[Dixielandjazz] Chuck Hedges

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

One of the blessings of doing regular CD reviews was the introduction to not only but also not least the music of

Chuck Hedges

and a little later to the slightly earlier departed originally inventive Frank Chace (whose roots seem to go back to Pee Wee and possibly a common St' Louis source for Gene Sedric).

The suggestion that Chuck was the greatest clarinetist in the world mght be an exaggeration, but that was the worst that could or can be said of the claim. He was one of a succession of musicians who made a distinctive I might say Chicagoan use of the instrument for serious creative purposes. My first encounter with his playing was on a CD under the name of Duane Thamm. The format was that of Goodman-Hampton-Wlson-Krupa and might have attracted some listeners who thought BG.  
There was no mistaking the musical independence of the group, and as I wrote: least of all of Chuck. 
A pang of sadness came with the news.