Customer Reviews

Gold! Gold! Gold all the way - By: Mr. Alan Craxford, 04 Jun 2002
There are some concert performances that can claim to be historic - This is one of them. I have a confession to make. This recently reissued CD is a compilation of two live recordings - Jazz concerts played at the Royal Festival Hall, London on October 30th 1954 {A} & January 9th 1955 {B}. All right, so I wasn't therein the flesh at the time - I wasn't (quite!) old enough - but listening to the live (October) broadcast on steam radio is one of my earliest musical memories. I subsequently owned the original Decca EP release which featured tracks 4,5,6 & 8 below.

The CD starts with the announcement '...And now we come to the top of the bill, Chris Barber'. And what a billing it is. Chris Barber was a legendin his own time (still is) - but this is the greatest of the greats of line ups - from guest spots to members who went on to other thingsin their time. These include:

Chris Barber - trombone
Pat Halcox - cornet
Jim Bray - bass, sousaphone
Monty Sunshine - clarinet

Ron Bowden - drums
Lonnie Donegan - banjo
Ottilie Patterson - vocals
Bertie King - alto sax

So many types of music are featured here - Traditional jazz, Blues, Folk, Skiffle, Dixieland, Spiritual, almost r&b.

The running order is:

1. All The Girls Go Crazy About The Way I Walk {B}
A 'Kid' Ory composition
2. I Never New Just What A Gal Could Do {B}
3. St Louis Blues {B}
Chris' wife Ottilie sings a slow sultry bluesy version of this standard
4. I'd Love It {A}
Bertie King plays solo
5. Merrydown Blues {A}
Another King melodic solo
6. Skokiaan {A}
One of my all time favourite jazz refrains & my all time favourite version.
7. Storyville Blues {A}
8. It's Tight Like That {A}
Trad. jazz at its best; a catchy tune, humourin the lyrics, great solos, enthusiastic audience participation.
9. Bury My Body {A}
The first of two tracks by the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group.
10. Diggin' My Potatoes {A}
A traditional, very risqué (for the times) song given the Skiffle treatment. A foretaste of such classics as 'Rock Island Line'
11. Salutation March {B}
12. I Hate A Man Like You {B}
Ottilie Patterson vocal to the Jelly Roll Morton composition.
13. The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise {B}
14. Reckless Blues {B}
15. Ice Cream {B}
A very popular Barber track, often played at concerts & frequently appearingin compilation albums.
16. Oh, Didn't He Ramble {B}

These recordings are as fresh & vigorous now as they were backin the 50s. There may be a slight naivetyin the presentation but this is musical interpretation & playingin its purest forms. Everyone is playing the instrument the way it is supposed to be playing. There is a cohesion of sound, tempo & rhythm whetherin the slowest paces Blues or the fastest Trad. Everyone is plainly & audibly joyfully glad to be there. The appreciation of the audience of the soundsin general & the solosin particular & the ambiance of the venue is clear to hearin the inter-track pauses.

There are some concert performances that can claim to be historic. This CD celebrates two of them from, now, nearly half a century ago. There is something here for everyone. I am so glad & grateful that these masters have been resurrected & reissued. Although I am a creature mainly of the 60s & 70s, this music is part of the ancestry of our current idiom.

Listen well - & enjoy!!