Like many great New Orleans rhythm and blues saxophone players, Jerry Jumonville possesses a strong affection for modern jazz.

“Sometimes it seems like there are two musicians trapped inside me,” said Jumonville, 56,who lives in the Carrollton house he grew up in, which also contains probably the world’s most impressive saxophone album collections. “I love to play both R&B and bebop—I think that they’re styles that compliment each other.”

One of the busiest players in town, Jumonville’s showcase gig currently is at the 21 Super Club (The old Maxwell’s in the French Quarter) where he presents an entertaining “History of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues Revue” three nights a week with his six-piece group Jump City. He also plays jazz at that same club three nights a week and is also a member of Johnny Angel’s Swing Band.

Jumonville’s appetite for music was whetted while he was a student at McMain Jr. High, where he listened to R&B records played on the jukebox inside the student lounge.

“We listened to Fats, Joe Turner, Little Richard and we liked to dance,” said Jumonville. “I had a friend who had a set of drums and we’d go to his house after school and listen to records and play along with them. At first I wanted to play drums. My parents had a salesman from Werlein’s bring a snare drum by the house, but they felt that the drums created too much noise so that was out.

“Then my parents borrowed an E flat saxophone from someone whose kid quit playing it. That was great. All my favorite records had saxophone solos on them so I started trying to copy them. I had a teacher in the neighborhood, Mr.Lafasso, who taught me to play and to read music. In about three months I learned all of the notes on the saxophone and I started arranging melodies.”

Jumonville began sitting in with The Barons-a group of older rock and roll musicians-and going down to Cosimo’s studio to watch the action.

“We found out that was where they made a lot of the records we listened to so we started to take rides there to see what was happening,” said Jumonville. “We got to see people like Fats record and got to see saxophone players like Nat Perillat, Lee Allen and Clarence Ford, guys I really admired. We also met Mac Rebennack at Cosimo’s, he was already playing sessions.”

Eight months after picking up the saxophone, Jumonville was playing professionally and formed The Matadors, a six-piece R&B band made up of high school students.

“That was a fun little group,” said Jumonville. “We played a lot of frat parties, and at Valencia. Valencia was like an Uptown country club for rich people. They loved us there. We had an Ivy League look, but we played that funky R&B that the kids loved to dance to.

“We also played this interesting gig on Airline Highway. The club would book us to play all night, but they’d also book a recording artist who would come in and sing their hit or their-latest record. We backed Art Neville, Smiley Lewis, Shirley and Lee and Benny Spellman like that.”

By the early 1960s, Jumonville was also listening to jazz heavyweights like Illinois Jacquet, Sonny Rollins, Hank Crawford and John Coltrane among others.

“I wanted to develop as a musician and a saxophone player and those guys turned me in another direction. Every note those guys played was just right and I wanted to be able to play music like that.”

Jumonville’ would soon have a full plate in front of him. In addition to playing most nights with AI Hirt, he had also formed an R&B group called The Magnificent Four Plus One which included Ronnie Barron on vocals and piano. With the advent of The Beatles,the Magnificent Four Plus One donned black mohair suits and became The Prime Ministers. They hired Joey Long on guitar and moved to Houston where they played at Van’s Ballroom and the Whiskey A Go Go. After a brief stop back home, Jumonville was off to Atlanta where he played with Bobby Lonero. Jumonville eventually returned to New Orleans, but not for long.

Mac Rebennack had relocated to Los Angeles and was working with Harold Battiste on Sonny & Cher records, as well as on other sessions. Rebennack called Ronnie Barron and invited Barron and the Prime Ministers to move to California, where they would find fame and fortune.

“Mac said there was lots of studio work and that the band would get signed to a record deal, said Jumonville. “L.A. was the record capital of the world, so it didn’t take much to convince us to move. I wound up out there for 25 years.”

Jumonville’s writing, arranging and playing skills served him well in Los Angeles. Once word got around that there was a New Orleans cat in town that could handle sessions with the minimum amount of hassles, his phone began to ring with offers for studio work. Meanwhile, the Prime Ministers fell apart. Despite cutting enough material for an album, nothing happened. Unbeknownst to members of the group, Barron had signed a separate contract with another label which blocked the release of his work with the Prime Ministers. However, by the 1970s Jumonville was working on as many as five albums a month. He recalls making as much as $2,500 a day during that period.

“If you played a solo on a record you got paid double,” said Jumonville. “If you contracted the session you got paid double; if you arranged the session you got paid double. I did all of that. I did a lot of work for Warner Brothers. Fred Tackett, who played guitar with Little Feat, played on a lot of sessions and he often recommended my services. I got a lot of work because I could complete a session quickly and there were never any problems.”

By the end of the 1970s, Jumonville had earned a platinum record for Bene Midler’s The Rose and had played on Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night.” He also toured briefly with Dr. John and Rickie Lee Jones.

However, by the early 1980s, studio work had begun to slow down to a trickle. Horn sections were no longer in vogue as they were being replaced by synthesizers. Jumonville began concentrating on working live dates with his own band, playing swing dances in Orange County, New Orleans R&B at the Lingerie Club and bebop at the Jax in Glendale. In 1986, he cut his first album “Jump City,” a driving instrumental album on Miracle Mile.

In 1991, Jumonville had an offer to return to New Orleans which he accepted.

