Chris Barber was the man who spearheaded the British trad jazz movement (its American equivalent was the revival of interest in Dixieland jazz), beginning in the late 1950s.
Barber's Jazz Band had a worldwide hit in 1958 with Petite Fleur, an update of a much earlier recording by clarinetist Sidney Bechet. The new recording spotlighted Monty Sunshine on clarinet.
On the flip side of Petite Fleur was Wild Cat Blues, a traditional jazz tune written by Clarence Williams and Fats Waller. Sunshine is again featured on clarinet, while Barber puts his normal instrument, the trombone, aside to play the upright bass. Lonnie Donegan, who was backed by the Barber band on his hit recording of Rock Island Line several years earlier, plays banjo. The MP3 is taken from vinyl.
Wild Cat Blues
A plethora of Chris Barber's recordings, including Petite Fleur and Wild Cat Blues, is available via downloads from numerous sources. Best bet on CD for Barber's classic recordings from 1956-58 is The Pye Jazz Anthology. It's out of print but copies are still available in the Amazon Marketplace and elsewhere.
From a Berlin concert in 2011, Barber and the band perform Wild Cat Blues. Barber begins on the upright bass, the instrument he played on the original recording, then switches to trombone. He was 81 years old when this concert took place.
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