On Bourbon Street with the Dukes of Dixieland

AMG Review of On Bourbon Street with the Dukes of Dixieland

Eugene Chadbourne
All Music Guide

This group cut practically a dozen albums for the Audio Fidelity label between 1956 and 1958, so it can be assumed that cranking out an album's worth of material in the studio was not a major effort. The relaxed feeling of these performances might be a result, or it could have happened the other way around. Some listeners may prefer the implied excitement of a live date, a rowdy audience certainly adding its own energy and mystique to the Dixieland experience, but the way the Assunto brothers and their buddies carry on in a studio setting it is obvious they don't need a public in order to get excited about what they are doing. Just making music seems to be enough; in fact, here the major attraction is simple but effective melodic discourse wed to the brilliance of a drummer -- Tommy Rundel -- who isn't afraid to wait to see what is going to happen before putting in his two cents. Ensemble arrangements are carefully rehearsed and involve dynamics as well as precision playing; plus, of course, there are the loose, extemporized sections. Trombonist Fred Assunto delights in a hot, buttery tone -- it sounds like it would go nicely with a big piece of French quarter toasted garlic bread. This makes each of solos an absolute delight. Some of his entrances bring to mind some kind of jolly fat man entering a room and immediately putting everyone at ease. Trumpeter Frank Assunto has an equally sharp way of enunciating melodies, bringing in quotes or, if the mood requires it, blasting away like the frightened leader of a cavalry charge. He works well with clarinetist Jack Maheu -- their bit of avant-garde mayhem on the opening epic reworking of "Saints" is a riot. The "song" nature of New Orleans music -- as in good songs, with fun lyrics, well sung -- does not get its best representation with this group, however. These vocals are "strictly honky," as they would say down in N'Orluns.