Personnel: Jimmy Noone’s “Yes Yes Club” Band: Jimmy Noone [cl], Frank Smith [pn], John Frazier [sbs], Wallace Bishop [dm]
Songs: Sweet Lorraine 1 & 2, Porter’s Love Song, Goodbye Don’t Cry, Honeysuckle Rosa, Blues for Mr. Roy, Memories of You, Oh! Lady Be Good

Personnel: Henry Red Allen’s All-Stars: Henry Red Allen, Jimmy McPartland [tp], Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden [tb], Buster Bailey, Pee Wee Russell, Bud Freeman [rd], Lil Armstrong, Joe Sullivan [pn], Johnny St. Cyr [bn], Milt Hinton, Bob Haggert [sbs], Zutty Singleton, Gene Krupa [dm]
Songs: Doctor Jazz, Original Jelly Roll Blues, Jam Session Medley: Cornet Chop Suey, After You’ve Gone, The Pearls, Heebie Jeebies, Wolverine Blues, Boogie Woogie, Tiger Rag

Personnel: Celestin’s Band: Albert Walters [tp], Joe “Brother Cornbread” Thomas [cl], Eddie Pierson [tb], Jeanette Kimball [pn], Albert French [bn], Sidney “Jim Little” Brown [sbs], Louis Barbarin [dm]
Songs: High Society, If Ever I Cease to Love, When I Grow Too Old To Dream, Bye Bye Blackbird, Boogie, When the Saints Go Marching In, In the Groove, Goodnight Irene/Home Sweet Home

All Music Guide - U. S. A.

This is the second album of a set of private sessions which were recorded by amateur recording technicians. They represent truly special happenings in jazz. The first eight tracks are from the last known recording of the seminal clarinet player Jimmie Noone working with his own group. Since this was a privately made recording, the noise of the crowd at Yes Yes Club, where Noone was playing, is heard at higher levels than it would otherwise have been on a professional taping, adding to the authenticity of the session while not hindering appreciation of his stellar performance. Although influencing Benny Goodman, Noone's command of the three registers of the clarinet, his expressive breaks, and use of blue notes inspired many of his contemporaries, including Joe Marsala and clarinetists to come, such as Eric Dolphy.
The next session is from a 1950s TV show which featured another jazz pioneer, Henry "Red" Allen, who headed up a veritable who's who of traditional jazz. This was a jam session-like presentation, with each cracker jack instrumentalist getting a chance to solo. The "Jazz Session Medley" is more than seven minutes of hot traditional jazz, which doesn't get much better than what's heard here. One highlight is Jack Teagarden's vocalizing of "After You've Gone."
It's the last set that catches the eye. Papa Celestin's band, without the trumpeter, plays for a white wedding in New Orleans in 1957. And, like most weddings, the emphasis was on having fun rather than to making jazz statement. Not that it was done badly, but making a defining statement on traditional jazz was not the main objective that evening. Kudos to the Jazz Crusade label for making these rare jazz performances available and with good sound.
- Dave Nathan