“I’d just gotten divorced,” recalled Jumonville. “Billy Fayard was opening Jelly Roll’s which was located in AI Hirt’s old club on Bourbon Street. He said if I came back I could have all the work I wanted so I wound up moving back home and starting a band. ”

The Jelly Roll gig lasted two years until the club closed. Jumonville then took his group to dubs like Vic’s and Madigan’s. In 1993, his career took another stylistic turn when he joined Rockin’ Dopsie & the Zydeco Twisters.

“I got to know Dopsie from sitting in with his band at the Maple Leaf,” said Jumonville. He liked my R&B tone. When John, Hart resigned to play with C.J. Chenier he offered me a job. I played with the Twisters until early this year. Zydeco is, fun to play, but a saxophonist doesn’t get a chance to play much. You play some easy rhythms, play an eight or 12 bar solo and that’s it.”

In January of this year, Jumonville was approached by Andrew Jaeger, who was opening a new club: The 21 Super Club.

“Andrew told me he wanted to put in real professional entertainment that would show off the musical heritage of New Orleans,” said Jumonville. Andrew loves New Orleans music and he’s dedicated to promoting it. When he asked me to put a New Orleans R&B revue together, I looked at it as an enjoyable challenge.

“So far the gig’s been a success. I’ve got my original piano player with me, AI Fare, and we put together a tight band with two female singers and a male singer. We do a lot of the New Orleans hits by Fats, Smiley, Shirley & Lee. The band has fun, we fill the place most nights and the people in the audience tell me that they really enjoy the show. What else can you ask for?”

Red Tyler

 

It is my unpleasant task the report the death of a fine gentleman and one of New Orleans’ greatest musicians, saxophonist Alvin “Red”c Tyler. Tyler died at home April 3 of natural causes. He was 72.

In a career that spanned over half-a-century, Tyler made his mark in the fields of rhythm and blues, pop, rock and roll and jazz. Tyler made a rock and roll album in the late 1950s and two jazz albums in the 1980s, but he is best known for his work as a studio musician, as he played on hundreds of R&B recording sessions.

Tyler was born December 5, 1925, and grew up on Bienville Street. His interest in music was sparked as a youth watching brass bands march along with funerals to-and-from nearby St. Louis cemetery. Tyler played saxophone in a Navy band during WW II and studied music under the G.I. Bill after he was discharged.

In the late 1940s, Tyler had progressed to the point where he was invited to join Dave Bartholomew’s band. Beside Bartholomew on trumpet, the group also included Earl Palmer on drums, Frank Fields on bass, Ernest McLean on guitar, Lee Allen on tenor sax, and Salvador Doucette on piano.

 

Talkin’ About

 

“That was the best band in New Orleans at the time,” said Tyler in March of 1998. “Not long after I joined the band, Dave started to work for Imperial Records as a producer and a talent scout. That’s how I got my start in the studio. With Dave I recorded with people like Tommy Ridgley, Fats Domino, Shirley & Lee, Smiley Lewis and Lloyd Price.”

Once Bartholomew produced records began climbing the national charts, other labels came to town looking for the New Orleans sound. Since Tyler helped create that sound, he was sought out for additional sessions. Specialty used him to back Little Richard and Guitar Slim; Atlantic had him play with Joe Turner and  c z. Chess used him on Clarence Henry and Bobby Charles sessions.

“Most of those R&B things were head arrangements,” said Tyler. “Usually the only thing written down were the words to the songs. Somebody would come up with a catchy riff and work on a rhythm to compliment it. Often Lee (Allen) or myself would take the solos but that was never a problem. Sometimes I played baritone, which I didn’t like carrying around, but it gave me a two-edged style and it brought me more session work.”

In the late 1950s, Tyler began working with Ace Records as a producer and an arranger.

“Ace Records came through Cosimo Matassa,” said Tyler, referring to the studio owner. “I worked with Frankie Ford, Jimmy Clanton and Huey Smith. We had some hits but I never made much money.”

Matassa was big fan of Tyler’s.

“Red was the kind of guy who made quiet contributions to recording sessions,” said Matassa. “He was calm, hard working, had a lot of good ideas, and had an unassuming way of taking charge of things in the studio.”

While at Ace, Tyler cut a punchy, all instrumental album Rockin’ & Rollin’ which ironically is being reissued in England this month by West side Records.

In the early 1960s, Tyler was part of the group of musicians who founded AFO Records, the first black owned label in New Orleans. In 1963, he moved to California and recorded with Sam Cooke. After Cooke’s death the following year, he returned to New Orleans and became a co-owner of Parlo Records, the label which launched Aaron Neville’s ‘Tell It Like It Is” in 1966.

In the 1970s, Tyler began to work as a salesman for a liquor distributor. The job allowed him to augment his income and provided him with pension and health benefits. It also allowed him to cherry-pick his gigs and concentrate on playing jazz. During the decade he played weekends at Mason’s on South Claiborne Avenue leading the Gentlemen of Jazz with vocalist Germain Bazzle.

In the 1980s, Tyler began picking up session work with Rounder Records, backing the likes of Johnny Adams, Gatemouth Brown and James Booker. The association with Rounder lead to his two excellent jazz albums Graciously and Heritage.

In the 1990s, Tyler divided his time leading a jazz combo which often played at Snug Harbor, as well as touring with Dr. John. On July 9, 1997, the New Orleans city council declared the day Alvin “Red” Tyler Day.

“It’s funny, I’ve always considered myself a jazz player,” said Tyler. “But around the world I’m primarily known for R&B and rock and roll because of all those sessions I played on. It’s funny though, back then I didn’t pay too much attention to who was in the studio. I just wanted to play the session, get paid, and then do what I really loved–go out to a club and play jazz.”