Reviews for:
JCCD-3078:
Tuba Fats' Chosen Few Jazzmen
JazzReview.com - Internet Publication
I've had the opportunity of reviewing almost thirty CDs from Big Bill
Bissonnette's Jazz Crusade label over the past few years. About a year
ago, I raved about the Gregg Stafford/Dr. Michael White release titled
Praying & Swaying Volume One and my praises were entirely honest.
Now I find myself in the same position once again. Bill feels that this
new album by Tuba Fats' Chosen Few at least equals the quality of the
Stafford / White disk. An hour after the CD arrived in my mailbox, I emailed
Bill Bissonnette and told him he had a knockout recording. I hadn't yet
read the liner notes and the disk had been thrown into my Macintosh for
a preliminary audition. What I heard grabbed my attention for an hour.
Perhaps New Orleans jazz is not everyone's "cup of tea" but
there are diehard fans all over the world and I'm proud to be among them.
The manner in which this band was assembled proved to be a stroke of luck.
Bill Bissonnette had heard a 1980s LP by Tuba Fats and wanted to buy the
session tapes for re-issue. Fat's had only the items that were issued
on vinyl and the other tapes had been lost. Not enough material for a
CD. The answer was to assemble some of the original band and record a
new session. Others were handpicked by the leader. Two members of Jazz
Crusade's All Star Rhythm Section were invited in the form of pianist
Reide Kaiser and banjoist, Emil Mark.
All the principal players have a vocal spot. Thankfully, they don't sing
together but each gets a chance to strut his stuff on a single track.
The gravely voices fit beautifully with each of the wind player's propensity
to growl on their instruments. Never heard an alto sax growl? You¹ll
witness it here via Darryl Adams in his first appearance with a "jazz
band" He is normally involved with the larger brass bands including
the Olympia. This may be the successor to Captain John Handy (1900-1971),
a man you was not only a pioneer, but was also in the forefront of the
New Orleans revival movement.
Elliot "Stackman" Callier is a veteran of Fats Domino's reign
in the Crescent City. Callier is a very hot tenor man! Kenneth 'Little
Milton' Terry is a fine trumpeter who is a product of the fine tutelage
of Milton Baptiste. Eddie Paris was another original from the old Tuba
Fats' Chosen Few and a veteran of the Olympia Brass Band headed by Harold
Dejan. Gerald "The Giant" French is, at 31, the youngest player
in the group. He is a regular at Preservation Hall and has a great command
of the New Orleans style.
Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen is a New Orleans native and a highly
respected member of the jazz community. ( I feel that he is one of the
most appealing tuba players on the scene.) He has toured England, Germany
and the Netherlands in recent years. All things considered, this is a
great session by an outstanding band.
The octet has the ability to swing powerfully and incorporate a great
sense of humor. Stackman throws in phrases from the world of bop including
a bit from Sonny Rollin¹s St. Thomas with great success. The tunes
were well chosen including spirituals, novelty songs such as "Ice
Cream", old standards and traditional New Orleans fare. My favorites?
I loved "Big Fat Woman", "Lil¹ Liza Jane" and
"Joe Avery's Piece" aka "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker."
"Oh Lord! Let the Devil Have An Accident" is another gem with
a vocal by Stackman Callier. I look forward to more from this exciting
congregation. Great stuff!
- Richard Bourcier
Boxell's Jazz Website
Jazz Crusade's Big Bill Bissonnette believes that this recording is one
of the 50 most important jazz recordings ever, regardless of genre. Is
this just hyper sales technique? Is it bluff? Well, being English as opposed
to American, I come from a race well known for its tendency to understate
rather than exaggerate, as our Stateside cousins are inclined to do. After
listening to this CD I actually agree with BBB: this recording is significant,
for to me it reclaims a lost history.
If you have read my other reviews of American bands, you will notice that
I have mentioned that they have tended to, 'develop', within the idiom
of traditional jazz, whereas the European bands have tended to be very
conservative. For this reason I have, possibly because of my origins,
preferred the European (especially the British and Scandinavian) interpretation,
as it is 'truer' to the original material. This CD has caused me to ponder
and reflect on the origins of traditional jazz, especially New Orleans
and it's derivations. The jazz history books tell us that New Orleans
jazz has its origins in the marching bands of that city. I have some CDs
of marching bands, and although I can hear similarities, I have had a
mental problem in linking the two together. This CD, using mostly musicians
who have a close association with marching bands and linking them with
a jazz drummer on a conventional kit, a pianist and a banjo player to
bring them into a more 'jazz band' environment, provides the 'missing
link'. Listen and you will also find that it provides another missing
link: the link between acoustic blues, juke and traditional jazz.