Jazz Gazette - Belgium - internet

If this CD should only contain the last session, the one by the Celestin Band playing for a wedding, it would be a must for every true New Orleans collector. Consider the rest as "lagniappe" like they call it in New Orleans, something extra you get for the same money. First we get a live recording by Jimmie Noone's little band at the Yes Yes Club in Chicago. This was the last recording under his own name; Jimmie died in 1944. It was recorded at his request by jazz buff and historian John Steiner (the ne who bought Paramount Records and much later sold it to George Buck). Jimmie wanted one tune recorded, "Goodbye, Don't Cry" to play it for the people at RCA Victor in view of a future recording session for that label. Today they'd call it a "demo". The discographies show that this session never took place. The only time Jimmie recorded for Victor was in 1940. It's interesting to hear one of the greatest New Orleans clarinet players (a pupil of Lorenzo Tio) on a club date this late in his career. According to John Steiner other tunes played on that date were not recorded because they were not "jazzy""enough, tunes like "Lilacs In The Rain" and "Three Little Fishes". I would have liked to hear them but jazz fans were JAZZ fans in those days! That's probably why there are so few recorded examples of New Orleans bands playing waltzes etc. although the many interviews with musicians tell us they DID, and the few that were recorded prove they did it in a unique and wonderful way. As it is, we should be glad to have these rare recorded examples of Jimmie Noone playing a real job. Interesting too that he is playing a song ("Memories Of You") made famous by the Benny Goodman recording of it, while Benny was very much influenced by Noone when he started out. This session was only available before on a Swaggie LP from the early sixties, today a real collector item. Sound is of course not hi-fi, but clear enough.
The details on the "Chicago And All That Jazz" TV show I have given here are somewhat different from those in the CD notes. I have written them down after looking again at a video of the show. This was a typical American TV-show with a great musical potential present but no opportunity to fully enjoy it because of the shortness of most numbers. The Medley details are: 'Cornet Chop Suey': the New Orleans Band, 'After You've Gone': the Chicago Band with Jack Teagarden (vcl), 'The Pearls': Lil Armstrong (pno) Mae Barnes (dms), 'Heebie Jeebies': Lil Armstrong (pno,vcl) Mae Barnes (vcl) assisted by Red Allen (tpt) and Buster Bailey (clt), 'Wolverine Blues': the Chicago Band, 'Pine Top's Boogie Woogie':Meade Lux Lewis (pno), 'Tiger Rag': the two bands and Meade Lux Lewis. The drumming between the different parts of the medley is by Gene Krupa.In a way this was an historical occasion: Kid Ory and Jack Teagarden swapping a break and playing together on 'Tiger Rag'! So this is really a collector item but musically it' s a little bit too frantic for my taste.
The relaxed music of the Celestin Band playing for a white wedding party makes for a great contrast with the preceding tracks. In fact this was the band led by Albert French, who took over the Celestin band after Celestin died in 1954, but kept the original name of the group. It's not only important because it is a rare example of a genuine New Orleans band playing functional music, but also because we can listen to some fine musicians who didn't record that much: Albert Walters, Eddie Pierson and Sidney Brown. The latter was "Big Jim" Robinson's nephew, hence his nickname. Given the circumstances and the date of recording, the fidelity is absolutely fine. The recording has captured the happy mood of the cheerful occasion perfectly. This is good time music at it's best. There is a lot of singing here. The singers were not identified, but I definitely recognise the voices of "Cornbread" and "Papa" French. Other members of the band might be singing too. One of the most remarkable numbers is "If Ever I Cease To Love", previously recorded by the Original Zenith Brass Band, and composed, if I remember well, by a member of the British Royalty, to become an evergreen for Mardi Gras. Another unexpected item is Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene". It's a small miracle that such treasures pop up more than 40 years after they were privately recorded! Let us hope more of this stuff will come to light in the future. Like I said at the start of this review, the 37 minutes of this wedding party music alone would make this an absolute must for the real New Orleans collector. Hearing Jimmie Noone at a club date and Ory and Tea together on Tiger rag must be the lagniappe of the year! Get it!
- Marcel Joly

