A valuable core sample of
Bunk Johnson's remarkable career as living relic and patriarch of the traditional jazz revitalization movement of the 1940s,
Bunk and the New Orleans Revival 1942-1947 contains some two and a quarter hours of austere New Orleans polyphony. This two-for-the-price-of-one package includes authentic street parade jazz, a swell taste of how
Johnson sounded filling in for
Lu Watters with
the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, and two powerful examples of
Johnson's brief collaboration with
Sidney Bechet. A trio session from 1946 offers a rare opportunity to appreciate
Johnson without any other horns in the room, backed only by pianist
Don Ewell and drummer
Alphonse Steele. This trio's treatment of "In the Gloaming" is very likely among the best recordings old
Johnson ever made. Four selections from
Johnson's last recording session, made (with no audience in attendance) at Carnegie Hall in 1947, round out a satisfying tribute to this controversial man and his scruffy brand of traditional jazz. While
Johnson may be an easy target for critics and disgruntled historians, the music he left behind stands its own ground, unencumbered by numerical rating systems or anybody's specialized opinions. It moves at will according to its own itinerary. The best way to listen is to suspend all preconceptions, opening one's heart to the simple unity of each ensemble. Then you get the feeling there is no need for highfalutin evaluations. While the rhythms of the 1942 recordings are described in the liner notes as "rather plodding" (as compared with those 1945 sessions involving
Baby Dodds), there is something weirdly satisfying about their deliberate "dance tempo" percolation.
Johnson's recordings are about hanging loose and getting the feeling. See also
Lester Bowie's moments of gutbucket ebullience with
the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It's all about getting the feeling.