Alyn Shipton's New Orleans Friends
PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.
Release Date: 06 March 2026
Label: Alyn Shipton / The Last Music Company
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 0767062153890
Genres: Jazz
Description
Alyn Shipton, bass; Tom Sancton, clarinet; Alan Gresty, cornet; Martin Litton, piano; Simon Picton, banjo; Trevor Richards, drums
Recorded: St Giles Church, Oxford, 11 May 2024
Jazz historian and broadcaster Alyn Shipton formed the New Orleans Friends in 2019 to celebrate the music of clarinetist and bandleader George Lewis. Every member of the band has spent time in New Orleans, learning the music at first hand from the musicians who created it. But this particular concert is special, as the clarinetist, Tom Sancton, grew up in the city and was encouraged to play by Lewis himself. Tom is one of the leading exponents of the style, anywhere in the world. He and Alyn met as students at Oxford University in 1972, and formed their first band together then, which also included the drummer on this album, Trevor Richards. Trevor has played and recorded with many legends of traditional and swing era jazz, and although he, Tom and Alyn have played together occasionally over the years, this collection finds Trevor reunited with his original band-mates at St Giles Church in Oxford, 52 years after their very first concert in the city!
Also joining them is cornetist Alan Gresty, a long-term member of Monty Sunshine's band, who has played alongside several New Orleans legends and keeps the authentic cornet style alive. Martin Litton, on piano, is an acknowledged expert on the style of Jelly Roll Morton, and catches all the nuances of the Big Easy's piano tradition. And the rhythm section is completed by the Scottish-born banjoist Simon Picton, well-known in the UK and Europe for his fine and empathetic playing.
The repertoire here is largely drawn from George Lewis's famous "Jazz at Vespers" concerts, which the New Orleans Friends have often played in churches across the UK, from Cornwall to Cambridge. For this Oxford concert the band also goes into secular territory for Kid Thomas's lively tribute to the suburb over the Mississippi from New Orleans, "Algiers Strut", and for George Lewis's waltz-into-swing number "Over the Waves".
Tracklisting
Alyn Shipton's New Orleans Friends
Bobby Charles
Lonnie Mack
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Jimmie Vaughan
Jimmie Vaughan
Dan Penn
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Alyn Shipton's New Orleans Friends
Dave Stapleton
Quinsin Nachoff
Red Norvo
COMPLESSO GISTERI
Young - Holt Unlimited
The Max Roach Trio
Santana
