Classic New Orleans Sounds on Smithsonian Folkways

Another in Smithsonian-Folkways “Classic” series, the anthology Classic Sounds of New Orleans from Smithsonian Folkways compiles a variety of recordings that were issued by Folkways when it was under the auspices of the late Moses Asch. This compilation by Robert H. Cataliotti mines the recordings of New Orleans music by Frederick Ramsey, Jr., and Samuel Barclay Charters along with other recordings make for a varied grouping of performances, that includes jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, spirituals and other roots music expressions.

The music on this opens and closes with the Eureka Brass Band who kick things off with the classic hymn, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, and ends with their propulsive rendition of Lord, Lord, Lord. The latter number may be familiar to fans of todays Crescent City Brass Band such as the Tréme Brass Band that have recorded it, but the performances by Eureka harken back to what many would think of the classic traditional New Orleans Jazz sound. Eureka Brass Band was an amazing group and I would recommend either of their releases on the American Music label. Also representing the Brass Band tradition is the late Doc Paulin’s renditions of We Shall Walk Through The Streets of the City, both as a dirge and as a march with a second line rhythm. The melody is the same as Red River Valley, and Doc Paulin’s sons still carry on the family tradition in the Paulin Brothers Band.”

Street music is represented by an anonymous shoeshine boy vocals and hand slapping on Shine - Hambone, the solo harmonica rendition of Tiger Rag by Freddie L. Small, and Dora Bliggen’s call of a fruit vendor on the streets, Blackberries! It is followed by Red White and Blue Got the Golden Band, by Mardi Gras Indians from assorted tribes. Certainly this 1956 recording is amongst the earliest of this tradition. It is followed by several spirituals/gospel performances including Dark Was the Night by Reverend Lewis Jackson and Charlotte Rucell.

New Orleans Jazz is represented with Kid Punch Miller (with Sam Charters on piano) doing Bucket’s Got a Hole In it, and an absolutely brilliant drum solo, Spooky Drums #1 by Baby Dodds. Clarinetist Emile Barnes leads an enthusiastic rendition of Milenberg Joys, while The Six and Seventh Eighths String Band of New Orleans are heard on Clarinet Marmalade, which should delight fans of skittle bands. Two celebrated New Orleans guitarists, Snooks Eaglin and Lonnie Johnson, are heard on celebrated New Orleans classics. Eaglin turns the classic High Society Rag, into a brilliant solo guitar showcase while Johnson does a nice Careless Love, recorded in 1967, long after he had left his native city. Billie and De De Pierce, another couple mainstays of the New Orleans scene in the fifties and sixties are heard on a nice blues Lonesome Road, warmly sung by the pianist Billie Pierce. It is followed by Kid Clayton’s Corrine, Corrina, with the famed pianist Sweet Emma Barrett part of his group.

After these performances, another Snooks Eaglin performance, of Saint James Infirmary, makes the transition to the blues although this recording and other contemporaneous ones of Eaglin gave the mistaken impression that he was a solo street singer when he know he played rhythm and blues and contemporary jazz at the time. In any event Eaglin’s guitar playing is marvelous, even if acoustic. A medley of pianist HJ Boiusseau provides a glimpse into a the period between ragtime and jazz. Like Lonnie Johnson, Champion Jack Dupree left his home city when young, yet the influence of some of the pianists who taught him was always evident in his playing including the second line rhythms in Rattlesnake Boogie. In contrast to Dupree, the great Roosevelt Sykes grew up in Arkansas and Delta and moved to St. Louis, becoming one of the greatest of all blues pianists, but he moved to New Orleans in1962 where he became a fixture of the music scene. His adaptation of Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone, displays a technical facility and sophistication that many celebrated blues pianists would be unable to match.

A nice Jimmy’s Blues by trumpeter Kid Clayton has some fine clarinet from Albert Burbank, tailgating trombone from Kid Avery and barrelhouse piano from Sweet Emma, followed by another splendid solo performance by Lonnie Johnson, C.C. Rider. Another staple of the traditional New Orleans repertoire, Shake It and Break It, is heard in a performance by Billie Pierce, with Lawrence Tocca, not her husband De De, on trumpet. Sam Charters noted at the time this recording was first issued that it was one of the most exciting recordings done in new Orleans in years.

All in all, this is a splendid compilation of a wide range of New Orleans music. In includes a marvelous booklet with a concise overview of the collection as well as observations on all of the included recordings. It is a terrific introduction to traditional New Orleans music.


Smithsonian Folkways provided an electronic download for my review.

2008 JazzFest Day 3

Continuing my write-up of the music I saw in New Orleans the last week of April, 2008, here is the portion devoted to Day 3. The earlier days were all covered in the prior two blog entries. This whole account can be found in the June 2008 Jazz & Blues Report which you can download as a pdf file from that publication's website.


