Sammy Rimington & Big Bill Bissonnette In Denmark 1993

When a performance is recorded on location rather than in a studio, certain hazards with the sound quality loom, and they are not completely mitigated here. No information is given in the CD booklet about the sound recording provisions, and I would guess that the musicians were not individually miked. Thus on some tracks the bass is over-recorded, and on others one must strain a little to hear the trumpet. There is lack of balance and separation on many tracks, seeming to indicate there was either no or insufficient mixing. The result, unfortunately, is a good concert not receiving the quality of recording it deserved. The band on these discs, Peter Nissen’s New Orleans Jazz Band, is another of those first rate bands out of Europe, in this case Denmark. It is not, however, what I would classify as a New Orleans band, despite its name, as there is no emphasis on ensemble work and there is a good deal on soloing. It might be termed a good Dixieland band. The musicians all have something to say and have the opportunity here to do so, although occasionally one must lean in to hear it. Papa Joe Errington’s trumpet playing, as Bill Bissonnette says in the CD booklet, clearly shows Erringon to be a disciple of Louis Armstrong. The breaks he takes in “After You’ve Gone” (v. 1 #4), the opening cadenza on “Papa Joe’s Davenport Blues” (v. 2 #4), both suggest Armstrong, a