The Fat Babies

Released in 2016

DownBeat Five-Star Review

YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TGF-ASfzWDA&list=OLAK5uy_nAqC836yftJfC3OCfTSESe8LxR77lrMMg

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/02hz9loKxbJYjdI6Hb235K?si=WVhwiSGrQhCPG8sY0l4mNg

About:

Based in Chicago—a city that spawned its own brand of trad jazz—The Fat Babies were founded by bassist Beau Sample six years ago. Since that time, they have built up a large repertoire and demonstrated quite a bit of versatility. “Solid Gassuh” features The Fat Babies emulating many different groups, mostly from the 1926–’32 period. Rather than being hardcharging Dixieland, the performances mostly have The Fat Babies sounding like a relaxed but hot dance band from the time, despite only having three horns. While the group sometimes uses transcriptions from vintage records, their solos are creative within the genre, rather than pure copies.

“Considering that the Fat Babies specialize in jazz repertoire penned before most of the people in the audience were born, you might not think their appearances would generate this degree of interest wherever they play.

But during the past few years the Fat Babies have become a very hot ticket indeed in their hometown, Chicago, and on tour, performing music that much of the jazz world considers passe. You don’t encounter many bands, after all, specializing in repertory by Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong and the like, and fewer still that offer the combination of verve and scholarship that always has defined the Fat Babies’ work.

The caliber of the Fat Babies’ music is apparent on its newest release, “Solid Gassuh” (Delmark Records), which conveys immediacy of sound and urgency of delivery.

“I think it more closely reflects what you hear if you came to hear us play at the Honky Tonk or the Mill,” says bassist-bandleader Beau Sample, citing a very good reason for that.

Unlike previous Fat Babies recordings, this one wasn’t cut in a studio.

“I thought it would be a little more fun to do these recordings on Mondays in the Honky Tonk, when they’re closed,” says Sample.

“That way we could go in on a Sunday night, play our show, leave our stuff there, and then come in and do short recording sessions on Monday. Each recording session was only a few hours long, and we’d knock out a few songs and call it a day.

“It’s about trying to capture the energy of how we feel when we’re playing. As opposed to: We’ve got to go into the studio for 10 hours today and 10 hours tomorrow and knock out a whole album.”

It took the Fat Babies about a month to put “Solid Gassuh” away, and the recording captures the musically freewheeling but technically adroit playing that first put the band on the map six years ago.

But there’s something more to this ensemble’s appeal, as well. Though the repertoire is historic, the approach is contemporary. Meaning that these musicians play their scores not as if they’re trying to re-create sounds of nearly a century ago (an impossible task, anyway), but as if the composers had just finished putting the ink on the page.

Which in fact is often the case, since much of the band’s repertoire has been newly arranged by some of its members. Purists might scoff at this approach — which, for example, features stand-up bass rather than the tuba of yore.

But the energy and drive of the band’s up-tempo pieces and tonal radiance of its ballad playing render such reservations beside the point. Listen to the Fat Babies, and you’re hearing a fervent argument for giving ancient repertoire respect more typically lavished on new material (though the band comes up with a few originals).

“The Fat Babies have done the jazz world a huge service by showing how deep the classic jazz repertoire can be, picking unhackneyed songs and infusing the music with the spirit of their heroes, while also making sure to stay true to themselves,” writes jazz scholar Ricky Riccardi in the new album’s liner notes. “The original recordings are 80, 85, 90 years old in some instances, but the Fat Babies have once again created music that is timeless — not to mention infectious, joyous, challenging, alive and authentic. It will never die.”

That’s an optimistic view, but certainly the Fat Babies are trying to prove it true, bucking up against a jazz world that often marginalizes music created before the bebop revolution of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and colleagues. As Riccardi acknowledges in his liner notes, “It’s frustrating when the jazz media treats a band playing music from 1945 like it’s cutting edge, while a band performing music from 1935 gets hit with loaded phrases like ‘nostalgia’ or ‘earlier era’ and ‘museum piece.’ ”

Remarkably, though, the Fat Babies seem to have had little problem championing pre-bop jazz.

