great live recordings of historical importance
The only mystery about this cd is why Delmark Records is marketing it as an Albert Ammons recording. Half of the numbers are recordings by Meade Lux Lewis, and two belong to Pete Johnson. They ought to have equal billing on the sleeve...
That aside, the music here is top notch. How often do you get to hear in-concert live recordings of these guys?
The music is frequently a lot looser on stage than in a recording studio, and that is clearly audible on this disc. Ammons & co take their time, they change bass figures a lot more than on the studio recordings, and they seem to have good rapport with the audience, which can be heard clearly on several tracks. It's great to hear how the crowd responds to the music with applause and shouting. It seems that a good jazz/blues audience hasn't changed much...
The sound quality is a lot better than you might expect, considering that the recordings were done in 1939, and the playing is uniformly excellent. In many ways, a record like this is a lot more interesting than a studio recording, if only because you get a true glimpse of a long gone era, and a very vivid impression of the music the way it used to be played in an authentic live situation.
In addition, the entertainment value of this relentless groove-based music hasn't decreased one bit in 65 years!
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