Luis Russell's Heebie Jeebie Stompers "Plantations Joys" (Okeh, 1926) Barney Bigard tenor sax!

Luis Russell, p, dir: Bob Shoffner, c / Preston Jackson, tb / Darnell Howard, cl, as / Barney Bigard, ts / poss. Johnny St. Cyr, bj.
General Phonograph Corp. Recording Studios
Chicago, IL November 17, 1926

9903-A “Plantations Joys” (Luis Russell) OK 8424

Transferred with 3.0ML lateral stylus in Audiotechnica VMN70SP cartridge via Audiotechnica AT-LP120 Turntable. Restored by Colin Hancock. Discographical Info and Research from Brian Rust’s Jazz Records, “Black Beauty White Heat,” the Syncopated Times, Catherine Russell, Paul Kahn, Ricky Riccardi, Matthew Rivera, Andrew Sammut, and Colin Hancock. Recordings and Images from the Colin Hancock Collection.

In 1926, King Oliver had one of the finest bands in the world, his famous Dixie Syncopators, which played the Plantation Cafe at 338 East Thirty-fifth Street and Grand Avenue on the city’s south side. The group combined an all star cast of New Orleans and South Side musicians into a hot dance band. Panamanian pianist Luis Russell also organized sessions on the side with members of the Oliver band sans Oliver himself. These groups recorded for Brunswick/Vocalion and Okeh, the latter at the request of Richard M. Jones, one of Russell’s main contemporaries. On Okeh, the band was under the name “Luis Russell’s Heebie Jeebie Stompers,” and their personnel drew almost entirely from the Oliver band. Their first record was a composition by Russell himself as an ode to their venue, “Plantations Joys.” It is a romping hot number driven by Bob Shoffner’s biting cornet work, but the real star of the show is Barney Bigard on…tenor saxophone, his main instrument in the Oliver band. As most fans of this music and folks reading this know, dance bands of the day usually featured two or three saxophones (based on standard orchestration and orchestrations available). The second sax part was usually a tenor or c-melody, and thus when Oliver wanted to expand his band to be more up-to-date, he added Bigard on tenor, in addition to Albert Nicholas and Darnell Howard on altos. Nicholas and Bigard had previously played as a saxophone duo with Nicholas’ band at Anderson’s Cafe in New Orleans, modeling themselves after the reed team of Tony Parenti and Tony Papalia then at the La Veeda dance hall in that city. Though Bigard did not love the instrument, he developed a fabulous novelty tenor style of his own, most similar to musicians like Charlie Cordilla, Eddie Powers, or Loren McMurray, rather than Coleman Hawkins, then considered the day’s most popular saxophonist. His combination of a solid foundation in arpeggios, slap tonguing, and blues is evident on “Plantations Joys,” both in the trio strain and certainly in the final strain.

For more info on Bigard's tenor saxophone work, check out this incredible piece by Andrew Sammut: https://yestercenturypop.com/2021/06/...