Remembering John Hicks

We've got something special for you today: a free MP3 of a rare, previously unreleased performance by the late jazz pianist and former St. Louisan John Hicks.

The track, and the two photos accompanying this post, come to us courtesy of my good buddy Paul Neuenkirk. If you've been around St. Louis for a while, you may know Paul from his work as a DJ and volunteer for community radio stations KDNA and KDHX, or perhaps as a board member for New Music Circle. Now retired from Boeing, Paul is also a music enthusiast with a special interest in jazz, a photographer, and a field recordist who has documented many jazz and avant garde music gigs here over the last four decades.

The track he's provided for us today is a version of "Our Waltz," recorded live to 15 IPS two-track on November 29, 1971 at Ludwig Music in west St. Louis county. Although Hicks had moved to New York in 1963, in this period he was apparently spending enough time in St. Louis to have a more-or-less regular working band here, and the idea behind this session was simply to document the music they were doing in local clubs The session was held after hours at the music store to give Hicks access to a quality acoustic piano, and features St. Louis jazz mainstays Willie Akins on saxophones, John Mixon on bass and Sonny Hamp on drums performing with Hicks.

The tune is, I'm fairly sure, a composition by David Rose that has also been recorded by the likes of Gary Burton, Rahassan Roland Kirk and Harold Mabern, although Hicks' version sounds nothing like what you might expect from the composer best known for easy listening stuff like "Holiday for Strings." The piano work is clearly influenced by the sort of quartal harmonies popularized by McCoy Tyner a few years earlier, but with a disinctively Hicksian twist. Akins has a very nice soprano solo, and Hamp's drumming is propulsive throughout.

The recording quality, though not quite up to Rudy Van Gelder standards, is very listenable, although Mixon's bass work is mostly felt rather than heard. (Remember, kids, this was before the days of inexpensive bass pickups, direct boxes and clean-sounding, reliable, easily portable amplification systems designed especially for acoustic bass.)

Paul asked that we acknowledge three others who contributed to the making of the recording: Dick Brennan, the Ludwig store manager who allowed the musicians access to the premises; St. Louis R&B great and Archway Studios owner Oliver Sain, who lent microphones for use in the session, and Chris Neuenkirk, who provided technical assistance to get the 35-year-old tape into a digital audio format accessible to all.

The accompanying photos were taken by Paul in 2004 at the Mayfair Hotel in downtown St. Louis, and have never been published anywhere before. They were originally intended to go with an interview I conducted with Hicks for a prospective magazine story that never quite panned out.

My sincerest thanks go out to to Paul for providing this material for StLJN readers to enjoy. And if you like what you hear, please take time to leave a brief comment on this post to let him know that his efforts are appreciated.

Download "Our Waltz" (7.21 MB)