Alyn Shipton's New Orleans Friends

About us

Exactly 65 years ago, the celebrated New Orleans clarinettist George Lewis recorded his album "Jazz at Vespers" in Oxford, Ohio. His band was the leading New Orleans revivalist band at the time, comprising veterans who had all been in on the birth of jazz. Playing in an Episcopal church, they focused on the spirituals and hymns that had been part of the music from the start. Led by BBC Radio 3's Alyn Shipton and including Adrian Cox on clarinet, the band is made up of musicians who have all spent time in New Orleans learning from the founding fathers of the music. In this new project, they re-explore the repertoire that Lewis made famous, from lesser known pieces such as "Sometimes My Burden Is Hard To Bear" to old favourites like "Down By The Riverside" and "Lord, Lord, Lord, You Surely Been Good To Me". And just like the Lewis band of the '50s, Alyn's jazz friends play entirely acoustically without amplification. The music runs the full emotional range from soft, contemplative pieces to joyous outpourings of the infectious rhythms of the Crescent City. See http://calstockarts.org/category/whatson/ for more details. Times align to Tamar Valley Train service from Plymouth