Customer Reviews

The Jazz Crusade: The Inside Story of the Great New Orleans Jazz Revival of the 1960'S/Includes Compact Disk

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This is the complete, unedited review of The Jazz Crusade with permission as it appeared in the July/August 1992 issue of the Mensa Bulletin - the American Mensa magazine.
Unquestionably a collector's item, this book contains a 70 minute compact disc, "The Best of the Jazz Crusade"! As a musician, bandleader, promoter, record producer, and writer of the era, Big Bill (who hails from our Southern Connecticut chapter) has chronicled the revival of early black jazz, the beginnings of Preservation Hall, the influx of young white musicians into New Orleans, and the spread of the movement throughout the world. If names like Kid Thomas, George Lewis, DeDe Pierce and Jim Robinson mean anything to you, don't miss it.
- Tom Elliott

Unfortunately, I found this book had as much to do with Bill Bissonnette as it had to do with the revival, and it almost could have been titled "The Bill Bissonnette Story." Readers should also note that Jazz Crusade is also the name of Bissonnette's own record production company and that the book appears to be published by a "vanity press" of sorts: Special Request Books.

With that said, Bissonnette does have a few interesting stories to tell, but the fact that he is a musician and not a writer becomes quickly apparent. The CD is decent, but it doubles the price of the package.

We're used to the 1960s being given unjustifiable credit for everything from toast to angel's wings, but this is ridiculous! The great New Orleans jazz revival began in the late 1930s with Blue Note Records, and had peaked by the late 1950s. The 1960s had NOTHING to do with it, even though a small band of enthusiasts continued to worship the style, stultifying it in the process. Zero stars, if it were possible