The weather forecast Sunday was even less promising than Saturday, but the morning was sunny, so I ventured back to the Fairgrounds where my first stop was Lionel Ferbos, who made it and led his band through several vintage numbers including the old classic ballad, 'Try a Little Tenderness,’ that was refreshing to hear in its pre-Otis Redding form. On the way to the Blues Tent, the Paulin Brothers Brass band kept alive the legacy of their day, Doc Paulin, who died relatively recently. Into the Blues Tent to catch Little Freddie King who was getting down with his boogie and tend a bit of hot zydeco from Willis Prudhomme on the Fais do Do stage before catching pianist and songwriter David Egan (he has written for so many, and has a gritty vocal style). I stopped in Economy Hall to hear the excellent group led by clarinetist Tim Laughlin that included Tom McDermott (a marvelous ragtime rooted pianist who is a superb Jelly Roll Morton interpreter) and cornetist Connie Jones for some first class music, and with the clouds gathering, I headed to the blues tent to catch Larry Garner, with special guest Henry Gray. Garner’s music, full of wit and irony was delivered in his convincing, understated style before he brought the former Howlin’ Wolf pianist Gray who perhaps carries on the legacy of Big Maceo better than anyone still alive. One last musical stop for me to catch Leroy Jones, trumpeter with Harry Connick and others with an entertaining set. With the crowds getting ominous, I left. regretfully I missed Tab Benoit and the Voices of the Wetlands All Stars with r. John and Cyril Neville amongst others as well as Davell Crawford’s New Orleans Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, perhaps the two acts I would have wanted to see the most. The rains likely dampened some enthusiasm but after I headed back to my hotel, the music continued with such names as Irma Thomas, Nicholas Payton and Pete Fountain holding forth and the closing acts that day (for those hardier than I) included Tim McGraw, Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint, Al Green and Beausoleil. Even this shortened day did not prevent me from getting a good sampling of music.


I have been told that the weather was better the second weekend and among the performers for those four days included Bonerama, Widespread Panic, Randy Newman, Deacon John, Donald Harrison, Mem Shannon,Bettye LaVette, Steve Riley, C.J. Chenier, Papa Grows Funk, Art Neville, Stevie Wonder, John Prine, Trombone Shorty, John Boutté, The Lee Boys, John Hammond, Belton Richard, D. L. Menard, Terence Blanchard, The Subdudes, Jimmy Buffett, Diana Krall, Steel Pulse, The Bad Plus, John Mooney, Pinstripe Brass Band, Geno Delafose, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstafunk, Santana, Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly, Galactic, The Radiators, Dianne Reeves, Jonathan Batiste, Snooks Eaglin, Derek Trucks, and The Neville Brothers. My protestations of the booking major pop acts does not change the fact that there is so much still to enjoy of the culture and food of New Orleans and Louisiana.

New Orleans 1960

In 1960, noted photographer William Claxton and German musicologist Joachim Berendt travelled the United States to document the American Art Form. The massive coffee table book JazzLife was published by Taschen and available in a regular edition which lists for $200 or a deluxe edition with prints and an audio CD for over $1000. It is a 700 page book and weighs over 17 pounds. Did I say coffee table book, the book itself might serve as a coffee table. Ok enough for the poor attempts at humor.

From JazzLife, Taschen has published the portion devoted to the New Orleans, New Orleans 1960, which is a more manageable 191 pages and has pertinent text portions to explain their trip across the United States and their experiences in the Crescent City and also Angola Penitentiary. It is dedicated to the many souls who lost their lives and the survivors who are rebuilding the city.

The selling point for this are the stunning photos of Claxton, who is probably best known for his iconic images of James Dean and Chet Baker. There are many striking images here, mostly of traditional jazz performers including the Eureka Brass Band, the Tuxedo Brass Band, the marvelous clarinet player George Lewis (and one of a marvelous one of Lewis' wife and Lewis 100 + year old mother), Nick LaRocca (who they recall was still claiming to have invented jazz), drummer Paul Barbarin, blues singer Lizzie Miles, trombonist Jim Robinson, Lewis Keppard and so many others. There are a couple images of a picnic in Slidell where Snooks Eaglin and band are seen playing on a truck bed, as well as a marvelous image of the Melvin Lastie Quintet (which included at the time drummer Charles ' Honeyboy' Otis), one of the few representations of modern jazz that they captured. A series of images here also follow a funeral to the cemetery and then back witnessing the second line exploding on the way back. The section on Angola includes marvelous images of Hoagman Maxey and Roosevelt Charles.

Text is presented in English, French and German and certainly helps the appreciation of the marvelous images. Certainly this will appeal to lovers of traditional jazz and the Cresent City.