Albert Burbank

A legendary clarinetist with lovers of New Orleans jazz but otherwise somewhat overlooked, Albert Burbank (who had a beautiful tone in his lower register) never had a major name but he generally worked steadily. He started playing clarinet seriously when he was 17, and in the 1920s performed with drummer Arnold DePass' band, Buddy Petit, Chris Kelly, and Punch Miller among others. Burbank played in dance halls in the '30s and had his own quartet by the war years. Among his associations in the '40s and 50s were Wooden Joe Nicholas, Albert Jiles, De De Pierce, Herb Morand (1949-1950), Paul Barbarin, Kid Clayton, Bill Matthews, Octave Crosby, Ernie Cagnoletti, and (during a rare trip outside of New Orleans to Los Angeles) briefly in 1954 with Kid Ory. Burbank was a regular feature at the Paddock Lounge (1954-1966), Dixieland Hall, and Preservation Hall (1969-1973) and he often worked with Kid Thomas Valentine and Papa French. Albert Burbank only recorded one album as a leader (for Smoky Mary in 1969) but appeared on a variety of recordings as a sideman including with Wooden Joe Nicholas as early as 1945.