The Big Chris Barber Band, In Concert On The Isle Of Wight (DVD)

OK Entertainment Channel / Chris Barber Collection CBJBDVD5001, recorded in November 2008 and released in 2009.

A new video of a complete concert with the Big Chris Barber Band, available only at concerts.

Chris Barber fans know that they should always check the CD corner at concerts. Beside "normal" CDs there are often CDs and DVDs for sale that are not available in shops or by mail-order services. This happened with the latest CD, "Chris Barber at Blenheim", as well as now with the new DVD, "In Concert On The Isle Of Wight" (recorded Nov 27th, 2008 at the Medina Theatre, Newport).

This DVD features the present members of the band and it is the first recording with the newest members: Zoltan Sagi (cl, saxes), Pete Rudeforth (tp), and John Service (tb). The complete show was filmed and has been carefully remastered. It is a great document of the current tour – perhaps with one exception: "Ice Cream" is NOT on this DVD! There are no gimmicks, no "bonus tracks" or material to fill the DVD. It's just as it should be, a concert by the Big Chris Barber Band. So sit on your couch, switch on the Television/DVD player, and enjoy 90 minutes of great music.

Chris Barber's Jazz Band with Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Sonny, Brownie & Chris.

Lake Records LACD 278, released in September 2009. Recordings made in 1958; several tracks appeared on the LP by the same title, plus the CD includes rare, and in some cases previously-unissued, bonus tracks.

When I first saw this new CD, I believed to be a "normal reissue" of old material. But while listening to it, I noticed how carefully Paul Adams has selected the tracks. Collectors who missed Lake CD LACD 87 have a second chance to get the complete content of the original 10-inch LP, "Sonny, Brownie & Chris". But there are more titles with the two blues singers and quite a lot of jazz tunes that have been released here for the first time on CD, including most notably instrumental versions of Just A Closer Walk With Thee and Do Lord. Also previously unissued is the title Blue Bells Goodbye. When You And I Were Young, Maggie is presented here as a straight band version; it was normally played at that time as a solo number by Monty Sunshine.

There are a lot more tunes to name. In the repertoire of the current Big Chris Barber Band is the song Cornbread, Peas & Black Molasses. At concerts Chris always refers to the Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee tour when announcing the title. Here you can listen to the original version by the two great blues singers. (By the way the Sonny Terry/Browne McGhee titles on this CD are not the same versions as are on the "Blues Legacy CDs Lost & Found, Volumes 1 and 2", issued in 2008.)

The CD comes with an eight-page booklet and a great deal of discographical information. Thanks to Linda & Paul Adams for this great CD album.

Andreas Wandfluh
September 2009

The Big Chris Barber Band, Barber At Blenheim (The Big Chris Barber Band At Blenheim Palace)

Chris Barber Collection CBJBCD 4004, Recorded at Blenheim Palace on 1st December 2007, and released in 2009. [Note: this CD is available only at appearances by the Big Chris Barber Band.]

Barber At Blenheim was recorded by band sound-man Barry Walker at a private function at Blenheim Palace on December 1, 2007, and later re-mastered for release on compact disc at Classic Media Group, the company responsible for such recent Barber issues as the Lost And Found CD-series and the DVD, As We Like It. Although there have been some personnel changes since the time of the recording, current Barber concert-goers will particularly enjoy this CD as a souvenir of their evening, as the programme of thirteen tracks is a snapshot of a typical Big Chris Barber Band appearance. It features long-time Barber standards such as Bourbon Street Parade, The Martinique, Petite Fleur, and The Saints, as well as several examples of the more recent move in the direction of re-interpreting early tunes by or associated with Duke Ellington (Rent Party Blues, Merry-Go-Round, Jubilee Stomp, and Hot And Bothered).

The regular eleven-man line-up is slightly reduced to ten on this CD as, according to the notes, "John Slaughter was at the time not yet recovered from his serious illness and regular replacement Andy Kuc couldn't make it." Consequently Joe Farler doubles on banjo and guitar. Also, it's worth noting that, to the best of my knowledge, this was the last concert recorded for public release before trombonist Bob Hunt and reedman Tony Carter left the band, and just seven months before veteran trumpeter Pat Halcox retired after 54 years with the band.

Ed Jackson, May 2009
Music: Basin Street Blues || Hot And Bothered || Watcha Gonna Do

The Chris Barber Jazz & Blues Band, Barbican Blues

Double-LP originally recorded and released in 1982 and reissued in April 2009 on Lake Records LACD273.

One of my personal favourite recordings has been reissued by Paul Adams on Lake Records: the "Barbican Blues" concert of April 20, 1982 from London. It was the first jazz concert at the newly opened Barbican Centre and featured the Chris Barber Jazz & Blues Band with a great mix of different sounds. This CD is a complete reissue of the stereo double-LP on the Black Lion label (BLM 61003/4, issued in 1982).

