JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH
George Buck (1928-2013) recorded and released so many rewarding New Orleans jazz albums throughout his life that it is easy for some sessions to be overlooked and forgotten. New Orleans Reunion, which features clarinetist Tommy Sancton, pianist David Paquette, and drummer Pam Pameijer, is a spirited gem that New Orleans jazz fans will love.
Sancton spent 22 years working as a writer for Time Magazine as their bureau chief in Paris. However he grew up in New Orleans, took some lessons from George Lewis, played with the Black Eagle Jazz Band in the early 1970s and, despite some periods away from music, retained his warm sound and fluent style on clarinet through the years. He had played duets in New Orleans with the excellent classic jazz pianist David Paquette in 1970. In 1989 they crossed paths for the first time in years at a jazz festival in Switzerland and decided to record a trio album. With Sancton’s old friend drummer Pam Pameijer, they recorded New Orleans Reunion. Although it took place at a studio in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, it is very much in the flavor of New Orleans and the French Quarter.
Sancton (who sings on “Gee Gee Blues”) and his trio are featured in top form. Paquette contributes four vocals in a gruff but likable voice during a set that mixes together swinging renditions of such standards as “Girl Of My Dreams,” “Rose R
