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Bad Saeckingen: Finally we heard the genuine New Orleans feeling. The musicians of the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, on the stage of the Kursaal along with guest trumpeter Edward H. Tarr, performed Jazzin' Babies Blues with such gusto as to make the heart of any jazz fan jump. Overall, the New Orleans band's gala concert at the Kursaal was a star-studded hour for friends of early New Orleans jazz.
Whoever heard the gentlemen from the southern city as they launched into their single European concert, was inspired by their stylistic perfection, their sovereignty, their drive, their emotional performance "from the gut." It is no wonder that a jazz critic once called the seven member ensemble the most authentic group on the scene today, for they play classic jazz at the very highest level. This was a moment of overwhelming jazz nostalgia in the spirit of the legendary Louis Armstrong.
Each musician showed himself a top-notch virtuoso on his instrument. The melody group consisted of Duke Heitger on trumpet and cornet, Fred Starr on clarinet and saxophone, and Fred Lonzo on trombone. No less excellent were the rhythm section comprised of John Joyce on drums, Mike Peters on guitar and banjo, Walter Payton on bass and helicon, and David Boeddinghaus on piano. These gentlemen, some of them in settled middle age and sporting salt-and-pepper hair, took visible pleasure in such jazz numbers from the 1920s as New Orleans Wiggle, or King Oliver's Camp Meeting Blues, for which Edward H. Tarr, organizer of the Bad Saeckingen Armstrong Festival, joined the group and played so seamlessly that one would have thought he'd always been part of the band.
Over and over the members of the group starred in their solo work, whether it was the classically trained pianist or the formidable clarinetist performing a piece by Jelly Roll Morton. Also, guitarist Mike Peters offered a finely interpreted solo of Django Reinhardt's interpretation of Cornet Chop Suey. Above all the trumpeter Duke Heitger, with lightness and virtuosic faithfulness to history, starred as he presented the young Louis Armstrong to perfection. With great skill he also did West End Blues, a popular tune that Louis Armstrong played so artfully that he was dubbed "the Paganini of the cornet." Also, one should mention the concert's brief concluding piece, a hymn sung by bassist Walter Payton in a dark warm voice. All in all, it took the audience back to the cradle of jazz and to its Golden Age.
—Roswitha Frey
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