Personnel includes: Kid Ory (trombone); Papa Mutt Carey (trumpet); Dink Johnson, Wade Whaley (clarinet); Fred Washington (piano); Ed Garland (bass); Ben Borders, Zutty Singleton (drums).
A significant and frankly unprecedented compact disc collection devoted to the mature works of New Orleans trumpeter Papa Mutt Carey, Upbeat's Portrait of a New Orleans Jazz Master combines recordings he made during the mid-'40s with his longtime collaborator trombonist Kid Ory; with pianist and blues singer Hociel Thomas (a relative of blues legends Hersal Thomas and Sippie Wallace); and as leader of his own band, Mutt Carey's New Yorkers. Twenty-two titles and a pair of alternate takes, served up in a hearty broth of ragtime, blues, stomps, and swing, illuminate Carey's rock-solid stature as surviving early practitioner of classic Crescent City jazz and venerable hero of the Dixieland Revival. Although his discography traces back to 1922, these FDR/Truman-era recordings (along with other material from Kid Ory's Orson Welles radio broadcasts) form the core of Mutt Carey's legacy. One can only hope that this wonderful album inspires more interest in and further reissues of Carey's supremely authentic traditional jazz. ~ arwulf arwulf
