AtPontchartrain
01-31-2008, 05:46 PM
At the 2005 fest I saw Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records in the traditional crafts area, and stopped to say hello. He had a serious entourage following him around, like the bigtime lawyers do walking down Poydras Street.
It turns out, they were filming a documentary on his label, and he was taking them to centers of the many musical genres which he has championed over the years.
One result of this is "A New Orleans Visit Before Katrina" now released as Arhoolie cd 534. And it's fantastic.
It opens with six duets, mostly Cajun swing, by Michael and David Doucet. Oh, except that in one of them, Miss Lollypop sings Eh, La Bas (which the label calls Hey! La Bas, but I'm not gonna do that).
So just when you've said okay, is that enough Cajun swing, they add Sammy Rimington and his clarinet with a little quintet (also adding Lars Edegran and Lionel Batiste Sr) for two Creole jazz numbers.
So just when you've said good then, I'm settled in for Cajun/Creole cross-cultural night, they toss all that, and give us four numbers by Baton Rouge's Henry Gray and his piano (sans Cats), just perfect solo blues like he does so well (recorded at Donna's).
So you know what happens next. It all changes, and you've got a duo again, which happens to be .... Michael Doucet and Sunpie Barnes! Killer! Two Zydeco Cajun culture-crossings and then it's Baby Please Don't Go.
Hey, you say, great album, 15 songs... but then they throw 3 more at you... a basic jazz funeral set from the Treme Brass Band with Sammy Rimington and Kermit Ruffins (called Kermit Ruffin in the insert, but I'm not gonna do that.) Closer Walk, I'll Fly Away, and Sing On.
Mr. Strachwitz' notes say that the entourage's documentary was going to take some time to get out, and might only have pieces of the music here and there in the film, so he wanted to go ahead and get it all released. It's a treasure.
(There is a companion cd with trad jazz from Sammy Rimington at the Palm Court, two more quintet numbers with Sammy & the Doucets & Edegran & Batiste, and one more Treme Brass Band number, Sweet Georgia Brown.)
It turns out, they were filming a documentary on his label, and he was taking them to centers of the many musical genres which he has championed over the years.
One result of this is "A New Orleans Visit Before Katrina" now released as Arhoolie cd 534. And it's fantastic.
It opens with six duets, mostly Cajun swing, by Michael and David Doucet. Oh, except that in one of them, Miss Lollypop sings Eh, La Bas (which the label calls Hey! La Bas, but I'm not gonna do that).
So just when you've said okay, is that enough Cajun swing, they add Sammy Rimington and his clarinet with a little quintet (also adding Lars Edegran and Lionel Batiste Sr) for two Creole jazz numbers.
So just when you've said good then, I'm settled in for Cajun/Creole cross-cultural night, they toss all that, and give us four numbers by Baton Rouge's Henry Gray and his piano (sans Cats), just perfect solo blues like he does so well (recorded at Donna's).
So you know what happens next. It all changes, and you've got a duo again, which happens to be .... Michael Doucet and Sunpie Barnes! Killer! Two Zydeco Cajun culture-crossings and then it's Baby Please Don't Go.
Hey, you say, great album, 15 songs... but then they throw 3 more at you... a basic jazz funeral set from the Treme Brass Band with Sammy Rimington and Kermit Ruffins (called Kermit Ruffin in the insert, but I'm not gonna do that.) Closer Walk, I'll Fly Away, and Sing On.
Mr. Strachwitz' notes say that the entourage's documentary was going to take some time to get out, and might only have pieces of the music here and there in the film, so he wanted to go ahead and get it all released. It's a treasure.
(There is a companion cd with trad jazz from Sammy Rimington at the Palm Court, two more quintet numbers with Sammy & the Doucets & Edegran & Batiste, and one more Treme Brass Band number, Sweet Georgia Brown.)