The Nixa Jazz Today Albums
Chris Barber and his Jazz Band
6-CD Box Set: Castle Music CMXBX 981
Released 19 July 2004

This may well be the CD reissue set that many older fans have been anticipating for years. It’s a six-CD box that includes almost all the Barber LPs originally released on the Pye-Nixa label in the 1950s, beginning with Echoes Of Harlem, continuing with all three Chris Barber In Concert LPs (Festival Hall, Birmingham, and Brighton), and ending with all four of the 10-inch LPs in the Chris Barber Plays sequence.

The production of this set is superb: the sturdy and attractive box contains a detailed and informative 12-page booklet with comprehensive notes by Spencer Leigh, and each individual CD cover is a carefully reproduced miniature of the original LP cover. This set is a terrific bargain, with the added bonus of several tracks that have never before been available on CD.

Collective personnel: Chris Barber (trombone, bass, vocals), Pat Halcox (trumpet, cornet, vocals), Monty Sunshine (clarinet), Ottilie Patterson (piano, vocals), Lonnie Donegan (banjo), Dick Bishop (banjo, vocals), Eddie Smith (banjo, guitar), Johhny Duncan (guitar), Jim Bray (bass), Micky Ashman (bass), Dick Smith (bass), Ron Bowden (drums), and Graham Burbidge (drums).
Recording dates: Recorded between 1955 and 1958.
Music: Papa De Da Da and Big House Blues.
Covers of the 6 CDs in the box set
Back of the CD box
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