When you read the list of musicians and see names like, Tuba Fats, Stackman,
Little Milton, Funky Chops, Li'l Jazz and the Giant you quickly pick that
they aren't your standard middle aged, middle class white jazz men. Nope,
they's black jazz men and that is very much the key. White, and especially
European, traditional jazz is based on the recordings put out in the 20s
& 30s by black jazzmen, but black jazzmen under white sound engineers
and white record directors and producers, usually for a white audience.
Add to that a recording time of just over 2 min dictated by the recording
medium and you end up with a rather polished, smooth and arranged performance.
I know that people like Ken Colyer lived and played in New Orleans with
black jazzmen. I know that many original artist were in the 50s and 60s
invited to play to audiences both in their own country and around Europe,
but look at how many white faces were in the bands they played with. And
I don't count Louis Armstrong's All Stars as to me they were there to
back Satchmo, not play themselves into stardom. This band plays with a
total lack of inhibition and a full on commitment to wring out emotion
that white bands just don't seem to have, no matter how good or 'pure'
they are. If you want to hear these black cats play (albeit with a white
pianist called Reide and a white banjo player called Emil - both Jazz
Crusade stalwarts of the highest calibre) and play as they feel moved
to play, then dig into your pockets and flash your cash.
The marching band influence is apparent straight away, especially as many
of the tunes start off with drum intros that an ex-Boy's Brigade drummer
such as I am familiar with. You can march to this music, you can walk
to it (provided you are prepared to do so with a swing in your step),
and you can dance to it. You can listen to it, you can analyse it, but
most of all: you will enjoy it.
I don't think that I have raved on this much before about a CD, and certainly
not about an American traditional jazz CD. One of the 50 most important
jazz recordings ever, regardless of genre? I think that BBB is guilty
of making an understatement: and that from an Englishman talking about
an American! Not only does this CD teach you your jazz history, it provides
you with huge entertainment and countless pleasure. The dust will never
grow on my copy of this CD. Buy it, play it just the once, and you will
say the same.
At the end of Hindustan Fat's claims: 'We rolled it, we rolled it!' Oh
yes, you have rolled it alright. I just hope that now the ball is rolling
others want to join in the game.
- Geoff Boxell
King's Jazz Review - England
Of the three music player volumes, high, medium and low, I chose the
latter as it served as the ideal setting to assimilate the finest attributes
of these Tuba Fats' Chosen Few Jazzmen recordings. Jam, those fellows
sure do know how to do it. Jamming is what they are enjoying and one thing
that can be said of them, is, that it's being done without impinging upon
each other's space, doing it with such enthusiasm, and it is that, that
keeps the listener's attention, encouraging him or her to "get with
it" ever seeking more.
Each of the six vocalists sound as if coming from a unique clan within
the Black family of America, that is to say, each of the six songs is
matched perfectly, with the voices, mannerisms and applications, adapting
themselves well, therefore, they are distinctively well chosen each by
the six noted jazz artists. The two White piano and banjo gentlemen don't
get to show, how well or not, their vocal chords can perform.
Too large and more commanding to be a helicon, the instrument that "Tuba
Fats" is seen with on the CD photograph, I'd say, is a sousaphone,
a tuba designed by conductor Sousa for military marching bands. When we
hear the tone quality, and how the melody lines are handled on Lead Me
Saviour by leader Anthony Lacen's tuba, it is really quite astonishing.
The way he, "Tuba Fats" is controlling the music on these songs
in the background, has to be recognised with distinction. He takes time-out
for vocals on Over In The Gloryland, and solos again on Joe Avery's Piece.
Such solos are to be treasured. The Piece, I recall that it set the UK
all rocking around the clock, and screaming for an encore on Ice Cream
all those years ago. The versatility of altoist Darryl "Lil' Jazz"
Adams in broad articulation, but all in keeping within the realms of the
music on his horn, is a phenomenon in itself. Gosh : This band is with
it.