Jazz Classique - France

Big Bill Bissonnette has started to publish on his Jazz Crusade label some rare recordings. Volume 2 will interest the new orleans style fan for several reasons as it presents Jimmie Noone, Red Allen, and Papa Célestin¹s band. Jimmie Noone¹s clarinet, recorded by John Steiner at the "Yes Yes Club" of Chicago on 17 July 1941 is here clearly audible. Noone strolls on with his war horses. Frank Smith (p) and John Frazier (sbs) play remarkably well and Wallace Bishop (dr) plays terrific. A trick by Noone that I had never paid attention to: he attacks many of his phrases by a sustained note before jumping in his pyrotechnics. A must for all clarinet players.
Under the name of Red Allen All-Stars we find next excerpts of the Dupont-TV Show, filmed on 26 november 1961. The tunes are glued one to another, without space. Here we have a New Orleans style group and one formed with Chicagoans. The N.O. group starts. Lil Hardin with, according to Marcel Joly, Mae Barnes (vocal/drums) start a wild Dr. Jazz. Red Allen concludes the tune in a fantastic way. Red dominates these recordings, climbing up in the high register as he is seldom heard on recordings, displaying an incredible majesty. Original Jelly Roll Blues has a dream rhythm section : Johnny St. Cyr, Milt Hinton & Zutty Singleton. Buster Bailey shows that he knows his classics, Kid Ory takes a beautiful solo and Red delivers his audacious phrasings in his solo as well as in the ensemble. All this has been rehearsed, the jam is really organized. From then on Gene Krupa's drumming makes the link between all the tunes. Through Cornet Chop Suey Red surfs in his virtuoso manner. Next comes the band including Jimmie McPartland, Teagarden, Pee Wee Russell, Bud Freeman, Joe Sullivan, Eddie Condon, Bob Haggart and Krupa. Teagarden sings After You¹ve Gone (backed by another trombone, Ory ?), Lil Hardin plays The Pearls with Mae Barnes on drums; they continue with Heebie Jeebies on which Mae Barnes shares some 2/2 with Allen and Bailey. Wolverine is played by the Chicago group. Follows a solo by Meade Lux Lewis on Boogie Woogie. The two groups end on a wild Tiger Rag, enthusiastic and messy due to the poor recording quality and the number of players: Krupa plays a long and energetic introduction, McPartland leads, then Red bursts out, a bit too far from the mike. A curiosity : two breaks, one by Teagarden, the other by Ory just before the rag part. For Red's fans.
The third part of this CD transports us to New Orleans in August 1957. Banjoist Albert Papa French and trombonist Eddie Pierson continued Papa Célestin¹s orchestra after his death in 1954. The band is here caught live by an amateur recording during a wedding party. Nothing musically genius but you'd think you are there: the fragrance of the Town is restituted like seldom. The band is not giving a concert but plays to put the people in the ambiance, to make them happy, to have them singing, dancing. The music does not have the fire nor the craziness of the 1948 band but one must understand the context. . Here we have a regular New Orleans band in the 50s, with its head arrangements specially on In The Groove, the best tune of this session. Albert Walters is a remarkable trumpeter, with his sober lead and high register incursions. He plays relaxed but he's got a lot of reserve, not much would be needed for him to burst out. Clarinetist Joe Cornbread Thomas takes most of the solos, with very simple phrasings, typical of the local style, and very efficient. Nothing like Noone, but even more New Orleans in a sense: "we play like we play". Unfortunately Jeannette Kimball cannot be heard, not even on the boogie! Eddie Pierson takes a good solo on In the Groove and The Saints. Papa French sings pleasantly, bringing musicians and listeners in joining him. His banjo style, with a systematic accentuation of the after beat will perhaps please some listeners, but personally I prefer a real 4/4 style. With a careful listening one will be able to appreciate the varied style of playing of Louis Barbarin (Paul's brother). But the main interest (for me) of this CD is that for the first time Sidney "Jim Little" Brown's string bass can be distinctly heard. Brown was the formidable bass player of the Sam Morgan Band, one of the creators of the style which is here restituted to us, far from the mainstream lines of bass used by certain dixieland bands. Brown usually starts with a relaxed 2/4, passes on to a 4/4 behind the clarinet solo, and keeps the 4/4 until he lifts up the last ensemble. His playing has evolved since the 1927 recordings, the famous broken chords are still there but livened up with small bass lines. He alternates 2/4, 4/4, transitions, harmonizes very well, all tricks which can certainly be of great interest for bass players. Indeed every bass player in New Orleans had its own way of playing while staying in the general style. We have here a historical document which illustrates this fact. The Saints has two solos by Barbarin followed by two solos by Brown (to my knowledge his only bass solos ever recorded). A festive jazz, as some say nowadays in France to oppose this music to the more contemporary jazz qualified of ³creative². For lovers of authentic new orleans style.
- Dan Vernhettes

Mississippi Rag - U. S. A.