“I don’t think it has been very challenging,” says Sample, who finds that the ensemble can stay as busy as it wants.

“I think the music we play is fun and infectious and makes people want to dance and drink and have a good time. Luckily we live in a city where there are venues to do that, and luckily people still come out. … I don’t think it’s very hard to get people interested in the music, especially when it’s played with true spirit. I mean, Louis Armstrong could play a gig in Chicago right now, and he’d still blow everyone away.”

It’s the artistic value of the music and the level at which it’s played, Sample seems to be saying, that determines success or failure more than anything else.

But Sample, a Texan who moved here from Austin in 2007 to play this music, acknowledges that Chicago stands as a congenial setting for his brand of jazz. Early giants such as Armstrong, Morton and others launched their national careers here in the 1920s, when their music was considered the cutting edge. And though Chicago ever since has valued the newest currents in jazz, the sounds of the original breakthroughs never have faded away.

“There’s a sense of history here,” says Sample, whose septet recently expanded to an octet with the addition of reedist Jonathan Doyle.

“You’re at the Green Mill. Every time I play there, people talk about Al Capone and Louis Armstrong and all the (musicians) that used to play in Chicago.

“Even though people may not know specific details of the history of Chicago music, they know a lot of great music came from here.

“It seems like the spirit is in the air still. I definitely feel it.”

As does anyone who listens to the Fat Babies”.

Howard Reich (Chicago Tribune)

Track Listing:

1. Doctor Blues (Paul Barbarin / Luis Russell) 3:06

2. After a While (Bud Freeman / Benny Goodman) 2:54

3. Feelin’ Good (Eddie Murphy / Jack Yellen) 2:55

4. Did You Ever See a Dream Walking? (Mack Gordon / Horry Revel) 4:23

5. Original Charleston Strut (Thomas Morris) 2:39

6. Pencil Papa (Lillian Armstrong) 2:52

7. I Miss a Little Miss (J. Fred Coots / Tot Seymour) 2:48

8. Parkaway Stomp (Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey / Albert Wynn) 2:36

9. You Were Only Passing Time With Me (Alexander Hill) 2:47

10. Alabamy Bound (Buddy DeSylva / Bud Green / Ray Henderson) 3:10

11. Slow River (Clarence Williams) 3:02

12. Delirium (Arthur Schutt) 3:57

13. Egyptian Ella (Walter Doyle) 3:25

14. Sing Song Girl (James F. Hanley / Joseph McCarthy) 3:45

15. Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin) 3:26

Personnel:

Beau Sample: string bass
Andy Schumm: cornet
John Otto: clarinet, alto sax
Dave Bock: trombone
Paul Asaro: piano
Jake Sanders: tenor banjo, guitar
Alex Hall: drums

Recorded at The Honky Tonk BBQ, Chicago, Illinois

Review:

Classic jazz, which is a good term for jazz styles that originated before the swing era, can be thought of as the true underground music of the 21st century. Largely absent from television and (with a few exceptions) radio and the press, it inhabits a parallel world from that of more modern jazz. Classic jazz has its own festivals, record labels, cruises, clubs, publications and modern-day heroes. The music did not end in 1930 or 1970, as proven by the existence of The Fat Babies and other worthy bands. Based in Chicago—a city that spawned its own brand of trad jazz—The Fat Babies were founded by bassist Beau Sample six years ago. Since that time, they have built up a large repertoire and demonstrated quite a bit of versatility. Solid Gassuh features The Fat Babies emulating many different groups, mostly from the 1926–’32 period. Rather than being hardcharging Dixieland, the performances mostly have The Fat Babies sounding like a relaxed but hot dance band from the time, despite only having three horns. While the group sometimes uses transcriptions from vintage records, their solos are creative within the genre, rather than pure copies. With the exception of “Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?” (a dance band chart with Asaro contributing a period vocal) and an exuberant version of “Maple Leaf Rag,” none of these pieces would qualify as standards. Certainly, one does not often hear “Pencil Papa,” “Sing Song Girl” and “Parkway Stomp” covered by contemporary bands, even in the trad-jazz world. Solid Gassuh is a must for anyone interested in early jazz.

Scott Yanow (DownBeat)