Carl Frye

When it is time for jazz critics to whip out their most cliched language, it seems the preferable thing for musicians to do onstage is to "cook" or to "burn." In this case of this vintage alto saxophonist and clarinetist, the critics simply had to let Carl Frye. It is a corny joke, but surely one that might have been appreciated by at least one of this musician's employers, the hilarious singer and keyboardist Fats Waller. Frye was a New Englander by birth but began his music career down south in 1928, playing in a band led by Clarence Johnson that was based out of North Carolina. For the duration of the decade he was gigging with Earle Howard, beginning an on-again, off-again relationship with Waller in the '30s. For several years beginning in 1937, Frye gigged with Willie Bryant. Various relationships with bandleaders ensued, each seeming to last about a year. In 1939 he worked with Don Redman; the following year the reedman was more likely to be found in groups led by Benny Carter. In the '40s Frye joined up with Louis Armstrong's orchestra project, just in time for a prolific recording period with Decca. The resulting mound of sides would make a fry cook weep were they orders of bacon. He also performed on some of Billie Holiday's fine recordings from this period. By the '50s Frye had given up full time music. While he showed up from time to time to blow at gigs in New York City, Frye eventually seems to have slipped out of sight, and may be deceased. ~ Eugene Chadbourne