Edmond Hall - Petite Fleur

AllMusic Review by Ken Dryden

Aside from a few compilations consisting of previously released 78 rpm recordings, the 1959 United Artists LP Petite Fleur represents the first album by New Orleans clarinetist Edmond Hall. Accompanied by pianist Ellis Larkins, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Jimmy Crawford, Hall revisits Sidney Bechet's "Petite Fleur" and another Dixieland classic, "Clarinet Marmalade," with great feeling. His perky original "Cook Good" was inspired by a folk tune he heard as a young man called "Cook Good Cabbage." The group expands to a sextet with the addition of trumpeter Emmett Berry and trombonist Vic Dickenson on four tracks. A medley of six songs from the vast Duke Ellington songbook showcases a different side of Hall and some excellent muted horn by Dickenson. The leader even takes a rare vocal on the swinging closer, "Don't Give Me No Sympathy."

United Artists Records 00:00 A1 Petite Fleur [Quartet] 04:08 A2 Ellington Medley: : Prelude To A Kiss/Do Nothing Till You ... [Sextet] 13:51 A3 Clarinet Marmalade [Quartet] 17:14 A4 Edmond Hall Blues [Sextet] 20:58 B1 Cook Good [Quartet] 24:38 B2 Off The Road [Sextet] 32:34 B3 Adam And Eve [Quartet] 36:37 B4 Don't Give Me Sympathy [Sextet] Bass – Milt Hinton Clarinet – Edmond Hall Drum – Jimmy Crawford Piano – Ellis Larkins Trombone – Vic Dickenson (tracks: A2, A4, B2, B4) Trumpet – Emmett Berry (tracks: A2, A4, B2, B4) Tracks A2, A4, B2, B4 are sextet sessions including Vic Dickenson and Emmett Berry. The rest is quartet sessions. Recorded 1958