This is Jazz Crusade's second volume of diverse material played by New Orleans musicians. The Noone and Alien material has appeared previously on LP. The sides by "Celestin's Band" are from a live recording and do not seem to have appeared elsewhere.
The Noone session was recorded live in 1941 at the "Yes Yes Club" in Chicago. The late Chicago Jazz historian John Steiner deserves a posthumous award for recording this wonderful music. Noone was in top form, sailing through swinging, uptempo versions of standards and playing his trademark "whippoorwills" on the ballads. Pianist Frank Smith played a more linear style than his predecessors in Noone's bands, but the "Chicago" elements as exemplified by Earl Hines are nevertheless discernible. Bassist John Frazier provided a solid foundation. Wallace Bishop was Earl Mines' drummer in the early-to-mid '30s. His energetic playing on this date is a joy to hear, and he clearly inspired Noone to play some red-hot, wailing choruses on the faster numbers. This is mandatory listening for any clarinetist or drummer who wants to swing!
Tracks 9 through 11 are listed as the "Red Alien All-Stars," though I don't believe that is what the group was called on the Chicago And All That Jazz television program. It truly is a stellar lineup: Henry "Red" Alien, Kid Dry, Buster-Bailey, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Johnny St. Cyr, Milt Hinton and Zutty Singleton. Their versions of "Doctor Jazz" and "Jelly Roll Blues" on the TV show were terrific. So were the short versions of "Cornet Chop Suey," "After You've Gone," "The Pearls," "Heebie Jeebies," "Wolverine Blues," "Boogie Woo-gie" and "Tiger Rag" which are included in the "Jam Session Medley." (The friendly "cutting contest" between the New Orleans band and the "Chicagoans" -- Jimmy McPartland, Jack Teagar-den, Pee Wee Russell, Bud Freeman, Joe Sullivan, Eddie Condon, Bob Haggart and Gene Krupa -was one of the all-time jazz-on-television highlights. Words cannot describe the emotions triggered by Teagarden and Ory trading breaks on "Tiger Rag)"!
Producer Bissonnette describes the live recording by "Celestin's Band" as "rollicking unpretentious jazz." It is actually better music than that description would indicate. The personnel is: Albert Walters, trumpet; Eddie Pierson, trombone; "Brother Cornbread" Thomas, clarinet; Jeanette Kimball, piano; Albert French, banjo and vocals; Sidney "Jim Little" Brown, bass; and the superb Louis Barbarin, drums. This music would not have been out of place on small labels like Icon, Pearl, or San Jacinto. The recording quality is desultory, with off-mic vocals and audible conversation from the audience, but how fortunate we are that someone had the good sense to record it at all! The liner notes describe the setting for the recording (a 1957 wedding reception in New Orleans). The repertoire includes the Carnival-time perennial "If Ever I Cease To Love," good pop tunes such as "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" and "In The Groove" (a/k/a "Exactly Like You'VEight, Nine and Ten") and the inevitable "Saints."
- Hal Smith

King’s Jazz Review—British Internet Jazz Magazine

When I review a CD, without any conscious action I always listen oft times to it. Strange, but when I came to Bye Bye Blackbird midway through the Celestin’s Band programme on the first run, I immediately returned to start, and reran it through non-stop to completion.
The result being that I conclude it is "well done" for Jazz Crusade in putting together this Volume 2 of "Rare Cuts" of contrasting recordings, some, never every being heard before, stretching back in time from 1941 to 1957, of legendary moments of jazz history brought here to the benefit thus of extending, expanding the jazz population interests worldwide.
Jimmie Noone @ the Yes Yes Club: The crackling sound being nostalgic to me, but could have done with the pleasant Wallace Bishop drums dampened down a bit. It was good to hear the Noone clarinet over an eight tracks stretch. His interpretation of tunes Honeysuckle Rose and Memories Of You are outstanding with a touch of classical skills and trills undertones coming though in his playing, particularly so on Porter’s Love Song and Goodbye Don’t Cry showing that the Jimmie Noone quartet has delightful qualities.
Red Allen All-Stars: The main line-up and musician additions to the Red Allen All-Stars will be a revelation to handfuls of fans and musicians alike here in England, out of whom, myself, having heard only Pee Wee Russell among them play live here, and that was at the Morden jazz club, in Surrey, years back. The clarity and dexterity of the Gene Krupa drumming is for cherishing. Jack Teagarden sings on After You’ve Gone a sound unique to him. Good support for this tune After by Bobby Haggart on string bass. Blossom Sealey hits the town by her vocals on Heebie-Jeebies supported by Lil Armstrong on piano, and going "call and response" with Henry Red on trumpet, also notable on Cornet Chop Suey. Joe Sullivan hits wonderful piano keys on Boogie Woogie. McPartland and Allen knock it out together with trumpets on Tiger Rag. The sax of Bud Freeman on Wolverine Blues - it's all there - it's all great stuff. The main octet handles Dr Jazz and Original Jelly Roll Blues, all with abundant apperception - won’t one say - I shall, and have done so.
Celestin’s Band Plays A Wedding: Walters, Brother-Cornbread and company go into High Society with heads held high, holding very much their own, noting that clarinettist Joseph "Brother Cornbread" Thomas takes full command of the tune. It’s a wedding and before the end of If I ever Cease To Love celebrations appear to begin to take effect, that is to say, knees-up, sing and dance routines, exactly like one can do In The Grove, indeed, vocals chant on all but one of the eight tunes. That said the musicianship is of a high standard, and not all that pedestrian under the circumstances, which trumpeter Albert Walters of the Celestins can be proud. Well Done.
- Ian King

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