Sweet
Emma and her Preservation Hall Band
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“Sweet Emma” –A
striking performer and salty personality. Emma Barrett
began playing the piano bars and dance halls in 1910
at age 12. Emma is in distinctive form on this 1964
classic. Only available through Preservation Hall Recordings.
Reflections on Sweet Emma and Her Band
by William Russell
Once again we encounter the miracle of New Orleans music.
The music of this band abounds in the friendly joyfulness
so characteristic of the magic that is New Orleans-style.
Every number in their band repertoire, from spirituals
and blues to such Original Dixieland Jazz Band favorites
as "Clarinet Marmalade," or the trite novelty of the
roaring 20's, "Ice Cream," is played wholeheartedly with
the best of their ability to entertain and bring happiness
to all the people, although at times these musicians
themselves may have had little to be happy about. Even
the melody, "Closer Walk With Thee," oft used as a funeral
hymn, is performed with such a relaxed beat and feeling
that no one can fail to be moved by the band's expressive
playing and Sweet Emma's heartfelt singing.
Surely the Tin Pan Alley ditty, "I'm Alone Because I
Love You," is the ultimate in all that is typically commonplace
in a million hack commercial products, but try to resist
the easy dance-hall swing and genuine feeling with which
this simple tune is transformed into an original masterpiece.
It doesn't take a month, a day, or even an hour to get
to know true New Orleans musicians. The friendly warmth
and enthusiasm with which they work together is a part
of their lives. Their audiences cannot help having a
good time, because the band is having such a grand time.
Although their music is filled with a refreshing and
irresistible gusto for enjoyment, nothing is hurried
or rushed. And though much of what they do is the result
of thoughtful and practiced skill, nothing is ever cut
and dried. Even with a tune a thousand times performed,
as their "Saints," or "Ice Cream," we never know for
sure quite what to expect.
Bunk Johnson once pointed out that all real New Orleans
musicians know the style, and at a moment’s notice
can play with one another anywhere they may meet. Yet
most New Orleans bands also have their own distinctive
sound. No doubt this band is influenced by Sweet Emma’s
unique, half-century-old piano style, at times as percussive
as the joyful sound of a riverboat calliope.
Several of these musicians are in their 70’s. Some,
such as 73-year-old Jim Robinson, with his talking and
shouting trombone, look and act younger than ever and
continue to improve the vitality and expressiveness of
their music making. These people have found, even today
when life has become so complicated and obscure, that
the truest excellence is in simplicity. There have been
changes in musical routines and the old New Orleans-style
will someday inevitably pass. But when in the year 1964
New Orleans can send out, 1,500 miles away, a band as
good as this one, that day has not yet arrived.
WILLIAM RUSSELL (b. Feb. 26, 1905, d. Aug. 9, 1992) was
Curator of the New Orleans Jazz Archives at Tulane University.
He was the well known critic and author of numerous writings
on American music, a composer of modern classical music,
producer of American Music Records, concert violinist,
and musician of ancient Chinese instruments. His extensive
collection of early jazz recordings, writings and interviews
is now housed at the Historic New Orleans Collection.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Sweet Emma
DISC ONE:
1 Basin Street Blues (4:06)
S. Williams (Edwin H. Morris & Co. Inc. ASCAP)
2 Clarinet Marmalade (6:52)
L. Shields / H. Rogers (EMI Feist Catalog, Inc. ASCAP)
3 Bill Bailey (7:24)
Sweet Emma Barrett (vocals)
H. Cannon (public domain)
4 Chimes Blues (5:47)
Traditional, arr. Emma Barrett
5 Joe Avery (5:59)
Traditional, arr. Emma Barrett
6 Joe Avery Story (1:49)
7 Closer Walk with Thee (8:51)
Sweet Emma Barrett (vocals)
Traditional, arr. Emma Barrett
8 Didn’t He Ramble (6:41)
Percy & Willie Humphrey (vocals)
Traditional, arr. Emma Barrett
9 I’m Alone because I Love You
(5:43)
Sweet Emma Barrett (vocals)
I. Shuster / J. Young / M. Witmark (Sony/ATV Tunes LLC
/ Warock Corporation ASCAP)
10 Weary Blues (6:38)
A. Matthews / M. Greene / G. Cates (Edwin H. Morris & Co.
ASCAP)
11 A Good Man Is Hard to Find (4:52)
Sweet Emma Barrett (vocals)
E. Green (Edwin H. Morris & Co. ASCAP)
12 Panama (8:17)
W.H. Tyers (public domain)
DISC TWO:
1 Milenberg Joys (7:34)
Morton / Mares / Roppolo / Melrose (Edwin H. Morris & Co.
ASCAP)
2 St. James Infirmary (4:46)
Percy Humphrey (vocals)
Irving Mills (EMI Mills Music Inc. ASCAP)
3 Little Liza Jane (4:22)
Willie Humphrey (vocals)
H. Smith / J. Imbeagwilo (Universal-Duchess Music Corp.
BMI)
4 Whenever You’re Lonesome (6:35)
Sweet Emma Barrett (vocals)
Traditional
5 Do Lord (7:24)
Emanuel Sayles (vocals)
Traditional
6 Original Dixieland Onestep (8:04)
Larocca / Robinson / Crandall (WB Music Corp. o/b/o J.
Russell Robinson BMI)
7 Yellow Dog Blues (5:18)
W.C. Handy (public domain)
8 Band introduction (1:43)
9 Down by the Riverside (6:38)
Percy Humphrey (vocals)
Traditional
10 Ice Cream (8:06)
Percy Humphrey (vocals)
K. Weill / L. Hugues (Chappell & Co. / Tro-Hampshire
House Publishing Corp. ASCAP)
11 When the Saints Go Marching In (6:24)
Percy Humphrey (vocals)
Traditional
12 Basin Street Blues (2:03)
Sweet Emma Barrett (vocals)
S. Williams (Edwin H. Morris & Co. Inc. ASCAP)
13 When the Saints Go Marching In (2:46)
Produced by Allan Jaffe
Recorded October 18, 1964, at the Tyrone
Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota, at a concert
arranged by Jass Inc., Dr. Henry Blackburn, President.
Engineered by John Henry
Technical Assistance: Earl Eckman
Reissue produced by Benjamin Jaffe
Re-mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering
Coordination for Preservation Hall Recordings: Murf Reeves,
Howard Lambert
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