Trumpeter Kenneth "Little Milton" Terry takes the Lil'Liza Jane
tune, a song duration of ten minutes, through its paces. There are jive,
jitterbug, twist, rock & roll, steps and hymns musical elements all
on this Chosen Few Jazzmen album. These are the tunes that I grew up with,
the difference being, that on this CD they are being played by musicians
in harmony with themselves and their roots, bringing legends up and into
the year two thousand and two - it's nostalgia - it's great.
- Ian King
JazzGazzette.com
I don't know how many times it has been said that traditional New Orleans
jazz is dead and gone in the city where it originated. Even I, who have
always been rather optimistic about the future of this music, sometimes
have my doubts. Of course there are some very fine young musicians perpetuating
the original style (think about Michael White and Gregg Stafford whose
recent recordings have been reviewed in this
magazine), but there are so few of them. And then, out of the blue, comes
a CD like this one...
The name Chosen Few was not new to me. During my stays in New Orleans
I had heard and enjoyed a BRASS BAND of that name - led by Tuba Fats -
several times, both in open air concert and at jazz funerals. I even have
an LP of that band in my collection. It was recorded in 1985 and issued
by the band with the help of Milton Batiste and Allan Jaffe. Today it
is as difficult to find as an original American Music 78. Bill
Bissonnette had heard this record in the mid-1990's and was impressed
by the great music. He convinced his friend Tuba Fats to sell the recording
to him to have it reissued on Jazz Crusade. Finally Tuba agreed but the
original LP contained not enough music for CD release, so the idea was
born to have a new session to record additional material. Tuba picked
four of the original musicians and Bill preferred to add a piano and a
banjo and to replace the snare and bass drummers by a drummer using a
full kit. So the Chosen Few Brass band turned into the Chosen Few Jazz
Band. The session went so well that Bill got enough material to fill a
complete CD and still enough left to add to the reissue of the 1985 LP
on a future date.
Let me first tell you something about the four original Chosen Few men.
The leader and sousaphone player Anthony Lacen, better known as Tuba Fats,
should be familiar to every New Orleans fan. After formal music instruction
by qualified teachers like Alvin Tomas, Walter Payton and Clyde Kerr Jr.,
he gained experience in older brass bands like the Gibson and the Olympia
and younger ones like the Hurricane, the Fairview and the Original Dirty
Dozen. He also worked with several rhythm & blues bands. In recent
years he performed and recorded as a guest with European New Orleans style
bands and toured in 1997 in Europe with an international band led by Bill
Bissonnette. The Chosen Few Brass band was formed in 1979. Their aim was
to continue the traditional music and at the same time reflect the influence
of more recent developments of the music in the City, like rhythm &
blues and Mardi Gras music. This merging of several musical styles was
not new. Even the venerable Eureka and Young Tuxedo Brass Bands included
rhythm & blues tunes in their repertoire like "Feel So Good",
"Whoopin' Blues" and "Joe Avery's Piece". Let's not
forget that many of the musicians who used to play at Preservation Hall
had worked before in rhythm & blues outfits. New Orleans has always
been a musical melting pot. That's the way JAZZ was born!
Trombonist Eddie Boh Paris, born in New Orleans in 1962, went through
the usual channels of Fairview to Olympia Brass Bands. I heard him several
times with Michael White's Liberty Street Jazz Band and I can assure you
that the front line with Gregg Stafford, Michael and Eddie was dynamite!
Today he has toured all over the world. Darryl Adams, now 46, was the
"understudy" of Harold Dejan in the Olympia. On the original
Chosen Few LP his nickname was "Bebop". I don't understand why.
His improvisations are clearly based on the melody
and not on the chords like it was customary with the bop musicians. In
fact there is sometimes a close resemblance to the playing of the legendary
Captain John Handy although Darryl never even heard about this giant.
The fourth original Chosen Fewer, Elliott Callier was not born in New
Orleans, but in Oregon in 1943. He was schooled in New Orleans, his mother's
home town. Besides brass band work he also played with Fats Domino and
Lee Dorsey. I heard him many times with the Chosen Few but also in a small
group led by Emile Martyn. His style is completely original and a model
of ultimate relaxation. I can still see him leaning back on his chair
blowing the most exciting music in the world. Let's have a look at the
"new" guys from New Orleans. Trumpet player Kenneth Terry is
a protégé of Milton Batiste. His entire background is in
the marching bands from New Orleans. He was the original leader of the
Junior Olympia Brass Band. He is considered to be one of the hottest players
in the City today. This is his first JAZZ band recording.
