The DUKES were wonderful! Thanks for making this a memorable performance for our community”. Sarah Preston Town of Cary (Raleigh), NC
“The DUKES put on a great show!” The Sertoma Club, Bowdon, GA
DUKES Discography 1975-2006
DUKES music sampler
TIMELESS (1975-2006)
This CD 4 pak contains 4 hours of music and 58 tunes from 16 albums recorded over the past 32 years, 1974 to 2006. It includes a FREE 20-page color discography of every album, when it was recorded and why, where and when, and who was performing with the Dukes at that time. It includes all the vocalists (Julie Budd, George French, Danny Barker, Moses Hogan, The New Orleans Gospel Choir, Phamous Lambert and Luther Kent). All the tunes were remastered and digitalized. It shows the variety of the Dukes styles whether it be traditional jazz, of which they are the best in, or blues, gospel, swing and pop.
In February of ‘75 the Dukes flew to New York City to record the “Dukes Place” album at Sound-Tek and Le Studio. Tom Morgan, former A&R director at Capitol and Decca Records, produced the album. He is credited with discovering and producing Nancy Wilson. He also produced Al Martino (“Spanish Eyes”), Nat “King” Cole, Bobby Darrin, and the Four Freshmen. Herb Bernstein, who had written and arranged for The Fifth Dimension (“Bill”) and Tony Orlando and Dawn (“Knock Three Times”) arranged the album. It was mastered at SeaSaint Studios in New Orleans.
In April of 1975, the Steamboat Natchez IX was commissioned and docked at the Toulouse Street Wharf in New Orleans’ French Quarter. To salute the occasion, the DUKES went into SeaSaint Studios in New Orleans to record “Sternwheeler Steamboat.” The LP consisted of four tunes from the DUKES and a few tunes from the Alvin Alcorn Trio. The balance was calliope music from the Natchez.
Shortly before going on tour in Saudi Arabia, Italy, and London in late 1976, the DUKES went back into the recording studio at Studio 21 in New York City with Tom “Tippy” Morgan to record “Creole Gumbo.” They wanted to display their various forms of jazz and blues other than pure Dixieland. With the mixture of styles and tunes, it was difficult to choose a title until one evening at New Orleans’ Commander’s Palace a month after the session was finished. The analogy? That album was similar to what we were eating — “Creole” (New Orleans jazz roots) “Gumbo” (mixture of styles and tunes). The liner notes on that album back in 1976 state: “These are THE DUKES today, no longer just a Dixieland band but a first class attraction with their own sound. They’ve come a long way and this is only the beginning of a new era for them.”
It was 1978; the band had gone through some changes (as all bands do), with new performers on trumpet and drums and still auditioning pianists. Producer John Shoup was shooting his first of many cooking shows for PBS television (Hot Stuff) and wanted the DUKES to be involved. They ended up recording the opening theme to his first television series, Great Chefs® of New Orleans. However, for this album, he had them record only “edible” tunes. Shoup then brought in another group that he managed back then, The Tradition Hall Jazz Band, and they added four additional tunes to complete the album.
The call came in from Nashville in the Spring of 1979. Would the DUKES like to perform for a new recording process called direct-to-disc? Like another Dukes in the ‘50s who were the first to record in stereo for Audio Fidelity Records, this ensemble flew to Nashville to be the first to record “direct-to-disc.” Doc Severinsen was coming in the next week, followed by Dave Brubeck, to do the same thing. Unfortunately, the format was popular only to the audiophiles, and five years later it dropped from sight with the introduction of digital CDs.
When Frank Trapani took over as leader in November of 1979, we decided to give him time to reorganize the band before recording again. Sure, they did a few contract recording jobs, like the theme for NBC-TV’s Studs Lonigan series and the themes for PBS’ Great Chefs® of New Orleans, Great Chefs® of San Francisco, and Great Chefs® of Chicago television series, but they didn’t do an album for five years until they got a call to record the first jazz CD digitally, from Intersound Records in Minneapolis. Naturally we called it “Digital Dixieland.”
For almost four years, 1981 – 1984, we had been renovating the old Paddock Lounge at 309 Bourbon Street as our new home for the DUKES. Our lease with the Monteleone Hotel was going to expire in 1984, so in 1981 we signed a 10-year lease with Arnaud’s Restaurant and Germaine Wells, who was the daughter of the founders. We picked the name “Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall” because that was the famous bordello in Storyville (1897–1917), and it was located just down Bienville Street from the Bourbon Street building, at Basin Street. This CD was recorded live in the Mahogany Hall nightclub, and these are six cuts from that CD.
The Dukes have taken New Orleans Jazz not only uptown, but one step further. Add the Dukes of Dixieland with the New Orleans Pops Orchestra and you get an exciting dose of New Orleans Symphonic Jazz. The musicians draw on a variety of New Orleans music reinterpreted in the intense, brassy, Dixieland style for which the Dukes are so well known. So sit back and enjoy some of the best Symphonic Jazz you'll ever experience. 74 minutes.
