Emma Barrett & Her Dixieland Boys - Sweet Emma The Bell Gal

Sweet Emma-The Bell Gal and her Dixieland Boys is an incredible all live music album from about 1961, the year I was born, (no overdubs). The very best authentic New Orleans recording of dixieland musicians with a combined experience, at least, 360 years, of extreme talanted American musicians who should have had greater fame. The music on the album is beyond "dixieland" and combines the best of jazz age 20th Century American Jazz. Really listen to the great rock blues musicians of the 1960's and the music, solos, of these musicians are what you hear in American blues, blues rock, music the best musicians the 1970's and into the 1980's. The instruments and the percussion are different here but the music remains the same and lives today; just played on different instruments, amplified vocals, electric instruments etc; it's the same.

Sweet Emma Barret's role as the leader of this band and her influence of how the band played and performed live live (marching down the aisles playing "The Saints" as the audience followed and danced with them for their encore) is not known by me but listening to this album it's apparent that she was their leader. During the "Saints Go Marching In" on this album, you can hear Emma say "let me take the next one" telling her "boys" that SHE will take the next solo. In my opinion there is no contemporary band that can match them playing dixieland. The only music that can compare to Sweet Emma's band might be the music of Bix Beiderbecke and Loius Armstrong.

The genius of the band is Willie Humpherey, the clarinet player (Percy Humphery, the trumpet players brother). If you listen to his clarinet, especially his solos, they are beautiful to hear, brilliant, and in my opinion as great as Benny Goodman. I play music, contemporary music and I am keenly influenced, my musicianship, style, and goal as a musician by Willie Humphery. His solos are so complex, beyond my understanding of how to play blues music and solos (whether in a rock, jazz, or other present music of today) that I can only listen to him, while the hairs on my arms stand up, and only wonder how he does it?

I said this before but Willie Humpherey is an American treasure and should have been inducted, whether in jazz, New Orleans music, blues or the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as one of America's greatest musicians.

I am honored that I actually got to see Big Jm Robinson, the trumbone player. Again, listen to his "big" brawly sound.
He's the heartbeat of the band. His trumbone is like a rocket blasting off pushing you out of your seat as you watch Preservation Hall (her Dixieland boys). I know, I was there as a ten year old. Robinson liked to perform onstage with the band. Besides blasting his beautiful trumbone he would lightly do a little private dance where he stood as the band jammed (that's was my induction into "jamming), improvise or as my mother told me: "they are playing from their hearts with no written notes." I couldn't beleive it as a ten year old boy! I'm practicing playing my trumpet at home for the school band and these guys were playing their solo's from their hearts, their soul!!

Imagine my peculiar reaction at 11 years old the next time my mom took me to see Presevation Hall and Big Jim was gone and replaced by some guy who did pretty good job playing the trumbone like Jim but also doing Jim's light taps and dancing and Jim's downward waving of his hands? Weird.

Some years later as a high school musician in the jazz band, I was younger than many others in the band and I had learned how to improvise on my horn. It was like havind your first girlfriend. We had the coolest jazz band teacher named John Purcell, a professional jazz saxiphone player and what a delight it was that he was out jazz teacher. He would jam with our band with his soprano sax, how coo was that? And me, one of his younger students learned to improvise (pretty good) at the disgust of other older trumpet players in the band when Mr. Purcell picked me to play the improv solo. Six years of continuous listening to Sweet Emma-The Bell Gal and her Dixieland Boys helped me alot, then.

In college I leaned to play guitar so I could "write" music. To this day, I can not come close to any of these musicians in this band when I play improvisational music but I like to think of myself as a lot better than the other guys because know this album. Every song I can sing, every solo I can hum, all of it perfectly. p wite.

I found this album in my home when I was about eight years old. My parents bought the album in the early 60's when vacationing in New Orleans. My mother took me to see Percy, Willie, Big Jim, Emanual, Preservation Hall around 1970 (And I got to meet Percy Humphery!). One of the greatest moments in my life. This album is the some of best dixieland and beyond music ever recorded (all live) period. I know every note, every solo on this album. Thank you very much for putting it here! Now I CAN PLAY IT AGAIN, and again. And....and.....

yes, we appreciate the sharing of the music of Sweet Emma Barret & Her Dixieland Boys, really beautiful tunes.

thank you...