Leroy Jones
New Orleans Brass Band Music: Memories of the Fairview and Hurricane Band
Independent
By Geraldine Wyckoff
"It started a reaction,” trumpeter Leroy Jones once said of the Fairview
Baptist Church Brass Band, which was established by Danny Barker in 1970 and
introduced so many youngsters to New Orleans jazz. “Until the Fairview
no kids were interested in keeping the traditional alive.”
Jones, who at age 13 was the Fairview’s first inductee, celebrates this
influential band as well as the spin off Hurricane Brass Band from which many
members of the famous Dirty Dozen Brass Band emerged. The tunes are those that
are essential to the brass band songbook—“Just a Closer Walk with
Thee,” “Lord, Lord, Lord” and “When the Saints Go Marching
In.” Undoubtedly, they were among the first songs that Barker taught
the fledgling musicians in the Fairview.
The quality of the musicianship and Jones’ fresh, smart arrangements
brighten these old, deeply-rooted tunes. “Lily of the Valley” steps
with renewed vigor initially generated by the dynamite percussive team of snare
drummer Kerry “Fat Man” Hunter and bass man Cayetano “Tanio” Hingle
while sousaphonist Rob Espino holds down the bottom. Throughout the disc, the
ensemble work of the frontline—Jones, trombonist Craig Klein and saxophonist/clarinetist
Alonzo Bowens—rings with clarity, precision and beautiful harmony. (Trombonist
Katja Toivola also steps in for one number.) These talented musicians know
what they’re doin’ and enrich each tune with inspired solos. Jones,
whose pen is as mighty as his trumpet, adds an original number to the program,
a slow dirge dubbed “Louie’s Lamentation.” His trumpet slurs,
moans, and beckons Louis Armstrong on this very strong, though regrettably
too short number. Admittedly, while checking out the song list one might conclude
that Memories is just another rehash of well-known selections. On this crisply
executed and recorded album, Jones and his gifted crew prove that in the hands
of the right musicians, these tunes can still kick.
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