Drummer Gerald French is a perfect illustration of the saying that New
Orleans jazz is a family music. His father is the bass player and singer
George French, his uncle is the drummer Bob French and his granddaddy
was banjo player Albert "Papa" French. He toured with Harry
Connick Jr.'s big band and is a regular at Preservation Hall. Brian Wood
calls him his favourite drummer in New Orleans today. In addition we have
two members of what is today known as the Jazz Crusade rhythm section:
Canadian Reide Kaiser on piano and Emil Mark, from Connecticut, on banjo.
Both have proved their qualities on several recent Jazz Crusade CDs.
I didn't tell you anything yet about the music on this CD. I could say
it in one word: MAGNIFICENT! Is it traditional New Orleans jazz? Yes,
without a shadow of a doubt! At the same time it sounds like these young
New Orleans musicians are REINVENTING the music. Unlike you and me and
most European New Orleans musicians they don't have big record collections
to rely on. The fact that Darryl Adams never heard about John Handy tells
enough! See about this subject the "Rambling Around" in this
issue. I am more and more beginning to believe Michael White's theory
about the music transmitted from generation to generation by bloodline.
This CD is the proof that the evolution in the music of the City doesn't
necessarily have to end in bebop phrases played over a New Orleans street
beat like in so many contemporary marching bands. No bebop here!
The opener "Lead Me Saviour" should tell you enough. This beautiful
hymn, introduced by Tuba's sonorous horn, sounds just as traditional as
on the 1958 LP of the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. Darryl plays the bird-like
lines John Casimir played on clarinet on that session. Listen to the beautiful
interplay of the two saxes! Enjoy the simple intense beauty of Tuba's
solo...This number is already worth the price of the CD. Up-tempo - but
not too "up" - with the old classic "Hindustan". Elliott
starts his solo with a big honk - like if he was saying : "Listen,
I'm HERE!" - followed by those beautifully relaxed variations on
the melody with another honk or two - "are you still listening?"
- thrown in for good measure. Kenneth shows in his solo WHY he is known
as one of the hottest players in the City today. Then comes Ed Paris.
You've never
heard a trombone player do the things he does! Still it's all in the great
New Orleans tradition. Hearing this I can still see him, sitting in with
Greg and Michael at the Mediterranean Café in New Orleans, a lean,
athletic young men in tight jeans and a shining white undershirt, waving
his horn around , up and down and from left to right. This guy needs room
when he plays! I also can still hear that young Norwegian
girl sigh: "Gee, I didn't know a man could be so sexy." Darryl
enters his solo with an incredible swinging phrase. Then you will hear
the only couple of bebop notes on this session, Reide's quote from "Salt
Peanuts" at the start of his swinging solo. The final ensemble brings
the number to an exciting climax with collective improvisation in perfect
harmony.
Every New Orleans member of the band insisted to do a vocal. On "Over
In the Gloryland" it's Tuba Fats himself who sings with a lot of
gusto. Darryl solos with short comments by Elliott. Then it is the latter's
turn and you will ask yourself "How laid back can you get?"
Reide takes the final solo before Tuba sings again, followed by the full
ensemble. "Big Fat Woman" is a fast blues. Ed Paris sings in
the tradition of the blues shouters of the forties, people like Big Joe
Turner, over a background of riffs by the horns. After a short trombone
solo the saxes play a chase chorus that ends in a duet. Kenneth's trumpet
keeps the excitement going and Reid doesn't let it go down either. Sousaphone
and drums bring in "Joe Avery's Piece", a brass band favourite,
played by every marching band in New Orleans, perpetuating the name of
one of the great early trombone players.. After exciting solos by the
horns, Reide reminds us this is NOT a marching band. Pianos don't march!
Sousaphones do! On his short solo Gerald sounds like two men, one on the
snare and another one on the bass drum.
