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Sounds of New Orleans: WWOZ on CD-Volume 3 |
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New Orleans
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Friday, 13 January 2006 19:10 |
The Sounds of New Orleans
WWOZ on CD Volume 3
By John Sinclair
The Sounds of New Orleans is a continuing project of WWOZ Radio. Its several facets include recording and broadcasting "live" music from several stages at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; making "live" recordings and broadcasts of New Orleans musicians performing at other community venues; producing radio programs for national distribution from these tapes; and making this music available to WWOZ listeners through special broadcast programs and our semi-annual Fund Drive premium CDs, of which this is our third offering.
The Sounds of New Orleans--Volume Three has been produced as a premium to be offered to people joining the Friends of WWOZ during the station's Spring 1995 fund drive. All the music on this disk was recorded at JazzFest '94 and was first broadcast from the Fairgrounds as part of WWOZ's seven-day, eight-hours-a-day "live" coverage of JazzFest each spring.
Several of these selections were also featured in the WWOZ JazzFest Special, a two-hour radio program hosted by Wanda Rouzan which is currently being aired by stations all across the country as part of our first major attempt to export the sounds of New Orleans via radio syndication. A second, one-hour program, the WWOZ Mardi Gras Special with Dr. John, was released at the same time. Both were produced for broadcast by the producers of this compact disk from "live" recordings made for WWOZ Radio.
Our first three CDs in The Sounds of New Orleans series spotlight New Orleans-based artists in performance whose current work in many cases is not readily available on record. The artists featured on Volume Three join the impressive roster of Crescent City musicians established with Volumes One & Two: the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Germaine Bazzle with the Alvin "Red" Tyler Quartet, Charles Neville & Diversity, Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, Robert Lowery & Virgil Thrasher, John Mooney & Bluesiana, the Fred Kemp Quintet, the Guardians of the Flame, Carol Fran & Clarence Holliman, Sunpie & The Louisiana Sunspots, Earl King with Tommy Ridgley & The Untouchables, Ironing Board Sam, the Tony Dagradi Trio, David Torkanowsky, The Zion Harmonizers, John Sinclair & Marion Brown, Michael Ray & the Cosmic Krewe, the Chosen Few Jazz Band with Lady Linda Young, and Jon Cleary.
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Our program opens with the traditional Wild Indian prayer, "Indian Red," offered by Big Chief Monk Boudreau and the Golden Eagles as part of their JazzFest performance on the Congo Square Stage. In real life "Indian Red" can be heard at the opening and/or closing of virtually every Indian practice and public ritual. The Golden Eagles' original recording of "Indian Red" can be heard on their Rounder Records album Lightning and Thunder, recorded "in context" at the H&R Bar at Second & Dryades in 1988.
Alvin Batiste & The Jazzstronauts follow with "Music Came," a stirring Batiste composition given a powerful reading by vocalist Muriel Jennings. The all-star Jazzstronauts line-up includes Keith Loftus on tenor saxophone, George Fontenette on trumpet, trombonist Danny Heath, pianist LaShaun Garry, Roland Garon on bass, the mighty Sir Herman Jackson on drums, and special guest Mark Whitfield on guitar.
The Re-Birth Brass Band is featured in a hard-charging performance of tenor saxophonist Roderick Paulin's composition "You Move Ya Lose," recorded in the driving rain at JazzFest '93. The studio version of this popular new tune can be heard leading off Re-Birth's latest release, Rollin', on Rounder Records.
Bassist Walter Payton's Snap Bean Revue is one of the city's best-kept musical secrets, but the cat gets let out of the bag every year at JazzFest when Mr. Payton brings out his special ensemble to put on a show. Diminuitive vocalist Sharon Martin gets the feature spot on our 1994 sele °ction with the Sugar Pie DeSanto classic, "Use What You Got," with solo turns by alto saxophonist Jules Handy and guitarist Louisiana Bill.
Steve Masakowski & Friends dedicated their opening day set to a program of music from Steve's Blue Note CD, What It Was, and the lovely song "Southern Blue" to Steve's friend Mr. Danny Barker, who had just recently passed away. Bassist Bill Huntington is especially soulful here, and Masakowski's tender guitar is beautifully abetted by the sensitive drums of Johnny Vidacovich.
The timeless Mr. Eddie Bo and his band are next with a 1994 update of his 1961 classic, "Check Mr. Popeye," spotlighting Eddie's rollicking piano, lusty vocal and hilarious lyrics. Saxophonist Red Morgan and guitarist Leo Williams sparkle in support. You can hear the original recording of "Check Mr. Popeye" (Parts 1 & 2) on the Rounder CD of the same name which collects Eddie Bo's wonderful 1959-62 singles for Ric Records.
The one and only Snooks Eaglin and his power trio with bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Terrence Higgins blast out Larry Williams' "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" with a crispness and authority the Beatles could only hope to approximate in their well-known version of 30 years ago. Snooks prefaces his performance with a call out from the stage to this writer, who was indeed sitting on his butt in the WWOZ broadcast van, beaming Snooks' set out over the airways from the House of Blues Stage at the Fairgrounds. Snooks' studio recording of this song can be found on his great BlackTop CD from 1991, Teasin' You.
