Hillbilly Jazz band, featuring
Vassar Clements on violin
Doug Jernigan on pedal steel

Exit / In
Nashville, Tenn
April 5, 1975
Saturday night

visit the April 4th Friday show

source: FOB / dfc, Nakamichi 550 w/ Dobly NR, Electro-Voice RE-15 mic

lineage: MR cassette > Nakamichi 550 > Lexicon Alpha > Samplitude > Flac

Taped, transferred, and remastered by Monte Barry
420bikeandhike@gmail.com
published on April 23, 2008

reel-flip cut at 3:29 in Allman Bros tune, Jessica

Set 1
d1t01 instrumental from the Hillbilly Jazz album
d1t02 instrumental from album
d1t03 Dixie Breakdown
d1t04 Nine Pound Hammer
d1t05 If You've Got the Money
d1t06 Caravan
d1t07 Jernigan solo instrumental from album
d1t08 Lonesome Fiddle Blues
d1t09 Roly Poly
d1t10 Deep Elem Blues
d1t11 C Jam Blues
d1t12 Allman Bros instrumental
d2t01 Mocking Bird
d2t02 guess this ballad
d2t03 Soldier's Joy
d2t04 Salty Dog
d2t05 Foggy Mountain Breakdown
d2t06 Kissime Kid
d2t07 Orange Blossom Special

Hillbilly Jazz dual-LP
Flying Fish Records - 1975

bit torrent for this show

Notes

Vassar Clements & Doug Jernigan


scroll carving shown on Vassar's fiddle

This text is copied & pasted from Vassar's website.

Hillbilly Jazz is a form of music created by fiddle virtuoso Vassar Clements. Besides being one of the freshest sounds to come from Nashville, it is commercial, listenable, danceable and very enjoyable. Hillbilly Jazz is music that could and should get mass recognition, something the diehard followers have known and declared for years.

Hillbilly Jazz is an amalgam of the diverse influences that have touched Vassar throughout his career, but it's particularly a composite of his country background and his affinity for the jazz and swing music of his youth. Early in his career, Vassar learned Bluegrass and country styles while working with the like of Bill Monroe, et al., but he's also gained respect as a jazz player. His duet album with the legendary jazz fiddler Stephane Grappelli, "Together At Last" led to his fifth grammy nomination.

Vassar says, "actually I heard more swing than country or bluegrass while I was growing up in Florida. I've always loved that kind of rhythm." Back then he was just a young fiddler, naively interpreting on his instrument the sounds he was hearing his Big Band idols play."

I used to sit in with combos in Florida, and I even won dance contests during the Big Band era. I was playing jazz along with them, but at this time, I had never heard of Stephane Grappelli, Joe Venutti or any of those great guys. Neither had I ever heard much western swing by Bob Wills. Somehow, I think the swing style, subconsciously has always come through in almost everything I've played.

"Vassar has always been open-minded to new ideas and seemingly has been able to find common musical and philosophical bonds with anyone from the diversified roster of Artists who have enlisted his talents. He always seems emotionally caught up in his performances. As his bow glides effortlessly across the strings, his eyes closed, head cocked and a pensive expression on his face, it's as if he is lost in another world.Hillbilly Jazz is an uninhibited and unabashed expression of Vassar's open-minded approach to music, people and life in general. In the true tradition of all the great musical stylists, Vassar has rejected the straitjacket of labeling. This has resulted in a natural blend of the creative freedom in jazz and the to the point honesty of country. He performs with the depth of someone who has lived a lot and as if his soul has been prepared to play his Hillbilly Jazz.

Instrumentally, Vassar boldly blazes a trail for his band. His fiddle solos soar and glide gently over the rhythm in a manner reminiscent of saxophonist Lester Young's work with the Count Basie Band decades ago. But what perhaps surprises even Vassar's most ardent admirers is his vocals, another definite statement of his affection for cultural roots and family ties.

But just as Bill Monroe is to bluegrass, Elvis Presley to rock and roll, and Bob Wills was to Western Swing, so will and should be Vassar Clements to the field of Hillbilly Jazz. There may be many imitators, but Vassar Clements will always remain the king of Hillbilly Jazz.

1928 - 2005