A Voice For New Orleans, Dixieland and Traditional Jazz in the UK


Five reviews by Geoff Boxell of New Zealand

BIG BILL BISSONNETTE & THE EASY RIDERS JB
'RHYTHM IS OUR BUSINESS'

Jazz Crusade JCCD-3003 1986 - 18 tracks, 72min
Tunes: Perdido St. Blues, Short Dress Gal, Sweet Mama, Shreveport Stomp, The Mooche, Bring It On Home to Grandma, Love Songs of the Nile, Apex Blues, Get Out of Here, Black Gal You Better Watch Your Step, Big Chief Battle-Axe, The Bells of St. Mary's, Rockin' N' Rhythm, I'll Take the South, Someday Sweetheart, Rhythm is Our Business, Black Cat Moan, Running Wild. Jazz crusade seem to delight in recording bands with unusual line-ups. This one has Big Bill Bissonnette on trombone, Paul Bochmke on reeds, either Bob Shallue or Bill Sinclair on piano, Jim Tutunjian on bass and Bob Lasprogato on drums. Where's the horn? There ain't one! Have you ever heard the lead on 'Perdido St Blues' being played by a trombone rather than a trumpet? No? Well get this CD and see just how well it works. I was amazed, stunned and amazed, amazed and stunned. Big Bill and his Jazz Crusade label always stretches your understanding of traditional jazz, and yet does it in an entertaining and non threatening manner. Match Bissonnet's rasping raucous trombone with Bochmke's inventive reed playing and you have a very interesting combination. Whilst the back-line is good, it is the reduced front-line that grabs your ear and won't let go. Big Bill reckons that the band wanted to 'play' with jazz tunes in the New Orleans idiom, but in new ways. Well they sure did that, and they sound as if they had fun doing it. I sure had fun listening to them.

MAINLY MORTON - GEOFF COLE'S RED HOT SEVEN
Jazz Crusade JCCD-3025 1996 - 16 tracks, 72 min
Beale Street Blues, Good Old New York, Sidewalk Blues, My Home Is In A Southern Town, Sweet Substitute, Burnin' the Iceberg, Jungle Blues, My Gal Sal, Mournful Serenade, The Animule Ball, Dirty & Dirty, Oh Baby, Someday Sweetheart, Deep Creek, Blue Lou, Don't You Leave Me Here. Before I say anything else about this CD, let me just get this off my chest: "this CD is fantastic!" Put three of Ken Colyer's best sidemen in a band, add premier trumpeter, Alan Elsdon, season with three excellent players in the rhythm section and you know it has to be good even before the disc spins. Trombone player Geoff Cole and clarinettist (though on this album reeds player), Tony Pyke, I believe were the two front-line players who best complimented Ken Colyer in his New Orleans style Jazzmen. Here they get to vary their style and play some hot jazz, though not quite in the way that Jelly Roll Morton would have done it. According to the cover notes, Big Bill Bissonnette only allowed a quick rehearsal before launching the band into the session. The way they all hang together you would never believe that, though Pyke, Cole and pianist Pat Hawes spent many years together playing with the Gov'nor. That Alan Elsdon was improvising and not playing to an arrangement I can vouch having tapes of him working through the opening track with his own band. Big Bill boasts that he only records 'spontaneous jazz'. This is spontaneous then, but so smooth and stylish, struth it is good. I won't waste any more time extolling this CDs worth. Trust me; it is one of the best on the market and it belongs in every traditional jazz lovers collection. The only thing that worries me is that the cover pictures show how much some of my favourite jazzmen have aged. It made my wife wonder if Geoff Cole is still capable of doing the old soft shoe shuffle he used to do on stage when he played with Ken in the late 60s.

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? - NORMAN THATCHER'S RAGTIME BAND
Jazz Crusade JCCD-3028 1997 - 16 tracks, 70min
At the Cross, Cataract Rag, A Porter's Love Song, What Do You Want Me To Do, Good Night Sweet Prince, Hilarity Rag, How Great Thou Art, Sorry, I'm Coming Virginia, That Teasin' Rag, The Sunshine of Your Smile, Dardanella, Louisiana, Fig Leaf Rag, Just One More Chance, Good Night Sweetheart. The cover notes say that band leader, and cornetist Norman Thatcher is not a Ken Colyer clone, as some claim, and that this CD allows him to show how he has assimilated Bix Biderbecke into his playing. I am not 100% sure about that. What I do know is that playing ragtime was something that Ken Colyer did a lot of. This was a matter that always intrigued me as Ken was so spontaneous in his playing and his interpretations of a tune so innovative that even five or six recorded versions of a number played by Ken are markedly different. Yet the man loved to play ragtime with its strict and complicated regime. But this CD is Norman Thatcher's and he plays the ragtime in a much looser style than Colyer. In the band he is joined by the redoubtable, and fellow Ken Colyer Trust Band member, John Wurr on reeds with another KCT band-member Hugh Crozier on piano, Sarah Roofe on banjo and Steve Davis on tuba. An unusual line-up, but one that works very well. I certainly will be looking out for any more issues that they make. My especial favourite track is 'What Do You Want Me To Do'. Open and muted horn, varied reeds, mellow tuba, jangling piano, underscored by a steady banjo. Oh, 'Sorry', just don't say 'Good Night Sweetheart', please give me 'Just One More Chance', to bask in 'The Sunshine Of Your Smile' and tell you, Norman and the Ragtime Band, 'How Great Thou Art'!

