The Best of the Early Years

Purchase CD

“The Best of the Early Yeare”- Some of New Orleans seminal musicians who have come to define the New Orleans jazz genre. Includes performances from the albums Sweet Emma, Billie and Dede, Here Come Da Great Olympia Band plus 4 previously unreleased tracks.

New Orleans lives in the moment. The joy of the present can be seen in the architecture, tasted in the food, felt in the music. Some whose names are synonymous with New Orleans Jazz and Preservation Hall (and are heard on this album) were born in the decades pivoting 1900, from families rooted deep in New Orleans. They were craftspeople and innovators, night after night styling and molding a music pure and true. Today their sincerity and humility resound in the bop of a street parade, the jubilation of a spiritual, the honky tonk of a speak easy, the ease and swagger of dance halls, the pomp of Mardi Gras, the formality of Uptown lawn parties, all whose sound is captured here as they entertained and celebrated each time a horn touched their lips.

PRESERVATION HALL
THE BEST OF THE EARLY YEARS

1. Weary Blues* (6:38)
A. Matthews / M. Greene / G. Cates
(Edwin H. Morris & Co. ASCAP)

2. Down by the Riverside^(3:53)
Harold “Duke” Dejan (vocals)
(Traditional)

3. Peanut Vendor~ (3:35)
De De Pierce (vocals)
Gilbert / Sunshine / Simons
E.B. Marks Music Co.

4. Nelly Gray` (3:24)
James “Sing” Miller (vocals)
Benjamin Russell Handy
(Traditional)

5. St. James Infirmary~ (3:16)
Billie Pierce (vocals)
Irving Mills
(EMI Mills Music Inc.)

6. Everything's Lovely^ (0:49)
Harold “Duke Dejan”
(Traditional)

7. Olympia on Parade^ (3:09)
(Traditional)

8. So Long Blues` (6:14)
Traditional

9. Ain't Got Nobody` (5:25)
Narvin Kimball (vocals)
G. Rodgers and Spencer Williams
Edwin H. Morris & Co. c/o Mal Communications and Jerry Vogel Music Co.

10. When the Saints Go Marching In* (6:24)
Percy Humphrey (vocals)
(Traditional)

11. Hindustan (7:22)
Previously unreleased
Harold Weeks and Oliver Wallace (Public Domain)

12. Lonesome Road~ (7:01)
Billie Pierce (vocals)
Shilkret/ Austin
Paramount Music Corp.