Eight Dice Cloth • The Songs and Arrangements of Armand J. Piron

New Orleans’ Eight Dice Cloth forges a new path with their latest album, The Songs and Arrangements of Armand J. Piron, a vibrant tribute to one of the Crescent City’s most influential jazz pioneers. Recorded to tape by engineers Morgan Orion and Ian Wood, this grant-funded project supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation showcases the band’s devotion to reviving early jazz gems. Led by clarinetist and alto saxophonist Kala Chandra, Eight Dice Cloth approaches the compositions of Armand J. Piron with a fresh yet reverent touch. Recording to tape is practically a fetish of young musicians, but in this case, it does add an appropriate vintage touch. Compared head to head with recordings of Piron’s New Orleans Orchestra from the pre-1925 acoustic recording era they can sound like happily remastered versions.

The ensemble; Jean-Paul Brion (trombone), Nathan Wolman (trumpet), Christopher Booth (violin), Dylan Grove (washboard), Aaron Gunn (tenor banjo), Jacky Blaire (guitar), and Zachary Thomas (upright bass), weave a tapestry of sound that feels both timeless and invigorating, whether you are a jazz historian analyzing each cut with all the most classic versions of these titles dancing in your head or idly looking out at the Bywater streets and dreaming about when they were dusty, this set satisfies.

Armand J. Piron, a violinist and composer born in New Orleans in 1888, was a titan of the city’s early jazz scene. Leading his own orchestra in the 1910s and 1920s, and traveling to New York City to play the Cotton Club and other venues in 1923 they were one of the most popular Black bands in New Orleans. He continued to play around the city, perhaps as late as the 1940s, but never made it back to the studio after 1925.

Because not a lot of recording was happening in New Orleans in the 20s, and his handful of recordings were before improved techniques hit the scene, A.J. Piron the composer is now better known than Armand J. Piron the bandleader and violinist. As a composer and publisher, with business partner Clarence Williams until 1919, and then on his own into the 1930s, he had a lasting impact on jazz. This album serves as a fitting homage to his contributions.

Piron crafted sophisticated yet soulful tunes that blended Creole influences with the emerging jazz sound. His compositions carried a unique elegance, marked by intricate arrangements and melodic richness. With his popularity as a bandleader and standing in the African American community as a businessman, other bands rushed to pick up his compositions and make them standards.

Still commonly heard titles like “Bouncing Around” and “Mama’s Gone Goodbye” reflect his knack for blending danceable rhythms with emotional depth, a quality Eight Dice Cloth captures on this album. They seem to have focused on tracks he actually recorded, and so possibly his most famous work, “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate,” is not included. The result is an album that is similar in feel and style to a reissue of his 1923-25 Piron’s New Orleans Orchestra recordings, but without the crackle, and while they follow Piton’s arrangements, it is not intended as pure recreation.

Eight Dice Cloth, a fixture at The Maison on Frenchmen Street, has evolved since their 2014 formation from a roving street band to a polished ensemble dedicated to honoring the early jazz of New Orleans. Their latest delivers performances that balance scholarly reverence with infectious energy. The album’s ten tracks shimmer with the band’s signature interplay. Chandra’s clarinet and alto sax dance around Booth’s lyrical violin, Piron’s own instrument. Booth and his violin have been critical to the band’s sound from the beginning, and he is why Piron was a natural choice for them. The violin was a critical part of many early jazz bands, fading out in the early recording era from its once-prominent role on the front line, only to later reappear in manouche or western swing settings when recording and live amplification technology had improved. But I digress…

Wolman on trumpet, seasoned from his work with Secret Six and Doro Wat, plays with a captivating authenticity, while Brion’s trombone injects a warm groove pulling you to the New Orleans eternal present. Listen to “Do Just as I Say” for reference. There is nothing showy or overboard in the performance, the lead is passed around but everyone keeps it beautifully straightforward, and it matches the feel of the 1925 source recording perfectly, despite lacking a piano-led rhythm. At the same time, despite not being as eager a sound as most bands play in live settings, it would be a well received performance at the Maison, or any other New Orleans haunt where traditional jazz is celebrated.

The rhythm section includes Thomas’s vital upright bass, Gunn’s crisp tenor banjo, Grove on washboard and Blaire on guitar. They drive the music with a nuanced pulse. While Piron had a piano on at least some of his recordings, the rhythm relied primarily on that stroking banjo drive and this team captures it well.

What sets this album apart is its emotional range. Tracks like “Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Bright Star Blues” capture Piron’s knack for wistful beauty, and showcase the symphony of moods he was capable of instilling in a three minute arrangement. Meanwhile, “Lou’isiana Swing” and “New Orleans Wiggle” bring the high-stepping strut of a second line. Grove’s washboard and Gunn’s banjo push the tempo just right.

The band avoids mere replication, instead infusing each tune with the sensibility of the musicians involved, all are part of that Post-Katrina revival of trad jazz in the city. They make Piron feel alive, not museum-bound. A musician and a man, rather than that ubiquitous composer’s credit— (A.J. Piron). That said, this is a perfect set for the New Orleans Jazz Museum stage, and I would be surprised if that wasn’t in the works already. You would expect, given the sponsor, they could get some time in the Economy Hall tent next Jazz Fest.

Works by bands dedicated to one artist are not uncommon, indeed, they are some of my favorites. King Oliver has had several of these tributes in recent years. On the other end of the spectrum are albums dedicated to the truly obscure. Armond Piron hits the sweet spot for this format, known by name to everyone with a substantial interest in early jazz, without his actual recordings, his own takes on the material he wrote, having been heard by even some serious fans. For that reason, I think this album deserves a listen from collectors. It is available for download on Bandcamp now, and physical formats are in the works.

The Songs and Arrangements of Armand J. Piron
Eight Dice Cloth
eightdicecloth.bandcamp.com