When The Saints Go Marching In - Camden Records

When The Saints Go Marching In

Featuring Pete Fountain, Al Hirt and Others

Below are the inside covers

1972 RCA Camden Records COS-9018(e)
(Stereo effect reprocessed from monophonic)

Side One
1. When the Saints Go Marching In
2. High Society
3. Farewell Blues
4. Darktown Strutters' Ball
5. Ballin' the Jack
Pete Fountain and Other All Star Dixielanders

Side Two
1. 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
2. Muskrat Ramble
3. 12th Street Rag
4. Tin Roof Blues
5. Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey
Pete Fountain and Other All Star Dixielanders

Side Three
1. Original Dixieland One-Step *
2. Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans *
3. Milenberg Joys **
4. Sweethearts on Parader *
* George Girard and His New Orleans Five
** Tony Almerico's Dixieland All-Stars

Side Four
1. Down by the Riverside
2. Jazz Me Blues
3. Cornet Chop Suey
Al Hirt and his Band
4. Just a Closer Walk with Thee
Al Hirt, Trumpet, with Orchestra Conducted by Marty Paich

Liner Notes:

WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN (2 LP, Gatefold Cover)

Dixieland, the music that roared out of the South and became a major part of an authentic American art form called jazz, has itself always been a happy blend of a variety of musical strains. Conceived in cosmopolitan New Orleans, rendered street-wise in the notorious Storyville district, the precocious music, alternately "hot" or "blue," but always alive, was not to be contained in its birthplace. When Storyville closed forever in 1917, the new sound expanded rapidly beyond the Crescent City.

A popular music in the truest sense (it sprang from the work songs, religious "shouts" and gospel songs of emancipated slaves combined with voodoo rhythms and street music, plus elements of multi-faceted Creole sounds), Dixieland was performed and perfected at public functions - funerals, picnics, political rallies, dances, lawn parties, Mardi Gras. And because it was and still is "people's music," it encompasses the full range of human feeling. Like poetry, it is best when heard live so one can feel it.

The early poets of this music, the "giants" Charles "King" Bolden, "Bunk" Johnson and the legendary Louis Armstrong are gone, but new men have emerged who add to a growing tradition. Two of the best of the new poets are on this album. More importantly they play the music the way it is supposed to be heard - live. They perform, not in the rather antiseptic surroundings of a sound studio, but in the steaming clubs that also support the tradition.

AI Hirt and Pete Fountain are the "big" names on this album, but there are others who are considered all pro by their peers. For example, listen to George Girard and his New Orleans Five play the Original Dixieland One-Step, Sweethearts on Parade or Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans.

Girard and his colleagues (who are also heard on the Pete Fountain sides) swing in the old style in their version of the One-Step. This cut features a fine series of solos, one in particular by clarinetist Harry Shields. Not once does the One-Step lag, and the live audience reaction at the end fits perfectly. On Sweethearts on Parade listen for the clear enunciation of the solos. The pleasant enough vocal serves as a bridge for the crisp play of Shields and the fluid clarity of trombonist Bob Havens.

Tony Almerico's Dixieland All-Stars contribute a rousing Milenberg Joys with audience vibrations surfacing in the background, which act as a spur to a fine group of musicians. Tune in to drummer Johnny Castaing's first solo.

Pete Fountain's group plays a string of the best known and revered numbers in the Dixieland repertoire. Pete and his men make you feel the room's excitement as they swing into such evergreens as Muskrat Ramble, High Society, 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, 12th Street Rag and the title song of this album, When the Saints Go Marching In.

But the big man on this album is none other than AI Hirt. Al, a big tree of a man, certainly has his roots in New Orleans. No one can see him or watch his antics on records, so his popularity can only be ascribed to professional competence and technique. Both are in abundance on this album. Hirt has described his style as "... the Nashville sound. It's a combination of pop, country western and jazz." Hirt sticks to Dixieland classics here. Listen to him handle Louis Armstrong's Cornet Chop Suey with deftness and power. Or feel the pre-funeral dirge, Just a Closer Walk with Thee. Follow him as he builds and swings in Down by the Riverside. The discipline is there, but so is the feeling.

So there you have it. The best of Dixieland played by the best and performed before live audiences in the city where it all began. All you have to do is join in.

Martin R. Miller

DIXIELAND Live Performace in New Orleans - Camden Records

DIXIELAND

Live Performace in New Orleans

1962 Camden Records CAS-727(e) Stereo / CA-727

Side One
1. When the Saints Go Marching In
2. High Society
3. Farewell Blues
4. Darktown Strutters' Ball
5. Ballin' the Jack

Side Two
1. 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
2. Muskrat Ramble
3. 12th Street Rag
4. Tin Roof Blues
5. Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey

Liner Notes:

Pete Fountain and Other All-Star Dixielanders
A&R Coordinator: Ethel Gabriel

Authentic Dixie by the "Stylists Who Made the Style"

Jazz may have come up the river from New Orleans, as the musical bromide has it, but lots of it remained behind, too, and is still flourishing there. Even though jazz, and especially the Dixieland style of jazz, has fallen into the musical melting pots of Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, San Francisco and New York, New Orleans has remained the daddy of 'em all.

There's something about New Orleans that keeps its music and its musicians continually vigorous and vital, and the city has remained a potent jumping-off point for happy musical adventures. This, despite the changes in form and pattern that have been taking place in the over all jazz scene through the past couple of decades. Also, New Orleans has continued to be one of the most fertile cities in the country for bringing new musicians to the fore. It is no accident that men like Pete Fountain and Tony Almerico have blossomed after exposure in New Orleans.

