If you look at George Buck’s Jazzology CD catalog, you’ll find an item listed as Tony Parenti’s New Orleans Shufflers, with Jack Fine on cornet, recorded in New York City in 1954. Well, here it is 51 years later and Jack, who you’ll hear on this Palmetto Bug Stompers CD, is still blowing away. That’s more of a tribute, I’d say, to good genes than it is to clean living.

When Jack Fine first moved to our town ten years ago after several decades in New York, Paris, and mysterious Pennsylvania where he hails from, he complained that a lot of the local bands didn’t like him sitting in. The reason, he said, is because he played with such power, he blew everyone else off the stand. It eventually occurred to him that this was not necessarily a good thing. Happily, he has mellowed since. In fact, he’s gotten to the point where the manager of the Royal St. Charles Hotel, where Jack sits in with a pleasant young singer named Elva, declared an official “Jack Fine Day” just before I was given this CD to review. He presented Jack with an appropriately framed proclamation, renamed the bar “Jack’s Corner,” and with equal significance, served up drinks on the house.

The Palmetto Bug Stompers was primarily a street band until the Old Point Bar in Algiers decided to give them a shot at playing indoors. They’ve been packing them in ever since. The band consists of Jack on cornet and vocals, Scotty Hill, trombone, Washboard Chaz on you know what and vocals, Seva Venet, electric guitar, and Robert Snow on bass. They are all pretty fair musicians but they play in a rough-hewn style that’s suited to the streets, a sound that they favor as a matter of choice.
That is the kind of playing you’ll hear on this CD. The cuts are a bit uneven but that’s deliberate too. This is no slick studio makeover. Most of the tunes were done in one take and this is the band as you’ll hear it on the job. If you’ve heard the Palmetto Bugs a couple of times, the numbers will be familiar. My personal favorite is the first cut, “Mama Inez,” with Jack in one of his more laid back moods. Other tunes include “Georgia Grind,” “Walking With The King,” “Farewell Blues,” “Rockin’ Chair,” “Do What Ory Say,” “Big Butter And Egg Man”-all familiar war horses. Every one of these musicians has a personal style and indeed a personality that shines through, but I particularly want to mention Washboard Chaz, the kind of character who makes you feel good about living in New Orleans.

Now understand this: listening to Jack Fine and Scotty Hill is not like listening to Leroy Jones and Craig Klein. But it’s not intended to be. What you have here is a joyful and authentic CD that is ideal for this group to sell from their bandstand. If you’ve ever been in the Old Point or one of the other swinging young people’s bars where these guys hold forth, it doesn’t matter whether you were there for the music or to ogle the good looking girls. Here’s a chance to take home a piece of the action, a snapshot in music of some good old New Orleans fun.