New Orleans
TRACKS
Chinatown My Chinatown * Don't Give Up The Ship * What A Friend We Have In Jesus * Lil Lisa Jane * Walking With The King *
The Old Rugged Cross * Algiers Waltz * Moonlight and Roses * Eh La Bas * What Am I Living For * Just A Closer Walk With Thee.
Recording: Pascal Indelicato, December 2005 - Irigny & Charnay - SACEM-SDRM - DISC FPCD 11
www.emanuelpaul.com - jp-alessi@emanuelpaul.com
Situated in the Rhöne-Alps Dauphine area of central-eastern France bordering on the perimeters of Switzerland and Italy lies the small village of Irigny from which one may look out towards setting their visions on the startling view of the majestically towering Mount Blanc high peak mountain range - that sets the picture.
I can recall when, Louis, Humph, and I believe, Graham, three jazz artists of the - USA, UK and AUS respectively, were in attendance at the first International Traditional Jazz Festival that came about sixty years ago, yes, staged during the year 1948 in Nice, a seaside town situated on the Mediterranean Sea, and as I, on passing Grenoble on my way travelling through Lyon, the principal town of what I perhaps can recall was known as Auvigue, the former province of that part of region around Clermont-Ferrand, where this year the Women’s European Gymnastics Championships were held, not knowing then that Irigny existed was whilst travelling by bus on my way back to my place of work – Nantes, were among my great jazz memories of France.
The Jempi de Donder Jazz Gazette liner-notes of this “Lil Lisa Jane” CD mention that in 1983, fifteen hundred people gave a five minutes standing ovation prior to the Kid Thomas concert start at the auditorium in Charnay that featured reedsmen, Manny Paul and Sammy Rimington, plus trombonist Louis Nelson, with Manny Sayles on banjo among others.
In that concert was a young Manny Paul enthusiast tenor saxophonist in the name of JP Alessi, who, in 22 years after that, that is to say, JP, with Sammy Rimington, including cornetist Fred Vigorito who in May 1990 was invited to play at the Jazz Mâcon Club, which I expect is around in France, and prior to that was a member of the Big Bill Bissonnette, Easy Riders Jazz Band in the 60s USA, had come to the same concert hall as that held in 1983 to play and record with the four other named jazz artists of this 2005 “Living Legends” CD album, which may or may not be part of the Burgundy ”Charnay-Les-Mâcon” wine, supported Vol 3 live sessions, liners-notes pictured photograph – for so far - as for what has transpired.
I now come to address the French Preservation New Orleans Jazz Band.
Taken at a tempo held at a speed that has a natural rhythmic expression to it of playing Chinatown My Chinatown - the opening number stomps along nicely, creating a happy, pleasant and, fiery esprit de corps that can make any concert like this "Lil Lisa Jane" album, become a lively one.
Together with the second tune Don’t Give Up The Ship, taken with a second pair of songs Walking With The King and The Old Rugged Cross whose twin pairs last approximately over 14 minutes each pair, that - together with the remaining seven numbers averaging six minutes each, adds up to a time-span of 70 minutes of jazz music – makes the album the very best listening to of New Orleans styled jazz.
New Orleansian tenor-saxophonist, Manny Paul as a teenager, played violin moving on in the 20s to take up the banjo before playing with the
New Orleans Eureka Brass Band in the early 40s on the baritone horn. In the mid-40s, Manny produced several recordings and, with the soft, poignant, trumpet player Kid Thomas Valentine when he, Manny, created a unique tenor saxophone style developed whilst playing alongside the
Kid in his "Kid Thomas Algiers Stompers” band that whiles went under the name of the Preservation Jazz Band, and other bands later through to 1980 with the Kid when he died eight years later.
The seven jazz artists in the line-up of this CD album "Lil Lisa Jane", although very much younger, and, whether they’ve visited or have not visited, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, the source of their music to cultivate the playing of this kind of jazz are indeed legends, not alone, for so too are the eleven songs in it, which have, and will outlive them – they too also are legendary.
If the progeny of today shun outright our kind of jazz, then a sporophyte generation most likely cannot claim legend – one following, one dead.
I’ll relate some of the sound-in-parts that made me see the hairs on the knuckles of my fingers stand up – namely, they were for one, the sound of the rhythm section’s perfect timing, mastered by banjo, bass and drums, taking into consideration of playing under jazz genre circumstances, it includes the waltz-time "cornet" measures, which must have sent the dancers over the moon who happened to be on the floor during the shortest of the album's numbers dancing to Algiers Waltz: - also on hearing both, clarinet and banjo on What A Friend We Have In Jesus – also once more, the muted cornet on The Old Rugged Cross, which drew loud applause from the soloist of the “Living Legends” jazz artists’ concert goers, - also, the saxes on Moonlight and Roses - in particular the tenor sax, which kept to this jazz artists’ finer attributes of the style of his playing - it being in this case the mellower voice of the three front-liners on the tune:
- for sweetness, it was – What Am I Living For – and for beauty, well that came from Just A Closer Walk With Thee, a work of art with sentiment, truly captivating and inspiring, exuding lovingly, a jazz-dance styled tempo, with banjo playing - a notable throughout.
In both the solo performances, and the ensemble playing, the former as per a perfect direction nod inviting each jazz artist in turn to come in, may have had given the feeling that they were all on a quest to surpass all standards of their kind of jazz previously set - consciously right from the opening number that the result after listening to this album being unspoken, it would be difficult for anyone to state that such a mission was not met.
Kings Jazz Review
Thursday the 10th of April 2008