Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 08/27/2002
It's a safe assumption that when
Buddy Bolden first started playing what listeners later came to call
Dixieland, he didn't expect it to exist in three different centuries. The seminal cornetist wasn't thinking that far ahead; he was simply experimenting and playing something that felt good to him. But if
Bolden was playing
Dixieland as early as 1895, then
Dixieland has indeed existed in three different centuries -- first the late 19th century, then the 20th century, and finally the 21st century. By the 21st century, no
Dixieland artist expected to sell more CDs than
Sheryl Crow or
Eminem, but
Dixieland still commands a small group of die-hard followers and probably always will. Those die-hard believers were the people whom
the Illiana Club of Traditional Jazz (a Midwestern
Dixieland organization) catered to when it held a
Norrie Cox concert in Chicago Ridge, IL, on October 21, 2001. Thankfully, that concert was taped and is the focus of this CD, which
Delmark released the following year. Although
Live at the Illiana is an early-2000s recording, clarinetist
Cox and his
New Orleans Stompers are quite faithful to the spirit of '10s and '20s
Dixieland. Some bands who bill themselves as
trad jazz aren't necessarily hardcore
Dixieland;
trad jazz can, to some people, mean
classic jazz or very early
swing. But
Cox's band offers an authentic New Orleans-style
Dixieland approach on
"Weary Blues," Jelly Roll Morton's
"The Crave," and the
gospel standard
"Just a Closer Walk With Thee." Although
Live at the Illiana is mostly instrumental, the band also offers a few vocal numbers -- and quite honestly, the singing isn't as strong as the musicianship. Unfortunately, it isn't uncommon for
Dixieland musicians who have limited vocal skills to go ahead and sing anyway (as opposed to hiring a pro like
Banu Gibson for the job). But all things considered, this CD is an enjoyable, if imperfect, document of this 2001 concert.
~Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
;)
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