IN THE GUTTER - INTERNATIONAL JAZZ BAND

Jazz Crusade JCCD 3030 1997 - 12 tracks, 73min Clarinet Marmalade, What A Friend We Have In Jesus, In The Gutter, When I Was A Little Child, Just A Little While To Stay Here, One Sweet Letter From You, The Moose, It Feels So Good, Pagan Love Song, Old Black Joe, Four or Five Times, Canal Street Blues This hand selected band was assembled for a series of European gigs in 1997. The leader, Big Bill Bissonnette acknowledges that people will consider the line-up unusual, and it is. The sound is quite reed heavy and at times sounds very much like a New Orleans marching band of the type that his wife Sara (nee Spencer) used to play when she lead the Rue Conte Jazz Band in Britain in the early 80s. Sarah's reed playing shows a much greater maturity than on the Rue Conte CD 'Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!' being more mellow and artistic. Her fellow reeds player is George Probert. It is George's soprano playing that catches your ear with him playing in a very distinctive style at sounds so very different from any other that I have heard. But back to the band's style; I am not sure that it has a true style as each tune seems to be approached differently from the others; mainstream on 'In The Gutter', marching band on 'Just a little while To Stay Here'(with Tuba Fats seemingly forgetting the words), a more New Orleans style (as understood by the Europeans) on 'One Sweet Letter From You', All very different and distinctive. It really has to be heard to be believed!

NEW ORLEANS SAMPLER - MISC BANDS
Jazz Crusade JCCD 3051 - 18 tracks 72min
The Sheikh Of Araby, Bye & Bye, Sweet Mama, They All Asked For You, Red Wing, Smile Darn You Smile, My Gal Sal, Joe Avery's Piece, Tishomingo Blues, Down Home Rag, Ice Cream, Nearer My God To Thee, Do What Ory Say, I Know That You Know, Southern Blues, Smiles, Chicago Rhythm, You Rascal You New Orleans is the home of traditional jazz, right? Well, not anymore, according to a cyber friend of mine who lives there. The locals neglect the jazz for Rhythm and Blues and Cajun music. So, at least it is safe to say that the good old US of A is the home of traditional jazz, right? In fact the centre of interest for traditional jazz has shifted to Europe; Britain and Scandinavia in particular. This compendium CD of music from the Jazz Crusade confirms the importance of Europe to the survival of traditional jazz. Of the 18 bands playing, four are European and a further six have British band members. Only one of the tracks is dated, though case notes from some other Jazz Crusade CDs I have from which the albums tracks come, are dated from the late 90s. Despite the lack of dating, I will put my head on the line (and Big Bill Bissonnette the label owner will be steaming up his train if I have it wrong) and say that the later the track, the more likely the band is to be European or at least feature European bands-men. Which is a sad thing. One of the reasons for me wanting this CD, is that I am an English born Kiwi, and my jazz collection shows this with British and Australian bands dominating (though my cyber mate Bengt in Sweden is helping to increase the Norse content). So, I need more contemporary American traditional jazz, as opposed to adding to my collection of classic jazz recordings. I have managed to get some West Coast CDs (reviewed elsewhere on this page), but whither New Orleans? The resultant acquisition of this CD only partly solves my dilemma due to the European content of so many of the bands. One thing that is quite noticeable is that the American bands have 'developed' the style, whilst the European ones have 'retained' yet 'refined' the style. For this reason alone you should buy this CD, to see the difference between them. Featuring jazzmen like; Kid Thompson, Kid Sheikh, Milton Batiste, Sammy Rimmington, Ken Colyer, Capt. John Handy, Punch Miller, Wilbur De Paris, Geoff Cole, Brian Carrick, Johnny Parker, Pat Hawes, Tony Pyke and Big Bill himself you know that this CD contains much good jazz too, so get onto Big Bill and order a copy!

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