It's time now to relax with a beautiful version, in 3/4 time, of that
lovely hymn, "Amazing Grace". Ed plays a delicate solo, Darryl
adds his alto to it and then solos himself, followed by Tuba, who proves
again that you don't need many notes to make a sensitive statement. Elliott
plays a couple of fine subdued choruses and the final ensemble gives you
goose pimples. Next comes an up-tempo version of the favourite number
with European audiences, "Ice Cream". It's Kenneth's turn to
sing. He reminds me somewhat of Kid Howard, although he might never have
heard of him. Ed's solo has nothing to do with Big Jim, as is usually
the case, but swings just as hard. The temperature is still rising with
the solos by the two saxes and Kenneth leads the final ensemble in great
fashion, with a short intermission by Gerald. "Lil' Liza Jane"
was usually associated with Willie Humphrey, who used to sing (and dance!)
it. It's very well possible that in the future it will be associated with
Darryl too. Both his vocal and instrumental solo are steaming hot. The
same can be said about Elliott's tenor. Oh, there's another couple of
bop notes here, Elliott's quote from Sonny Rollins' St.Thomas. Both Ed
and Kenneth keep the fire burning. It's a hard act to follow, but Reide
succeeds with flying colours. Listen to Emil's banjo. This unselfish man
doesn't care much about solos but the rhythm section wouldn't be the same
without him.
The following number is one of those unexpected things that happen at
a recording session with great atmosphere. Elliott shouted "Oh Lord!
Let the devil have an accident!" with no reason at all. Bill asked
him to repeat it because he wanted to have it at the end of the record.
Then, unexpectedly, Tuba started to play a blues riff, Elliott started
to sing and what followed was a real lowdown slow blues, one of the many
highlights of this tremendous CD. The devil is a strange fellow and this
is reflected in the strange noises the horns make. If you have objections
against this, may I remind you that King Oliver was famous for imitating
a complete barnyard on his trumpet. And what about Kid Thomas giving kisses
through his horn? This IS the BLUES, one of the basic elements of hot
jazz.
Gerald sings the final number, "You Are My Sunshine", Louisiana's
state song. It makes for a joyful ending of this unusual CD. Unusual,
but also full of hope for the future of the traditional music in the City.
These guys might very well be the living legends of the future. 73 minutes
of well recorded exciting jazz right from the cradle! I'm hopeful again.
- Marcel Joly
AMG **** REVIEW - U. S. Jazz Guide
Early in 2002, Jazz Crusade label impresario Bill Bissonnette went to
New Orleans to cut some CDs which featured contemporary Crescent City
jazz musicians. One of the products was this album of a New Orleans brass
band headed by classic jazz master Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen.
The brass band is one of the oldest musical formats in New Orleans, coming
into vogue shortly after the Civil War, and has been a revered institution
ever since. One of its main purposes is as a marching band, usually solemnly
accompanying the recently departed to their final resting place and then
joyously celebrating life on the trip back. One gets a feel for the trip
to the cemetery with a dirge like "Lead Me Saviour," with a
surprisingly tender and delicate solo by Lacen on the big instrument.
The happy trip back gets a working out on "Hindustan." In addition
to playing their respective horns, all of the front-line men, plus Gerald
"The Giant" French, get a chance to do a vocal. One of the vocal
gems is "Ice Cream," a favorite of Willie Humphrey with the
New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Society. Here it's done in the gruff
style of trumpet player Kenneth "Little Milton" Terry. There's
some excellent alto sax work on this cut by Darryl "Lil' Jazz"
Adams. The brass of the brass band is joined by two regulars from the
Jazz Crusade stable, Reide Kaiser on piano and Emil Mark on banjo. While
their presence is apparent, it's the brass men, plus the drummer, who
make this CD the joy that it is. Recommended.
- Dave Nathan
Cadence Magazine - U. S. A.
Raw and raucous, the Tuba Fats Chosen Few swings its collective butt
off (check put the rocking shout choruses on the "Mardi Gras Iko/Food
Stamps" medley). A particular pleasure is listening to the sax section:
Adams and Callier keep the R&B quotient high, and the presence of
trumpeter Ruffins on the 1985 material is an added plus. "Funky Chops"
Harris is a fun trombonist, expelling lusty blats on the funereal "In
The Sweet Bye & Bye," and excavating some real dirt on the later,
uptempo reading of the same tune. By the 2000 session that comprises the
disc's last half hour, the lineup has acquired piano, banjo, and a full
drumset. The recording benefits from the Audiophile Studio's polish, creating
a nice soundstage, with a delicious punch to drummer French's every kick.
Fats' dextrous, subtle tuba is heard clearly in the mix, while pianist
Kaiser is perfect, playing a modicum of notes with a maximum of finesse.