Although many words have been written about New Orleans' contribution to America's musical history, few have been able to capture the essence as well as an actual performance. This album is such a performance - and what a performance. "Live - from New Orleans" should be enough of a catch phrase to intrigue any musical buff. But there's more to this album than that. For here we have the stylists who made the style. Fore-most among them, perhaps, is Pete Fountain who has done so much to spread the Dixieland gospel around the country in the past few years. A clarinetist who can stand with the all-time greats, he has the mellow and lyrical tone that has become identified with the New Orleans clarinet style. And there is Tony Almerico, a trumpeter-singer who has upheld the New Orleans tradition for many years.

Working along with Pete Fountain and Tony Almerico are such Dixieland luminaries as trumpeter George Girard, trombonist Jack Delaney, clarinetist Harry Shields, tenor sax man Lester Bouchon, pianist Roy Zimmerman, and many others of equal stature.

There is a line in the popular New Orleans' song Basin Street which says that it's the place where old friends meet. You'll meet most of them here, playing away to their delight as well as yours.

MIKE GROSS Music Editor, Variety

Dixieland At Its Best - Camden Records

Dixieland At Its Best!

1964 Camden Records CAS-838 Stereo / CA-838 Mono

Side One
1. Original Dixieland One-Step - George Girard And His New Orleans Five
2. Some Of These Days - Bourbon Street All-Star Dixielanders
3. Milenberg Joys - Tony Almerico's Dixieland All-Stars
4. With You Anywhere You Are - Bourbon Street All-Star Dixielanders
5. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans - George Girard And His New Orleans Five

Side Two
1. Da-Da Strain - George Girard And His New Orleans Five
2. Someday You'll Be Sorry - Tony Almerico's Dixieland All-Stars (Jack Delaney, Vocal)
3. I'm Confessing That I Love You - Bourbon Street All-Star Dixielanders
4. When You're Smiling - Tony Almerico's Dixieland All-Stars (Tony Almerico, Vocal)
5. Sweethearts On Parade - George Girard And His New Orleans Five


Liner Notes:

Dixieland At Its Best featuring Pete Fountain, George Girard, Tony Almerico and other greats

Memorable Performances by Great Musicians

You'd be surprised how much we know about you! - simply from the fact that you're looking at this album. In the first place, you're on a diet! - a diet of jazz that is, with a menu calling for a healthy portion of Dixieland. Second, you're the kind of person who likes to discover the good things. And third, you like to treat yourself to the best. Your curiosity has been aroused because we've called this album DIXIELAND AT ITS BEST. Does that seem like a large order? Well, what have we got to offer?

For a starter - just the greatest exponents of Dixieland in the world today, that's all: men like Pete Fountain, George Girard, Tony Almerico, Jack Delaney, Lester Bouchon, Roy Zimmerman, Harry Shields, Bob Discom and a host of other front runners. And what else? There's the music itself, of course - ten sturdy Dixieland favorites played with immense gusto, with soul, with inspired brilliance. These tunes are the kind that will live as long as jazz lives, which is like forever. But the thing that really clinches the case for this set as DIXIELAND AT ITS BEST is the fact that it was all recorded "live" - on location! Is there anything better than "live" re-cording, especially for jazz, to bring out the wonderful spontaneity of the music? Where was it recorded? Where else but in New Orleans, birthplace of jazz, home of the blues and of Dixieland. It was one of the greatest Dixieland recording sessions of all time, and took place in the Parisian Room on Royal Street, just a stone's throw from historic Basin Street. Produced were masterpiece performances in the realm of jazz.

From that session you'll find in this album not one band, but three - each with something different to offer. There's a big double Dixieland band made up of the top men of the leading groups in the Crescent City - the Bourbon Street All-Star Dixielanders. Probably never again will there be such a gathering of greats. You'll agree there is something new in Dixieland when you hear the sound of this big band which kicks off with two trumpets, two trombones, two clarinets, two guitars, even two drums! What a driving beat, what a lift! The New Orleans tunes are augmented by I'm Confessing That I Love You, which sort of became "New Orleans" because of Louis Armstrong's famous version of it. On every selection the order of horn solos is the same: Girard, Shields, Delaney, Bouchon, Almerico, Fountain and Pecora. The crowd at the session joins in with enthusiastic back-beat clapping and cheers for the soloists as they finish some truly great choruses. One of the wonderful things about Dixieland is that it's the kind of music that involves the listener as well as the player. There's nothing cerebral about it; it's all heart, true folk art that invites everyone to participate.

Now, besides the big band, there's a middle-size band headed by Tony Almerico. (This band also features the sensational Pete Fountain wailing on clarinet.) The Almerico group rolls in some beauties that include an original by Louis Armstrong, Some-day You'll Be Sorry, and another one that Louis made famous, When You're Smiling. (Remember Louis' great record of Smiling?) Last but not least, brimming with infectious invention and excitement is the small, more or less standard Dixieland band led by George Girard - standard, that is, in everything but inspiration, for the boys never played so great as they're heard on four selections here including, again, two associated with the town's greatest jazz-playing son, Louis Armstrong.

Yes, there's variety a-plenty. You'll find the album packed with enough Dixieland goodies to keep the. house warm all winter. What else can we say except ... listen! It's all here - the most venerable of jazz forms, the liveliest, the most agreeable .... Dlxrieland AT ITS BEST. So let your hair down and beat off : a-one, a-two, a-one, a-two . . .