Realized at the rented Capitol Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA, on October 26, 1953, during the George Lewis Ragtime Jazz Band’s West Coast tour, this album of old-styled New Orleans jazz is a fine example of this popular Dixieland group at its very best. That’s largely because Jazz Man Records producers Al Van Court and Wayne Lockwood handed the musicians complete control of session dynamics and repertoire. With Lewis at that time were trumpeter Avery “Kid” Howard, trombonist Jim Robinson, banjoist Lawrence Marrero, pianist Alton Purnell, bassist Alcide “Slow Drag” Pavageau, and drummer Joe Watkins. Most of the vocals were by Howard and Watkins; Purnell sang “Lou-Easy-An-I-A,” whereas “Burgundy Street Blues” was sung by Monette Moore, a seasoned entertainer who made records with Charlie Johnson’s Paradise Ten back in the 1920s. Unlike most previous issues (selections from this session have appeared on Storyville, Everest, and Polydor and as Jazz Funeral in New Orleans on Tradition and Hot Creole Jazz: 1953 on DCC), this 1999 Fantasy/Good Time Jazz release carries four additional tracks, including a seven-minute version of Walter Donaldson’s “At Sundown” and a solid five-minute jam on Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose” that contains what must be one of Purnell’s very best recorded solos. This exciting amended reissue offers a rare opportunity to hear everything recorded by this group on October 26, 1953. Unfortunately, the album title Doctor Jazz has created confusion between this Good Time Jazz release and an identically titled Verve album from 1959, which is a distinctly different entity involving almost entirely different personnel. It should also not be confused with the Delmark album Hello Central…Give Me Doctor Jazz. – arwulf arwulf
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