Here’s another of Upbeat’s ready-made compilations from their takeover of the Jazz Crusade label, where it first appeared as Rare Cuts – Great Clarinets, a follow-up to Great Trumpets reviewed in our March 2023 issue.

These three clarinettists may well have shared Crescent City affiliations but their instrumental mastery was sufficiently individual to offer both variety and value in this engaging compilation.

Nicholas is first up with Réwéliotty’s zesty if unidentified Parisian traditionalists as recorded by Vogue, the serviceable arrangements allowing him plenty of room to offer his filigree and undeniably hot variations. If the repertoire is familiar, Nicholas vocalising in Creole fashion on his ‘Moi Pas L’Aime Ca’ is less so. Throughout a long career, Nicholas never disappointed.

As for Hall, these air-checks with Sutton’s quartet are culled from successive 1954 stints at the Hangover in San Francisco and put simply, they’re terrific. The two men perform as equals, the clarinettist throaty and hard-driving, Sutton the ever-swinging stride master, each matching the other for joyous intensity, their interplay on ‘Blues My Naughty Gives to Me’ a delight to behold. Sutton is exhilarating on ’I’ve Found A New Baby’, Hall equally so.

Lewis’ six tracks are from two of quartet leader Oxtot’s San Francisco engagements, the distinguished New Orleanian guesting alongside similarly-minded purist types and moving irresistibly through these less-than-familiar pieces. The ‘simple flowing quality’ of his playing shines out, his tone ‘exquisite’, the ideas constant, Stanton a capable second voice. Dane does her heartfelt Bessie Smith bit on ‘The Glory of Love’ and a blues too. Note Oxtot is listed on the sleeve as a trombonist. Not so.