One of the real high points of our 1994 "live" broadcast was Deacon John's magnificent set of Elmore James, B.B. King and J.B. Lenoir compositions with his All-Star Blues Band featuring tenor saxophonist Fred Kemp, pianist Robert Dabon, bassist Charles Moore and drummer Oliver Alcorn. Deac's virtuoso reading of Elmore's rarely-heard "Happy Home" from the early 1950s is more a re-creation of the classic Broomdusters sound than simply a cover version of a blues masterwork.
Bourbon Street stalwarts Willie Lockett & The Blues Krewe sign in with a definitive performance of the modern blues favorite "(I Can Do) Bad By Myself," with their horn section much in evidence and a tasty guitar outing by Michael Sklar. Look for the Blues Krewe's first CD to be issued in 1995.
WWOZ's Brother Larry Bell, host of the "Gospel Train" programs heard every Sunday morning (8:30-10:00 am) and evening (8:00-10:00 pm), helps close out the program with his gospel ensemble, the First Revolution Singers, and bass singer Jerome Alexander's fresh a capella arrangement of "Leave That Liar Alone." This performance was recorded April 28th in the WWOZ broadcast van as the five members of the group crowded around the microphone to send a song out "live" to the people listening to the station's JazzFest coverage.
Once again we'd like to thank all the musicians whose participation has made this project possible, e ²specially the players who have donated their performances to be shared with our members on this compact disk. Special thanks go to Keith Keller of Chez Flames Recording, who organized the taping of the JazzFest 1994 performances on a few days' notice, secured excellent recordings, and edited and mastered these selections from the DAT master tapes for this album.
We'd also like to thank the underwriters who provided funds for WWOZ's JazzFest 1994 recordings: the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, BET-On-Jazz Television, and the City of New Orleans through a grant from the New Orleans City Council.
And finally, thank you for pledging your support to WWOZ. Your contributions and donations, along with the completely voluntary services of some 75 on-air programmers, make the continued pursuit of this noble experiment in community radio increasingly possible. This record is just another example of the wonders we can work together.
--New Orleans
December 26, 1994
(c) 1994, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
The Sounds of New Orleans
WWOZ on CD Volume 3: Spring 1995
Recorded "Live" at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
[1] The Golden Eagles: "Indian Red" (4:06) 4/23/94
[2] Alvin Batiste & The Jazzstronauts featuring Muriel Jennings: "Music Came" (7:15) 4/23/94
[3] Re-Birth Brass Band: "You Move Ya Lose" (6:53) 5/1/93
[4] Walter Payton's Snap Bean Revue featuring Sharon Martin: "Use What You Got" (6:06) 4/28/94
[5] Steve Masakowski & Friends: "Southern Blue" (6:56) 4/22/94
[6] Eddie Bo: "Check Mr. Popeye" (3:38) 4/29/94
[7] Snooks Eaglin: "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (3:56) 5/1/94
[8] Deacon John & His All-Star Blues Band: "Happy Home" (5:38) 4/24/94
[9] Willie Lockett & The Blues Krewe: "(I Can Do) Bad By Myself" (6:37) 4/28/94
[10] First Revolution Singers: "Leave That Liar Alone" (2:50) 4/28/94
Produced by John Sinclair & Keith Keller for WWOZ Radio
Executive Producer: David Freedman
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1994 recordings supervised by Keith Keller for WWOZ Radio. These performances were broadcast "live" from the Fairgrounds over WWOZ Radio New Orleans, April 22-May 1, 1994. Transferred, edited & mastered by Keith Keller at Chez Flames Recording, New Orleans, July-December 1994.
All photographs from JazzFest (C) 1994 by L.J. Goldstein. Package Design & CD Production Coordination by Steve Winn. Artists' Rights Coordination by Penny Sinclair, Big Chief Productions.
WWOZ Radio would like to thank Jerry Brock; Allison Miner; Deacon John; Alvin Batiste; Hammond Scott and Heather West of BlackTop Records; Snooks Eaglin; George Porter Jr; Steve Masakowski; Larry Bell; Jerome Alexander; Willie Lockett; Keith Stone; Walter Payton; Sharon Martin; Phil Frazier; and Monk Boudreau.
Special thanks to: Quint Davis and all the people at Festival Productions; Garic Baringer, Wali Abdul-Wa'oof, the Board of Directors and staff of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation; Ken Devine, Tony Guillory, and William Johnson of BTI; Jane McGarrigle; and Virginia Prescott, Damond Jacob, Michael Kline, John Guy Jr, Davis Rogan, Portia Williams, David Kunian, Benjamin Lyons, Patricia Gorman, Theron Lewis, Maryse Dejean, Sharon McKenna and Liza Rasmussen of WWOZ Radio.
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