Although countless amazing recordings came out of Cosimo Matassa‘s J&M Recording Studio in the 1950s, very little of it was New Orleans musicians playing modern jazz. By that measure, the release of Gulf Coast Jazz: Volume 1 is a major event.

The American Jazz Quintet—the combo in which future heavyweights Ellis Marsalis, Harold Battiste, Alvin Batiste, Ed Blackwell and Richard Payne made such fine music—was sparsely recorded. This record, coming a couple years after their first session, In the Beginning, lets the audience have another listen to their playing in their early days, and it is an excellent set. All the songs have that ’50s hipness with a great deal of energy and pop.

It’s easy to hear how eager the players are to get their tunes on tape. Some of these are different versions of the same tunes as “In The Beginning,” but for songs such as “Fourth Month,” “Monkey Do,” and “Venetian Sky,” these are the first and sometimes only recorded versions of them. All the musicians here shine, but what makes this recording unique is the excellence and surprise of Alvin Batiste’s clarinet, and the interactions and melodies in drummer Ed Blackwell.

By the time of these recordings, the clarinet has been left behind in modern jazz, but Batiste’s virtuoso playing takes unexpected twists and turns, showing why he was the premier clarinet player in jazz. Blackwell’s rhythms are rooted in parade and New Orleans street music, and he is constantly conversing with the rest of band, emphasizing and contrasting their playing with a melodic touch.

As few people realize that New Orleans has a deep, long-lasting and fantastic modern jazz legacy, this terrific recording reveals a previously secret and alternate history of jazz in the Crescent City, and for that reason, should be heard by everyone.