Cabaret Echoes: New Orleans Jazzers at Work, 1918-1927
Various Artists

Various Artists: Cabaret Echoes: New Orleans Jazzers at Work, 1918-1927
Out of Print

Off The Record's follow up to their highly acclaimed King Oliver set! Cabaret Echoes presents 40 rare recordings by artists that lived and worked in New Orleans alongside 23 spoken introductions by the musicians themselves. The 2-CD set also includes a 60-page booklet with rare photographs and illustrations of the artists--many of which have not been seen since their original publication--and a detailed essay that places the recordings and artists in their historical context. List price: $31.99

OVERVIEW

  • Catalogue number: ARCH OTR-MM10-C1
  • UPC: 778632904200
  • Original release date: May 25, 2010
  • Running length: 143:34 / 63 tracks / 2 CD set
  • Notes & packaging: Includes a 60-page booklet
  • Tracks recorded: 1918-1927
  • An Off The Record production
Tracks and Sound SamplesProduct DescriptionMore by these Artists
 Sample all tracks 
Tracklist: CD 1
1. Interview Kid Ory 1957
2. Ory’s Creole Trombone Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra 1922
3. Society Blues Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra 1922
4. Interview Babette Ory (daughter of Kid Ory) 2008
5. When You’re Alone Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra with Roberta Dudley 1922
6. Krooked Blues Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra with Roberta Dudley 1922
7. Interviews Kid Ory and Babette Ory 1957 & 2008
8. That Sweet Something Dear Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra with Ruth Lee 1922
9. Maybe Someday Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra with Ruth Lee 1922
10. Interview Johnny De Droit 1969
11. Panama Johnny De Droit and his New Orleans Orchestra 1924
12. Nobody Knows Blues Johnny De Droit and his New Orleans Orchestra 1924
13. New Orleans Blues Johnny De Droit and his New Orleans Orchestra 1924
14. Interview Johnny De Droit 1969
15. The Swing Johnny De Droit and his New Orleans Orchestra 1924
16. Brown Eyes Johnny De Droit and his New Orleans Orchestra 1924
17. Interview Johnny De Droit 1969
18. Number Two Blues Johnny De Droit and his New Orleans Orchestra 1924
19. Interview Amos White 1958
20. Frankie and Johnny Fate Marable’s Society Syncopators 1924
21. Pianoflage Fate Marable’s Society Syncopators 1924
22. Interview Yvonne Powers Gass (daughter of saxophonist Eddie Powers) 2009
23. Sensation Original Crescent City Jazzers 1924
24. Christine Original Crescent City Jazzers 1924
25. Interview Johnny De Droit discusses Johnny Bayersdorffer 1969
26. I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Riding Now Johnny Bayersdorffer and his Jazzola Novelty Orchestra 1924
27. The Waffle Man’s Call Johnny Bayersdorffer and his Jazzola Novelty Orchestra 1924
28. Interview Willie Hightower 1958
29. Boar Hog Blues Hightower’s Night Hawks 1927
30. Squeeze Me Hightower’s Night Hawks 1927

 

Tracklist: CD 2
1. Interview Abbie Brunies 1957
2. Pussy Cat Rag Half-Way House Orchestra 1925
3. Interview Joe Loyacano 1959
4. Barataria Half-Way House Orchestra 1925
5. Interview Tony Parenti 1959
6. That’s A Plenty Anthony Parenti’s Famous Melody Boys 1925
7. Cabaret Echoes Anthony Parenti’s Famous Melody Boys 1925
8. Interview Billy and Mary McBrides 1959
9. My Heart Breakin’ Gal Billy Mack and Mary Mack 1925
10. Interview Babette Ory 2008
11. Black But Sweet, Oh God! Billy Mack and Mary Mack 1925
12. Interview Norman Brownlee 1961
13. Peculiar Brownlee’s Orchestra of New Orleans 1925
14. Dirty Rag Brownlee’s Orchestra of New Orleans 1925
15. Interview Norman Brownlee 1961
16. I’m Afraid to Care for You John Tobin’s Midnight Serenaders 1925
17. Interview William “Baba” Ridgley 1959
18. Original Tuxedo Rag Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra 1925
19. Interview William “Baba” Ridgley 1959
20. Careless Love Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra 1925
21. Interview Abby “Chinee” Foster 1960-1961
22. Black Rag Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra 1925
23. Interview Frank Christian 1956
24. Ole Miss New Orleans Jazz Band 1918
25. Ja Da (Introducing You’ll Find Old Dixieland in France) New Orleans Jazz Band 1918
26. He’s Had No Lovin’ for a Long, Long Time Original New Orleans Jazz Band 1919
27. Ja Da Medley Original New Orleans Jazz Band 1919
28. Interview Arnold Loyacano 1956
29. Why Cry Blues Jimmy Durante’s Jazz Band 1920
30. Interview Arnold Loyacano 1956
31. Ja Da Medley Original New Orleans Jazz Band 1919
32. Ja Da Medley Original New Orleans Jazz Band 1919
33. He’s Had No Lovin’ for a Long, Long Time Original New Orleans Jazz Band 1919

New Orleans holds a special allure like that of no other city, and its most famous music has cast its spell on the world for more than a century. New Orleans jazz has been discussed and written about nearly as much as it has been performed, and its recordings have been issued and reissued constantly since 1917. Many of the earliest seminal recordings are muddy and indistinct due to the primitive equipment used. Many reissues of this material have clouded the sound even further.

