Reissue of 2 albums made by historian Fred Ramsey documenting the early history of jazz. Baby Dodds was an influential early drummer starting in the brass bands of New Orleans and ending up on seminal Chicago albums with King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. By the 40s when this was recorded, the original jazz styles had almost been forgotten, so Ramsey made a sort of instructional record with Dodds. He explains some history of the music, gives some insight into his technique and plays some incredible drum solos (esp. tracks #1 & #7).

The recording of the brass bands on this disc is supposed to echo the sound of a proto-jazz played by bands in the post-Civil War South. By the 50s, Ramsey had to go pretty far afield to document this sound and the result is pretty raw. It definitely takes a couple of listens to appreciate the sound, but there is some interesting history in all that clatter.

Ben Bostwick 6/14/04