The year was 1990. Following the untimely deaths of Frank Trapani, Booby Floyd, and Freddie Kohlman, the group reorganized and drummer Richard Taylor was brought in as leader from the Banu Gibson Band. He brought aboard two excellent players, pianist Tom McDermott and clarinetist Tim Laughlin, a Pete Fountain protégé (Phamous Lambert wanted to retire after losing two friends, and Mike Sizer wanted to become an air traffic controller). Taylor also wanted to bring back the string bass. John Shoup, Randy Brecker, and Ed Saughnessy (The Tonight Show drummer) were judges at an I.A.J.E. convention and picked a college group as the best new jazz band of the year. The leader and trumpet player of that group was J.B. Scott, who Shoup was able to convince to join the DUKES. This recording was recorded live on DAT at Mahogany Hall on Bourbon Street. SALUTE TO JELLY ROLL MORTON (1991)
The year was 1991 and it was the last year of our 10-year lease on Bourbon Street. We decided to produce a television show (PBS) and a CD as our last hurrah on Bourbon Street before moving our home to the Steamboat Natchez. Our old friend and NEA Jazz Master, Danny Barker, along with his wife “Blue Lu,” suggested we do a show on Jelly Roll Morton. We did and both the show and the CD featured Danny Barker (Lu was too ill to participate). The first two cuts reflect the Miami influence of J.B. Scott, who was leaving the DUKES to return to Miami. It also features a reunion of bassist Everett Link and Richard Taylor, who for the previous twenty years were two-thirds of the Ronnie Kole Trio.
Five years after the last recording and the last personnel change (Ben Smith replaced Al Barthlow and Kevin Clark replaced J.B. Scott in 1992), the DUKES felt it was time to start recording again. They had been working six to seven nights a week for the past four years aboard the Steamboat Natchez and their playing was very tight. The cuts from this CD reflect that, and feature pianist Tom McDermott. We brought in three guests including clarinetist Jack Maheu, who played with the Assunto’s Dukes in the ‘50s.
Everyone was pleased with the Bob Cats CD and decided we should do this more often. Both Kevin and Tom liked Bix Beiderbecke and we were scheduled to play at the Bix Festival up in Iowa later that year, 1996, so we put together thirteen of Bix’ tunes for that concert performance. These are three of those tunes. Tom “Tippy” Morgan returned as producer of the album. In addition, we brought in three guests again, including our friend Connie Jones who was the leader of the DUKES twenty years earlier.
The DUKES always think about what they are going to do ahead of time, and with their tight arrangements and performing nightly, it makes them always worth listening to. This, plus their last two studio efforts (“Bix” and “Bob Cats”), caught the attention of the BOSE folks (speakers, sound systems, and headsets) up in Massachusetts. They came down to New Orleans to record the DUKES live on the Steamboat Natchez. Only BOSE could have pulled it off to make this sound like it was in the studio. Their purpose was to provide a musical sampler in all new Mercedes automobile BOSE sound systems. It worked, and these four tunes are from that CD.
We felt it was time to do something different. Tim Laughlin, after eleven years with the DUKES, said he wanted to try and make it on his own, and he had our blessing. A local gospel artist, Moses Hogan, was making a name for himself and we thought it would be a good fit. The result spoke for itself. In 2000, the “Gloryland” CD was nominated for a Grammy® award. (Note: There is NO Grammy® category for traditional jazz or Dixieland.)
We thought we should do a new CD and with the country still in shock following 9/11, we decided to do continuous up-tempo tunes to lift everyone’s spirits. The reviews that came out on the “BarnBurners” CD with 17 tunes typically said things like “the DUKES stack sizzling tunes like logs on a bonfire and set them ablaze,” and, “jazz that snaps with energy and crackles with heat.” We aren’t sure if that is what it is, but here are three cuts from that CD and you can judge for yourself.
Not since Louis Armstrong has a guest vocalist sung with the DUKES, so we invited Luther Kent to join us on this CD. Luther, born and raised here in New Orleans (and an old friend of ours) was better known as a blues singer who got his start with Blood, Sweat, and Tears. We also brought in another local boy, Charlie Brent, who was the arranger for The Tonight Show band. Scott Obenschain makes his DUKES debut as does Mike Fulton who replaced the talented Kevin Clark. Kevin’s wife wanted to move back home to Toronto.
Need to put a little spring in your step this holiday season? With arrangments from dixieland to jazzy blues, "The Dukes of Dixieland's album gives the season a snappy beat, a crisp and catchy character. Bring the spirit of New Orleans into your living room with originals and standards. "Christmas in New Orleans" strikes a poignant chord this year but everything that makes New Orleans such a beloved city is wrapped up right here in one heck of a seasonal disc.
We wanted to have fun with this CD but the master tape was almost destroyed before it was released. We started recording the Mardi Gras CD as well as our first Christmas album (released December 2005) at Ultrasonic Studios in New Orleans in 2003 and again in 2004 and 2005. We finished the last cuts on August 25, 2005, and both DATS were sent via Federal Express out to Los Angeles to be mastered. On August 29th, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and Ultrasonic Studios had 8 feet of water inside. Everything was lost except our Christmas and Mardi Gras masters. That CD featured everyone who was on the Louisiana Legends CD and it was released in January, 60 days before what was known at the Katrina Mardi Gras (February 28, 2006). These are three cuts from this miracle CD.
