[Dixielandjazz] Wonderful CD - Parenti and Wellstood

[Audrey Van Dyke]

A friend from this list sent me several CD's a few weeks ago.  There 
were six, which was convenient, as the car will gulp six CDs at a time.  
So I was driving along, listening, enjoying, when CD number three 
started to play.  From the first few measures it had my attention.  By 
the end of the first cut, I was frantically looking for a place to pull 
over to check the liner notes and see who the heck I was listening to.  
It was the trio of Tony Parenti, Dick Wellstood, and Sam Ulanaw (sp?  
Don't have the CD in front of me right now), clarinet, piano and drums.  
This was such powerful music.  Since then, I've listened to the tracks 
recorded by this trio about a hundred times, and it has risen to the top 
few albums in my personal poll.  Anyone else familiar with this record?  
It includes Shreveport Stomp, Make Me a Pallet, and Eccentric, among 
others.  And here's a neat thing about how it happened, that I'm sure 
some of you must have also experienced.  I've always liked Dick 
Wellstood very much, but in the past, before hearing something recorded 
by him, I've always known it was him I would be listening to.  So you're 
not completely sure whether advance knowledge of the musician's 
reputation plays a factor in how much you are enjoying the music.  For 
it to happen this way, of being stopped in my tracks and saying, "wow," 
then finding out who was playing, made it especially neat.  It's great 
to be 50 years old, and still hearing things for the first time that 
just blow you away.  And to think, I have friends who got to hear these 
guys live, and in one case, play with them.  "Ah death in life, those 
days that are no more."  (Sorry, I was a lit major)
Audrey Van Dyke