Clarinetist Volly DeFaut made a few notable recordings during the first half of the 1920s, including some with
Jelly Roll Morton, and then largely dropped out of music. Fortunately, he never completely gave up playing, and his contributions to these 1972 sessions (reissued on CD) are one of the main reasons to acquire this release. While seven numbers match DeFaut with pianist Art Hodes, bassist Truck Parham and drummer
Barrett Deems, there are also four Hodes-Parham duets and versions of "Ja Da" and "Panama Rag" that add trumpeter Nappy Trottier and trombonist
George Brunies to the full group. Hodes, who is really rollicking on the more uptempo material, adds a strong blues sensibility to each of the songs. Among the many highlights of the delightful set (mostly comprised of Dixieland standards) are "St. Louis Blues," "Struttin' With Some Barbeque," "After You've Gone" and "Volly's Room."
