Search - Wilbur De Paris :: New Orleans Blues / Plays Cole Porter

Wilbur De Paris and Jimmy Witherspoon -- Magic!

John Meltzer | Hong Kong SAR China | 05/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Wilbur De Paris and Jimmy Witherspoon live in Jimmy Ryan's, a jazz club on 52nd street in New York in the 1950s and they were superb. De Paris, the epitome of the last of the tradional old guard and Witherspoon at his vocal peak (had a long conversation with Jimmy at the Jazz Club in Hong Kong a couple of years before he died and that was his opinion). Lotus Blossom (originally titled marijuana I am told) is a one-of-a-kind classic and the rest are icing on the cake. Recommended to all who love real jazz."

Magnificent new "conservative" jazz

Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 10/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Intrigued by the few De Paris brothers performances I have heard, I looked them up in a jazz recording lexicon and there it said that albums from the period from which "Collectables Jazz Classics" draw are not available on CD... How wrong they were and how happy I was when I stumbled across this gem...



The first De Paris album (the brothers are joined by Omer Simeon on clarinet) is actually a Jimmy Witherspoon vehicle, from the period the great singer was - for some reason - under the radar of most jazz fans... And he was at the peak of his powers as shown here by his work with the bend lead by Wilbur De Paris...

However, in spite of the excellent Witherspoon album, the real reason to buy this great CD is the album "Wilbur De Paris Plays Cole Porter", in which De Paris' band, augmented by Doc Cheatham, gives remarkable, mostly new-orleansish readings of Cole Porter's classical songs. Priceless music!"

SUPERB CONTEMPORARY NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

Frederick H. Magee | Bournemouth, UK | 07/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although in my view the De Paris Band could do no wrong, I really bought this disc for the second album that's on it, 'Wilbur de Paris Plays Cole Porter', which has long been unavailable. Yet it remains (in my opinion) one of the best albums of all time.



Here we have the authetic New Orleans Jazz style presented by a group of faultless musicians who have a fresh and vigorous aproach to the medium. As though that weren't enough, they have elected on this album to play the incomparable melodies of Cole Porter.



Even people who dislike New Orleans Jazz are likely to find themselves warming to this superb music.



"