Ever since the advent of George Webb’s Dixielanders in the forties, the UK has been fortunate in its abundance of traditional jazz groups. Dozens have come (and gone) since then, some well-known, others less so. The band featured on this CD, the West London Rhythm Kings, is one with which many aficionados, especially those outside the UK, may not be familiar since it has not toured extensively or made many recordings other than a few that are available on YouTube.
While the band is still to be heard on occasion, sadly it has to be without about half of those musicians heard here, as John Keen informed me in an email. Evans, Knight, and Kennedy formed a solid New Orleans-style rhythm section, never rushing but propelling the front line, regardless of who was in it—all of them no longer with us. Also joining them was Dyer, a stalwart on trombone.
The bill of fare is a good one, mixing some well-known tunes with some lesser-known ones. Not too many bands have Get out of Here and Go on Home, Salutation March, Down Home Rag, or Down Beneath the Sheltering Palms in their books. And the unusually slow tempo of Canal Street Blues makes it sound like a new tune—and a beauty, to boot!
In the front line, Keen provides a defining lead, staying in the middle register mainly but not averse to venturing into the upper register as he does, for instance, in out-choruses of The Eyes of Texas.
