The French Preservation New Orleans Jazz Band* was founded some twenty-five years ago by reed man J[ean]P[ierre] Alessi. During that time the group has issued over twenty CDs, some of which I have been privileged to review, and as an examination of the personnel of the CDs shows, only a few of the same musicians appear on several of them. While most jazz bands experience personnel changes from time to time, not many have a complete turnover during their existence. The French Preservation New Orleans Jazz Band does, however, as one can see by comparing the personnel of several CDs, such as BS01, URCD299D, FPCD15, where the only constant presence is that of Alessi himself.
Alessi assembles these groups of musicians with a careful eye (and ear). Each musician is a master of the collective improvisation that marks the traditional New Orleans style that Alessi aims for, each having long made careful study of the New Orleans pioneers who developed the style. Accordingly, the line-up in each case is frequently international, as it is in the CD under consideration. Alessi is French, Turnock English, Van Pelt Dutch, Roelant possibly Dutch, de Smet Belgian, and Upravan Laotian/French. At other times the band has included Fred Vigorito (America) on cornet, Kjeld Brandt (Denmark) on clarinet, Sammy Rimington (England) on clarinet, Soren Sorensen (Denmark) on tenor saxophone, to mention a few. Regardless of country of origin, Alessi does not hesitate to enlist them for the contributions they can make to the ensemble playing he seeks, or as De Smet puts it in his liner notes, the “collective, organic music, a universal language appreciated the world over by audiences of all origins and cultures.”
Most of the tunes on this CD will be familiar, exceptions being, perhaps, “Rebecca Boogie” and “Emanuel Paul Boogie.” The former is accredited to “TRAD” (almost as ubiquitous as “ANON”), and the latter to the well-known tenor sax player of that name, Emanuel Paul, who played with the Eureka Brass Band and the Kid Thomas Valentine band in New Orleans. While “boogie” might conjure up visions of a piano solo, the whole band plays these tracks here with the piano allotted a solo within each. On all of the CD’s tracks, the band members are given space to improvise, the length of the cuts reaching from 4m 23s to 7m 18s, most being in the 6 to 7 minute range.
The French Preservation Hall New Orleans Jazz Band, like a number of New Orleans bands, has a two-man front line of trombone and reed, either one taking the lead and the other playing counterpoint. (On other occasions a cornet or trumpet is added to the front line.) Thus the first track, ”Over the Waves,” opens with the trombone leading, accompanied by the rhythm section which is a bit ponderous in this instance. In the second chorus, the trombone switches to “Lara’s Theme” (aka “Somewhere My Love”) from Dr. Zhivago, the chords for both being simpatico. Adding to the interest, in the third chorus a slapstick is introduced (Kid Thomas wielded a slapstick with his band)—but no credit is given to who is playing it here. The slapstick can also be heard on the third track, “Rebecca Boogie,” behind the piano, and again on the penultimate track, “Algiers Strut.”
This being a live recording with no chance for editing, there are a couple of minor glitches, mainly concerning the codas. The first of these, on “Rebecca Boogie,” to avert confusion Alessi ends the tune with a long whole note, forcing the rest into a closing chord and saving the day. The other, the coda to “Just a Closer Walk,” is not “rescued” and seems to simply “peter out.” Finally, for some reason track 6 is misnamed. It is “Joe Avery’s Piece,” not the listed “Streets of the City.”
Other than these blips, this is a fine recording by a group of fine musicians. Van Pelt is not averse to working on the right end of the keyboard, as he does especially in “Emanuel Paul Boogie” where, in his solo, he starts, as he often does, in the upper register, which he finds most congenial. It goes without saying, however, that he is a masterful pianist.
Being an ex-drummer myself, I will reserve the last comments for the drummer here. Roeland has good command of the New Orleans drumming style, as he demonstrates in his drum solos with their pressed rolls and rimshot accents in “Joe Avery’s Piece” and “Algiers Strut.” While he leans a little more toward Sammy Penn’s drumming style than I care for, he is quite a commanding drummer.
This CD is a worthy addition to the band’s discography. Like all Upbeat CDs, it can be had from the Upbeat Recordings’ web site www.upbeatmailorder.co.uk and from other web sites such as Amazon.
Bert Thompson is Professor Emeritus of English at City College of San Francisco. A retired trad jazz drummer, today he reviews traditional jazz CDs and writes occasional articles for several publications. Write him at btdrums@comcast.net.
Live in Belgium
French Preservation Hall New Orleans Jazz Band
Upbeat URCD340
Over the Waves; You Broke Your Promise; Rebecca Boogie; Just a Closer Walk; Abide with Me; Street [sic] of the City; Emmanuel Paul Boogie; The Old Rugged Cross; Algiers Strut; Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet.
Personnel: JP Alessi, leader, tenor and alto sax; Emile Van Pelt, Piano; Siphan Upravan, Banjo; Brian Turnock, string bass; Phillipe De-Smelt, trombone; JP Roeland, drums.
Recorded live at the Burgundy Jazz Club, Ghent, Belgium, Feb. 12, 2023.
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*This seems to be the first CD where the word Hall has been introduced “officially” into the band’s name, perhaps to emphasize that this is the type of music one could hear at Preservation Hall in New Orleans—although from what I hear from recent visitors to New Orleans I am not so sure such music is to be heard there today. Interestingly, both JP Alessi and Brian Carrick, in the liner notes to Upbeat URCD331 – Steaming Hot Jazz at the Irigny Festival, also refer to the band as “The French Preservation Hall New Orleans Jazz Band,” as I pointed out in my review of that CD, but such inclusion is not found on the band’s title on URCD331, as it is here on URCD340.