- Larry Nei
Jazzitude.com - U. S. Internet Magazine
Tuba Fats is New Orleans' most famous tuba player with a career that
spans more than 40 years. He has played with the Gibson, Doc Paulin, Tuxedo,
and Olympia Brass Bands and was a founding member of the Dirty Dozen Brass
Band. He and his band, the Chosen Few Jazzmen, play most days in Jackson
Square and gig around various New Orleans clubs at night.
This recording came about when Bill Bissonnette attempted to purchase
a session that Fats had recorded and released in the 1980s for his Jazz
Crusade label. The original tapes had been lost, so all Fats could offer
was what was on the original LP-not enough for a CD release. Bissonnette
suggested getting the musicians together and recording new material to
release with the older material. Tuba ended up putting together a group
comprised of mostly new players, with a couple from the original sessions.
These included "Stackman" Callier, who played and recorded with
New Orleans legends such as Fats Domino and Lee Dorsey, newcomer Kenneth
Terry, Darryl Adams, Gerald "The Giant" French, Darryl "Lil'
Jazz" Adams, and Eddie Boh Paris. Bissonnette and Fats also decided
to record the band as a jazz band rather than a brass band, and so Jazz
Crusade house pianist and banjo player Reide Kaiser and Emil Mark were
called in as well.
The result is one of the best traditional New Orleans jazz albums you
are going to hear. Beginning with the spiritual "Lead Me Saviour"
and continuing through such stalwart tunes as "Hindustan," "Amazing
Grace," and "Ice Cream" Tuba Fats provides the basis for
a band that is swinging at literally every turn. Unlike many traditional
groups who play a literal imitation of the music played by black musicians
in New Orleans in the 1920s and 1930s, these guys sound like the real
deal-which indeed they are. In other words, if a real New Orleans marching
jazz band from the 1920s could have continued to play, with the same personnel,
right up until today, this is what their sound might have developed into.
Listen to the rendition of "Amazing Grace," done in waltz time,
and marvel at the fusion of gospel and blues heard in Darryl Adams' alto
sax solo, or the very pretty ensemble section at the end of the piece.
Each of the six black New Orleans musicians performs a vocal on one track,
and all acquit themselves well, unleashing their energy, spirit, and good
humor. By the time the CD is done you will feel as though you really understand
just how jazz developed in the Crescent City at the turn of the last century.
You'll have a feel for the interlocking pieces of jazz, blues, and gospel.
And most of all, you'll have had a hell of a lot of fun.
- Marshall Brown
Jazz Journal International - British
Jazz Magazine
This band takes a group of the younger New Orleans musicians who still
adhere to the traditional style and backs them up with a couple of European
acolytes of proven ability. Tuba Fats' is well known to local enthusiasts,
having toured with Big Bill Bissonette's International Jazz Band a few
years ago and won much admiration for his contribution. Since Fats has
been active in organizing his own band in the Crescent City, it was natural
that Bissonnette should ask him to put together a group featuring several
of his regular associates for this session. The results show the impact
of the local rhythm-and-blues movement, as well as of modern jazz, with
a rough edge more to the fore than sheer beauty of tone and with brusque
presentation of phrase and rhythm more evident than any extended development.
Nevertheless this is much closer to traditional New Orleans music than,
say, the brass band extremes of such as the Dirty Dozen. Both saxophonists
show some continuity with the local manner, as exemplified in earlier
times by such as Cap'n John Handy and Andrew Morgan, thwarted partly by
an excessive use of extrovert rhythmical expression and honking effects.
Terry tips his hat to his late mentor, Milton Batiste, without quite emulating
his relaxation or authority, and Paris rasps away without constructing
anything linear to fill the gaps in the sound. Nevertheless, this is authentic
New Orleans music, albeit of a new age; the hymns generate genuine emotion,
somewhat compromised by the course ensemble sounds, and the brass band
specialities provide excitement although not as much momentum as they
might. It is pointless to carp that this does not sound like George Lewis
and Bunk Johnson, for this is a much later generation of musicians, and
we must be glad that their music is still recognisable as a valid continuation.
I do wish, however, that they would give more attention to a homogeneous
sound in which the music could move forward in a less jerky and more integrated
way. But, then, I am a nostalgic old fogey and am in danger of wanting
what is not only impossible, but inappropriate -these people are not copying,
but making their own version of the New Orleans style.
- Christopher Hillman
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