Typically my reviews of Big Bill Bissonnette's releases on his Jazz Crusade label have been positive and affirmative. But on Burgundy Street Blues, Albert Burbank and his fellow players somehow get off track on several of the tracks. Despite the fluid clarinet playing of the leader and some fine individual efforts by some of the soloists, e.g. George Edward Stevenson (trombone) and Jack Fine (trumpet), the music seems to lose some of its juice by the time you get to the end of the disc. Really too bad.

The members of the Connecticut Traditional Jazz Club are appropriately enthusiastic, and Mike Burgevin's "hot drumming" truly hits the spot. But we could do without the gratuitous shouting and other ranting and raving by performers and audience alike. Guess it was just a bad night for about everyone on that September 1969 afternoon. But that should not, and does not, detract from Burbank's smooth clarinet and other individual efforts. Even classic jazz needs some definition. Great play list of trad jazz, though.

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