Led by sousaphonist Roman Bartnicki, the R.B. Five is a quintet that also features trumpeter Dominik Mietla, trombonist Robert Szczerba, Janusz Witko on clarinet, tenor and soprano, and banjoist Wiktor Zydron. A spirited band from Poland that swings well despite not using a piano or drummer, the R.B. Five performs ten standards on their privately released CD.

There is nothing about these performances that necessarily sound Polish or European. One could imagine this group playing in the Midwest of the US and delighting local audiences.

The sousaphone playing is solid if basic, the banjoist fills in the background rhythmically, and each of the horn players takes consistently fine solos and contributes to clean ensembles within the Dixieland style. The group mostly performs the usual standards but also including a few offbeat numbers: “Louisiana Fairytale,” “Blue Skies,” and most notably a swinging rendition of “Mister Sandman.”

While there are few surprises, Dixie R.B. Five provides a pleasing set of middle-the-road Dixieland.

R.B. Dixie Five (Self-Released, 10 selections, TT = 39:52) contact [email protected]
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The Dixie RB Five

Scott Yanow
October 22, 2019
Album Reviews

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.

Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.