Chris Barber at Whitley Bay Playhouse: December 2002.
Lonnie Donegan dies: November 2002.
These two seemingly unconnected events made it timely to look back over my CD collection and revisit a real treasure in my collection. I have a confession to make in that I am reviewing here a CD rather than a concert but given the circumstances I believe it to be justified in this case.

CHRIS BARBER'S JAZZ BAND. LIVE IN 1954. "Dixie Gold, The Best of Dixieland". CD Limelight 820878-2 £9.99

There are some concert performances that can claim to be historic - This is one of them. 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} and January 9th 1955 {B}. All right, so I wasn't there in the flesh at the time - I wasn't (quite!) old enough - but listening to the live (October) broadcast on steam radio - I was especially allowed to stay up late - is one of my earliest musical memories. I subsequently owned the original Decca EP release which featured tracks 4,5,6 and 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 legend in 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 things in 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 and my all time favourite version.
7. Storyville Blues {A}
8. It's Tight Like That {A}
Trad. jazz at its best; a catchy tune, humour in 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 and frequently appearing in compilation albums.
16. Oh, Didn't He Ramble {B}

These recordings are as fresh and vigorous now as they were back in the 50s. There may be a slight naivety in the presentation but this is musical interpretation and playing in its purest forms. Everyone is playing the instrument the way it is supposed to be playing. There is a cohesion of sound, tempo and rhythm whether in the slowest paces Blues or the fastest Trad. Everyone is plainly and audibly joyfully glad to be there. The appreciation of the audience of the sounds in general and the solos in particular and the ambiance of the venue is clear to hear in 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 and grateful that these masters have been resurrected and reissued. Although I am a creature mainly of the 60s and 70s, this music is part of the ancestry of our current idiom.

Get your hands on this one. Give it a try. Listen well - and enjoy!!