some notable recordings with some of the finest musicians of the post-war decade.