It was on September 2, 1953 that Ken Colyer's Jazzmen recorded the eight tunes that were subsequently released on one of the most important LPs in British jazz history, and certainly one of the most influential, From New Orleans to London .
I think there are two important points to be made. First, the Colyer version of the band – Colyer himself on cornet, Barber on trombone, Monty Sunshine on clarinet, and the rhythm section of Tony (Lonnie) Donegan (banjo), Jim Bray (bass), and Ron Bowden (drums) – was relatively short-lived: not much more than a year, if that, but timelessly influential. Second, for their age and experience, all the members of the band were enormously skilled and talented, both individually and collectively (and vastly superior to the outfit that Colyer assembled after the split). It was common at the time for critics to make disparaging remarks about British traditional jazz band rhythm sections, but here they all play with a light yet driving force that carries the band through a variety of tempos and moods. Even Chris Barber himself has been quite self-critical about his early recordings (listen to the 2002 interview on CBC Radio, for example), but to me – and, I suspect, many other fans and lovers of British traditional jazz – these eight tunes still sound as fresh as ever.
As far as I know, the original line-up played together only once more, 27 years after their dissolution, at a Lonnie Donegan Jubilee concert in 1981. Not long afterwards (1984), the original front line of Colyer, Barber and Sunshine played several concerts together with the then-current Barber rhythm section.
Chris Barber (trombone)
Ron Bowden (drums)
Jim Bray (bass)
Ken Coyler (trumpet)
Lonnie Donnegan (banjo)
Monty Sunshine (clarinet)
Tracklist:
01. Goin’ Home (Colyer) 3:21
02. Isle Of Capri (Kennedy – Grosz) 2:51
03. Harlem Rag (Turpin) 2:56
04. La Harpe Street (Colyer) 3:24
05. Stockyard Strut (Keppard) 3:04
06. Cataract Rag (Hampton) 3:29
07. Early Hours (Donegan) 3:08
08. Too Busy (Straight) 2:57
ARMU 2188
ARMU 2188 (shareplace)