Goin' Home - A Fond Farewell to Chris Blount

Bill Bissonnette's sterling label dedicated to restoration and promotion of traditional jazz material has another winner with a tribute to the late clarinetist from the United Kingdom, Chris Blount, who passed in 1999. So these cuts represent some of final recordings. Bissonnette and his trombone come along on some of the tracks. The album gathers three separate recording sessions in the U.K. Most of the participants are U.K. musicians and, like revivalists from this part of the world, they rarely stray from the way the music was played in New Orleans during the early '20s. Although he carries the melody more than his Crescent City predecessors, Blount carries on the traditional role of the clarinet player to provide the counter melody against which the trumpet and trombone do the melody line. This technique provides happy results on such tunes as "Milenberg Joys" and "Goin' Home." On the latter, Blount's clarinet lets loose with the wailing sound associated with New Orleans clarinets. For the most part, the trombone is done tailgate style as practiced by Bissonnette on "Give Me Your Telephone Number." The trumpeting, critical to this music as the melody bearer, is handled with feeling by Norman Thatcher, Ged Hone, and Derek Winters. The play list runs the full gamut of New Orleans jazz music from tunes with a rag base, through mournful ballads and happy up-tempo numbers. The program includes march music which was important to setting the scene for funerals, weddings, and other important occasions, both festive and sad. "The Moose, a March" helps to fill that bill as does the title tune. Goin' Home is an exceptional recounting of music fundamental to the jazz heritage.