This album got lost in the shuffle, many of my notes date back a full year and I needed to refamiliarize myself with many of them. The only unusual thing about that is I have not let this album slip into the mass of over a hundred that, though more than worthy, will never get a review. I’ve had it on my list, but there were always themes or “must review” items getting in the way of those albums, like this one, I choose to give ink to.
Not one of these musicians in Sunny Side has had their name in The Syncopated Times, until now, which I love. Only in New Orleans is that even possible. It’s been years since all the names on a West Coast or NYC album were unfamiliar to me. That is because New Orleans is still drawing them in like a bug light. Cheap enough to live and work enough for all. If you are the kid in your high school jazz band listening to “the old stuff” at home where else are you gonna go?
Sunny Side is fronted by vocalist Darold Alexander. He has a warm old school crooner voice. Kermit Ruffins uses a similarly clear inflection and he’s as New Orleans as you can get. In fact, the second track “Sunny Side of the Street,” is one I strongly associate with Kermit. On a previously released live set Alexander is listed as a tap dancer as well as a vocalist, so he knows how to impress a crowd. The band is Adam Arredondo on trumpet, Andy Page on alto sax, Adam Les