Now once again, master restoration engineer Doug Benson and jazz historian David Sager bring you the earliest and scarcest of New Orleans. Cabaret Echoes brings together 40 rare recordings by actual working New Orleans groups, restored with unprecedented clarity. They are presented alongside 23 spoken introductions by the musicians themselves, taken from rare one-of-a-kind interviews.

As with the previous Off The Record release, Benson, using his pitch-perfect musical ear, the teachings of the late John R.T. Davies, and up-to-date digital technology has meticulously restored these 40 rare jazz classics. Sager, after going through many hours of recorded oral histories and carefully applying his well-honed musical skills, has written a scholarly essay that creates an historical context for these selections.

First African-American New Orleans Jazz Band On Record

In the late spring of 1922, a group of musicians—immigrants from the city of New Orleans—entered a threadbare Los Angeles recording studio and cut the first records by a black New Orleans jazz band. The six surviving sides featuring Kid Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra are priceless docucabments that prove how sophisticated jazz could be, even at that early date. Also, these sides capture a band that was a real working unit, performing as they did nightly at the Creole Café in Oakland. Unfortunately, the recordings are decidedly low-fi, even for those pre-microphone days; and the various reissues to date do not serve the music or the musicians well.

Off The Record, the label that brought us the startling restorations of the 1923 King Oliver Creole Jazz Band, now offers the six legendary Kid Ory Sunshine/Nordskog sides in remarkable fidelity (even Ed Garland’s faint string bass can be heard!), along with 34 other early recordings of actual working New Orleans bands.

First Recordings Of Jazz From New Orleans—Oh, the Clarity!

This marvelous set also includes the first jazz recordings made in the city of its birth, New Orleans. Collected here are all of the sides made by working ensembles during OKeh Records’ 1924 and 1925 field trips. These recordings, already known for their comparatively superior sonic detail, are rendered here with greater clarity than ever before.

The Musicians Speak For Themselves

Not content with just the music, OTR, in cooperation with the Hogan Jazz Archive of Tulane University, has also included spoken introductory tracks by many of the performing musicians. These rare excerpts taken from the Hogan Archive shed valuable light on the early days of jazz. Included are the voices of such early jazz luminaries as Kid Ory, Willie Hightower, Abbie Brunies, The Loyacano Brothers, Billy and Mary Mack, and many others.

“Stop Da Music”—The Complete Durante Band

So, what does Jimmy Durante have to do with New Orleans jazz anyway? The answer—PLENTY. In 1915 Durante was hired to work at the rowdy Alamo Café in New York’s Harlem. For his band he imported three New Orleanians (and one Chicagoan) and in 1918 the Original New Orleans Jazz Band became the second jazz band from New Orleans to make records. These historic recordings—the only ones made by legendary Creole clarinetist Achille Bacquet—are reissued here complete for the first time.

Willie Hightower And His Nighthawks

Among the very rare recordings presented in this set is one of the rarest of them all—”Boar Hog Blues” and “Squeeze Me” by New Orleans cornetist Willie Hightower and his band, which was composed of several New Orleans natives including Richard M. Jones, Bud Scott, and John Lindsay. This ultra-scarce disc is presented in unprecedented beautiful fidelity, with Mr. Hightower himself introducing the titles!

Lavish Booklet, Pictures, Notes

And, of course, there is David Sager’s insightful, scholarly, but entertaining essay—a fine follow-up to his Grammy-nominated notes for King Oliver, Off The Record. The essay is written from the point of view of someone who not only lived in New Orleans for many years but actively performs classic New Orleans-style jazz. The words are carefully selected to complement the music.

Sager has also selected a plethora of illustrations: photographs and ads culled from rare trade journals and vintage newspapers, rare record labels, and sheet music covers. Many of these have not been seen since first published in now-defunct trade journals and New Orleans newspapers. Included are photos taken inside OKeh’s makeshift New Orleans studio, a previously unpublished photograph of the Original New Orleans Jazz Band (with Jimmy Durante and Achille Baquet) and a rare photo of the Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra from Talking Machine World.

The essay and illustrations are handsomely presented in a 60-page booklet—beautifully designed by Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey of Archeophone Records. Known for their outstanding artistic endeavors, this booklet presents the words, pictures, and music with the finest style and highest class.

Advance Praise for Cabaret Echoes

The great duo has done it again! This is like hearing the music—really hearing it—for the first time, and the interviews add another dimension. Excellent notes as well. Congratulations!
—Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University

“WOW! A great job of transfers—the Ory Nordskogs never sounded this good, and that goes down the line . . . for the first time I can enjoy hearing these early instrumentals. An important addition to the historic library.”
—George Avakian, legendary jazz record producer

For anyone interested in achieving depth on the early development and variegation of jazz (and understanding New Orleans musicians’ role in it), this double CD package is a blessing.
—Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Curator, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University

Doug Benson and Dave Sager strike New Orleans gold again! Those who treasure their masterful (and masterfully annotated) Off The Record collection of King Oliver’s 1923 masterpieces will welcome more astonishing New Orleans music from the early days. It wasn’t like anything else in those days, and it still packs a wallop ninety years later.
—Dick Spottswood, Author/Compiler Ethnic Music on Record, producer, radio host

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