Billie & De De Pierce / Jim Robinson's New Orleans Band - Jazz At Preservation Hall II (2013)

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Released in 1963, this is a pair of traditional dixieland jazz performances recorded at the historic Preservation Hall in New Orleans - very distinctly New Orleans sound.
Nathan "Jim" or "Big Jim" Robinson was a very reliable New Orleans trombonist who was much more consistent than most of the musicians he performed with, never seeming to have an off day. A jazz pioneer, Robinson played guitar as a child and started playing trombone in 1917, while stationed in France during World War I; he was already 24. He started working in New Orleans in 1919 with Kid Rena, the Golden Leaf Band, and the Tuxedo Band. In 1923, Robinson became part of the Morgan band which, under Sam Morgan's leadership, had a recording session in 1927. He was a fixture in New Orleans for decades, playing with many local groups while working days in the 1930s as a longshoreman. Robinson was part of Kid Rena's 1940 recording session and joined Bunk Johnson's band in 1942, meeting up with George Lewis. He returned to New Orleans with Lewis in 1946, and was a part of Lewis' popular band during the 1950s and '60s, touring the world and recording extensively. He was the top musician in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in the 1970s, staying active until his death at age 83. Jim Robinson recorded as a leader for AM (1944), Riverside (1961), Atlantic, Pearl, Jazz Crusade, and finally Smoky Mary (January 1976).
Billie Pierce (Wilhelmina Goodson, June 8, 1907 – September 29, 1974) was a marvelous blues, ragtime, and jazz pianist and a very expressive singer who grew up in Florida where she accompanied Bessie Smith at a Pensacola theatre in the early 1920s. She later moved to New Orleans where Billie played professionally in honky tonks and later spent much time working for Preservation Hall and touring all over the world with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Her husband, De De Pierce (Joseph De Lacroix Pierce, February 18, 1904 – November 23, 1973) was one of the most joyful and powerful New Orleans trumpeters as well as a superb vocalist specializing in the unique, regional Creole French patois. His rendition of “Eh La Bas” will knock you off your chair (or off your feet if you are standing!). These recordings were made in the 1950s when both were at their peak and playing regularly for dancers at Luthjen's dance hall in New Orleans.