This is one of those CDs that best demonstrates the musical variety and versatility of the Chris Barber Jazz & Blues Band -- and it also looks ahead to the future development of the band into the present Big Chris Barber Band.

Andreas Wandfluh, April 2009

Music: Barbican Blues || Perdido Street Blues || Spanish Castles

Chris Barber's Jazz Band, Chris Barber 1957-58

LPs and singles recorded in 1957 & 1958; Reissued on a double-CD in March 2009 on Lake Records LACD268.

Chris Barber 1957-58 is the third in a series of single and double CDs from Lake records, each focussing on one or two years of recordings by Chris Barber’s Jazz Band in the mid- to late-1950s. The previous two sets, Chris Barber 1955 and Chris Barber 1956, have previously been announced on the Barber website, and perhaps should be consulted for continuity into the present collection.

To summarize, this CD set includes three complete LPs from the Pye/Nixa jazz label, Chris Barber Plays Volume 4, Chris Barber In Concert Volume 2, and Chris Barber In Concert, Volume 3. In addition, there are the four sides from two singles featuring Ottilie Patterson (Kay Cee Rider / I Love My Baby and Trombone Cholly / Lawdy Lawdy Blues).

The biggest bonus, however, is the inclusion of four previously unreleased tracks from the Brighton Concert (In Concert, Volume 3). As Paul Adams points out in his exemplary sleeve notes, “When I compiled this collection I tried to do it chronologically, but where there were entire albums I have stuck to the original LP running order. The exception is the Brighton concert. Over the years almost all of the unissued tracks from the ‘live’ concerts have ‘disappeared’ but the exception was the Brighton one where four tracks not issued at the time were still in existence: … Indiana, Rent Party Blues, New Orleans Hula and St Philip Street Breakdown.”
Music: Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home || Georgia Grind || Just A Closer Walk With Thee || The Old Rugged Cross || Olga || Pound Of Blues || Pretty Baby || Savoy Blues, clip 1 || Savoy Blues, clip 2 || Trombone Cholly || You Took Advantage Of Me
The Chris Barber Band with Ottilie Patterson and Guests: The Lost & Found 3-CD set
For more information about these CDs, released in March 2008, go to the official Blues Legacy website or the Blues Legacy page on the Chris Barber website. You can also see the covers (plus other material) in more detail on the Individual Covers pages, and view a promotional video on YouTube.
The Big Chris Barber Band with Special Guest Andy Fairweather Low: As We Like It

Recorded at Shepperton Studios, UK, on 30th August, 2007, and released in March, 2008. Blues Legacy DVD 5064X.

Although several Barber concerts have been re-issued on DVD in the last few years, this is the first new Chris Barber DVD in some time, the last being The Big Chris Barber Band, recorded at the Europa Park Hot Jazz Festival in May 2002, when John Crocker was still with the band. Of course there have been numerous personnel changes since then, but As We Like It provides us with an excellent record of the band's (almost) current line-up.

As always, Chris and Pat lead the front line on trombone and trumpet respectively, and they both share the occasional vocal. The rest of the front line consists of Richard Exall, Tony Carter, and Mike Snelling on reeds, Mike “Magic” Henry on trumpet, and the now-departed Bob Hunt on trombone. The rhythm section are all relatively new: Dave Green is on bass, John Sutton on drums, and Joe Farler on banjo and guitar. Andy Kuc, who occupied the banjo chair before Joe Farler joined, temporarily returns to the band to sit in for the then-ailing (and thankfully now recovered and returned) John Slaughter. Andy Fairweather Low, who toured with the band briefly a couple of years ago and who contributed to the most recent CD, Can't Stop Now, also joins in for two rousing songs towards the end of the concert.

As We Like It is the record of a special concert arranged at Shepperton Studios, the venerable site of so many British films, for release on the new Blues Legacy label, coinciding with the historic three-CD Barber-plus-blues-legends set of recordings from the 1950s and 1960s, Lost & Found, Vols. 1-3.

In part, the concert helps celebrate the history of the Barber Band, with re-creations of the original six-piece band ably executed by the new rhythm section, plus Mike Snelling on clarinet ("Precious Lord", "The Martinique", and "Wild Cat Blues"). "Petite Fleur" and some of the band's other classics are here too ("Watcha Gonna Do", "Cornbread, Peas and Black Molasses"), but much of the emphasis is on Ellington – wonderful Hunt-arranged recreations of tunes that have been in the Barber repertoire for decades ("Black & Tan Fantasy", "Rent Party Blues") or have been added comparatively recently ("Jubilee Stomp", "Hot & Bothered", "Merry-Go-Round", "C-Jam Blues").

The DVD is over an hour-and-three-quarters in length, and is a very well-produced memento of the band's latest incarnation. Although other versions of all the tracks have been published on CD fairly recently, As We Like It is a must for every Barber collection – thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.
Music: Rent Party Blues || C-Jam Blues || Watcha Gonna Do? || Wild Cat Blues
All comments by Ed Jackson except where noted.
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