If you are interested in the history of New Orleans jazz, here’s an opportunity to own a piece of it. Papa Celestin was one of the key figures in the New Orleans revival of the 1940s and ’50s. There is a photo in the liner notes of a banner advertising Celestin’s band outside the old Paddock Bar at 309 Bourbon Street, right across from where the Royal Sonesta is located today. In those days, the Paddock was an absolute must for anyone who wanted to hear early New Orleans jazz, the role that Preservation Hall assumed from the ’60s on.

Producer Barry Martyn is particularly interested in the first seven cuts of the CD done in 1954 by a band that included alto sax player Adolphe Alexander, one of the rare early sax men in New Orleans jazz. This is the first time these sides have ever been issued, and Alexander was rarely recorded. You can hear him playing baritone on the famous Bunk’s Brass Band sides which are the first known recordings of a true New Orleans brass band, but that’s about it. The CD begins with a version of “Panama” that sounds a bit muddied at its opening, enough to give some credence to the theory that there’s not much place for the saxophone in early New Orleans jazz. But the other cuts featuring Alexander are just fine and his work is well worth hearing.

I find the next eight cuts on the CD of equal interest because they feature clarinetist Alphonse Picou, who is truly one of the great figures in jazz history. Picou is credited with composing the clarinet solo that is a traditional part of “High Society” and which can still be heard just about every time that tune is played today. And what could be more incongruous than to hear the originator of that famous solo playing Woody Herman’s “Woodchopper’s Ball”? But here it is.