“New Orleans Sessions shines a jubilant light on a neglected period of NOLA culture. Blue Moon Marquee deserves a parade”
I enjoyed airing the previous BMM release, and this one will be fun too. The obvious chemistry between A.W. and Jasmine propels this set, one in which the recording itself stands nearly as tall as the performances captured. Listening in headphones and noting what I think of as 'wide mono' instead of a stereo field, the meld of instrumental sounds with vocals being sung as if to be heard over the instruments (not monitored in headphones and perfected in mix adjustments) is a refreshing escape from contemporary styles that contain each track input in its own compression, reverb and eq, resulting in fine isolation but sacrificing what the instruments themselves have to say to each other about getting to play together.
The period perspective of this set seems to anchor in the late 1940s and continue to almost mid-50s While the mix and production play into this well -- the soon-to-be-universal Earl Palmer backbeats are subdued in some of the tracks, reminding us that swing didn't require them to propel involuntary body movement -- it is the phrasing and note choices from all players that really set this scene into post-WWII's resolute conviction that was catalyst to this exuberant music. In the years just before the Gulf Coast stroll rhythm packed dance floors across NOLA from jukeboxes' nickel-fed plays of Fats Domino, Lloyd Price and Smiley Lewis, it was the buzz of sax section unisons with a prominent string bass supporting piano and vocals that ran the Cash Box numbers up.
Impossibly, much of that sonic ambience lives in the New Orleans Sessions' setlist. By skipping the eight-beats, second lines, Latin and Caribbean flavors (that arose only a couple years later) in favor of straight shuffles, strolls and stomps, Blue Moon Marquee has reshuffled the deck on Big Easy tributes. Even A.W. 's vocal growl goes back to that time when it came from gospel choirs, holding off the melisma and fuller-voiced soul vocals from Allen Toussaint's and Cosimo Matassa's recording domains. Jasmine sings it straight, too, holding true to the syncopations of the era before Professor Longhair's proto-funk began to subdivide & syncopate fractions of cadences. Added to the voices, the perfect indexing of Danny Abrams' baritone sax riffs, fills and comments into the vocal lines is the cheddar atop the crab au gratin -- once again, held to the standards of play from the magnetic center of the 20th century, without the grunts and rumbles that were only a decade away.
With enough atmosphere to engage NASA's attention and solid guitar & bass work basting in the other instruments (and thank God for the upright piano), New Orleans Sessions shines a jubilant light on a neglected period of NOLA culture. Blue Moon Marquee deserves a parade.
Thanks for getting this to me in CD form, Mark. I didn't notice any listing of radio service, so I'm sending this to you, with my appreciation.
Dave Gallaher
Talkin' the Blues with Microwave Dave
WLRH FM / WJAB FM Huntsville AL
WUTC FM Chattanooga TN