Customer Reviews

Complete Recordings: Recorded In New Orleans, 1925-1928

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This is one of those CD's that came up as a "recommendation" cross-reference on many of the 20's jazz cd's that I've bought on amazon. I looked at it and finally bought it. WOW - what a hot group this was! Mind you, there's not much anything hotter from the mid-20's than Louis Armstrong, Bix and Morton's Red Hot Peppers but I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS! What were the white groups doing? Some of them (like the Halfway House Orchestra) were playing some blazing jazz that is amazing if you're enjoying this era. Goofus Five, Early Ted Lewis, The Charleston Chasers and Red Nichols have NOTHING on this bunch. And the sound is as good as it can be. WOW!

If we consider Dixieland as a subset of '20's jazz, with a New Orleans origin, this band is one of the first and probably the most influential. Abbie Brunies (cornet) and Charlie Cordella (clarinet) are remarkable players and are more than ably assisted by other New Orleans stalwarts, including Leon Rapollo.

All sides are fine, but the really good ones (Pussy Cat Rag, Barataria, Maple Leaf Rag, Let Me Call You Sweetheart) are available elsewhere. Still, this is good stuff and can be enjoyed for listening as well as history.

The sound quality is very good and the album notes are worthwhile. I enjoyed this album very much.

Well, let me begin by quoting John Wilby in the liner notes: "This is not the sort of music we might consider Hot Jazz, rather it is Dance Music played hot!"

And it really swings. The Halfway House was a New Orleans supper club about midway between New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain, accounting for its somewhat unusual name. This is a white dance band playing hot ragtime and Dixieland, great stuff. Recorded between 1925-1928, the original 78's have been transferred and remastered by the amazing John R.J. Davies, and they sound *great*!!! Thanks Jazz Oracle, for another complete catalog of artistry from an almost forgotten era.

These recordings were created by Albert Brunies' resident band of the Halfway House, which establishment lay between New Orleans and Lake Ponchartrain. The recordings, from first Okeh and then Columbia, were made by a mobile recording unit on field trips south. They are remarkable for the sense of effortless cohesion that permeates them, and by the band's ability to jazz up such relatively unpromising material as "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and "I'll Go Back to that Dear Old Pal o' Mine".

It's an illustration of the fact that early jazz was played for dancing, and that it's often difficult to distinguish between the two. What cannot be gainsaid is that this was a hot dance band which was not afraid to inhabit jazz territory, and did so with great gusto. Just listen to the first four tracks (the first two graced by the presence of the grat NORK clarinetist Leon Rappolo) to hear the evidence.

The 22 tracks include five that were never issued at the time, plus one only in Australia. Remastering by the late John R.T. Davies is exemplary, and the full discography is accompanied by John Wilby's liner note.