Customer Reviews

Blues in Our Heart

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
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This is a spectacular set from start to finish, featuring a tight, polished, above all *swinging* band that explores New Orleans and Swing tunes with as much imagination and joy as reverence. Although the pieces are all classics, there's none of that "museum quality" that so often mars other performances of this repertoire. Sure, the influences are there--Bix, Louis, Dickenson, etc., and some fine Mortonesque pianism--but these musicians have assimilated the entire history of jazz on their respective instruments and offer us a true New Orleans style for our own age.

This magnificent recording takes you to the very heart and best of Jazz music. It's all there: from sprightly Duke Ellington to hauntingly meditative Robert Katscher, to the undying magic of Louis Armstrong. This is not just a collection of timeless pieces, but it is in its own right a timeless recording. Bravo David Ostwald.

If your idea of jazz is from its inception to early swing, don't think twice about this release. Every track is a gem with music associated with the Hot Five, Oliver and Ellington amongst others. Superb musicians who are well established as players in their own right but listen to the influences - the Bixish lead of Sandke, the Benny plus of Peps and the ebullient Wells/Dickenson trombone of Wycliffe Gordon. Great rhythm with the leader's punchy brass bass. Wonderful to hear Howard Alden in Reser mode on tenor banjo. Lovely single string runs on Jubilee stomp and Panama, which is mostly performed as a duet of clarinet and banjo. Above all the musicians convey a great sense of the enjoyment of playing together. Recommended without reservation. Buy it. Let's look forward hopefully to further compilations from this great band.

I bought this CD because as soon as I heard the music, it made me smile and put me in a good mood. There isn't one harsh note to be heard, and the rhythm section is so tight that it sounds as though you're listening to one instrument instead of several. You can't listen to this CD without reacting to it physically. I'm playing it while I'm trying to type this, and I keep stopping in order to snap my fingers. I have never known how to describe the feeling I get when I hear music that I love. All I can say is that the feeling is there on this CD. `Blues In Our Heart' FEELS GOOD. BUY IT.