Natty Dominique is best-known for his erratic but sometimes quite rewarding playing with the great clarinetist
Johnny Dodds in the 1920s. He made no recordings after 1940 except for the material on this CD; only two of the songs had been issued before 1993.
Dominique is typically streaky in a septet that also includes clarinetist Darnell Howard, trombonist Preston Jackson, and drummer
Baby Dodds, sounding fine on a few of the ensembles where he plays in a style reminiscent of
Freddie Keppard. Most interesting are two excerpts from interviews, where
Dominique talks about playing with
Dodds, and remembers a lesson that he had from
Louis Armstrong about the importance of being original. This is a historically significant, if not really essential, release. ~ Scott Yanow