Search - Various Artists :: Breaking Out of New Orleans 1922 - 1929

Beyond the Giants and Geniuses

Michael D. Robbins | San Antonio, Texas United States | 01/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The story of black New Orleans jazz in the 1920s is usually told through the recordings of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. While these were the giants and geniuses of the music, they were not the whole story. This wide-ranging four-disk collection, while omitting the work of some excellent white players, fills in a lot of gaps in the story.



Three of the orchestras in this set were local favorites, who either never left the Crescent City, or left for brief periods and came back. Oscar "Papa" Celestin's Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra was very popular in the 1920s. His bands sound like milder versions of the better-known King Oliver Creole Jazz Band and Dixie Syncopators. Celestin played a tasteful muted cornet. His standout cuts are "Original Tuxedo Rag," "Black Rag," "My Josephine," "Station Calls" (two versions), and "It's a Jam Up." A poor vocalist mars several of the sides, and one regrets that Celestin did not sing on any of his early records.



Sam Morgan's Jazz Band was the hottest of the locals. Their music was rough around the edges, and was in this sense a precursor of George Lewis's music of the 1950s. Their rhythm section, driven by a slapped bass, could swing the entire band. A.J. Piron's New Orleans Orchestra featured the legendary Lorenzo Tio, Jr., on clarinet. Unfortunately, the band combined some rather sedate jazz with a great deal of period dance music, but the first version of "West Indies Blues" is very good.



There are two fine sessions here by Louis Dumaine's Jazzola Eight and the Jones and Collins Astoria Hot Eight. The Dumaine records, like those of Sam Morgan, paved the way for the New Orleans Revival sound. The Jones and Collins band, which was organized just for the recording session, features the fine trumpeter, Lee Collins, as well as clarinettist Sidney Arodin, a white musician who was apparantly "passing" for black in the recording studio.



The giants and geniuses are represented by four stellar sides by the Red Onion Jazz Babies, featuring Armstrong and Bechet as sidemen. Spectacular music, but somewhat out of place.



Also included are the only two sides ever recorded by Fate Marable, who made his reputation on the Mississippi riverboats. The record is disappointing. This is also true of the six sides cut in California by Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra in 1922.



Freddie Keppard and Johnny Dodds take up most of the third and fourth disks. Keppard didn't record until late in his life, at a time when alcohol was destroying him, and his records do not match his legend. It is as if Bix Beiderbecke did not start making records until 1929. However, Keppard was still a powerful, if erratic, player. "Messin' Around," the small band version of "High Fever," both versions of "Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man," "Stock Yards Strut," and both versions of "Salty Dog" affirm that the esteem in which he was held by Jelly Roll Morton and Sidney Bechet was not misplaced.



Dodds was a prolific recording artist in Chicago in the 20s. His records with Oliver, Morton, and especially Armstrong are legendary, and have been in common circulation for about 80 years. On the sides here, he shines on his own, and brightly. There are eight sides by a band variously called the New Orleans Wanderers and the New Orleans Bootblacks. This is actually the Louis Armstrong Hot Five, with George Mitchell replacing Satchmo, and with an added alto sax. Collectively, these make up one of the finest examples of the New Orleans collective ensemble ever put on wax. "Perdido Street Blues" and "Too Tight" rank with the best Armstrong and Oliver sides. The Oliver-style two-cornet break is revived by Dodds's Black Bottom Stompers on "Come On and Stomp, Stomp, Stomp."



This review is longer than most, but this is a four-disk box set by a large and diverse sampling of bands. Despite a number of routine tracks, the set rates five stars on the basis of the high quality of about half of the cuts."

I Agree With The Others On Quality And Content

Original Mixed Up-Kid | New York United States | 06/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful in depth profile with superior sound showcasing some of the most influential and beautiful music ever recorded in this genre. To label New Orleans Jazz is not proper but one can say it is a distinct hybrid of americana with roots that are international.

Ever-present joy and blues is in it's music.



Of course once you are hooked you will need to hear the great music of King Oliver,with and without the great Louis Armstrong as well as Armstrong's historical Hot 5 and 7 recordings also wonderfuly issued as a box by this label,JSP records with great quality."

Ear popping transfers!

Jmark2001 | Florida | 06/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love twenties music and try to collect anything that has been decently transferred from the metal masters or the old shellac discs. This box collection is transferred so beautifully that it puts every other company to shame! Many remasters slice off the highs or lows in order to eliminate hisses and surface noise. These sound incredible. I am not a New Orleans fanatic - I prefer the pop songs of the twenties - but this is an exciting addition to my collection with plenty of superb finds that were new to me. The price is fantastic, the sound seems to have reached the limits of what can be done with these ancient recordings, the sheer quantity of material here - well, this box collection leaves me breathless. A fantastic buy!"