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The Alcoa Sessions

by Charlie Halloran. The Tropicales.

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1.
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3.
Alma Llanera 03:03
4.
5.
6.
Twins 03:28
7.
Miranda 03:55
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9.
Feeling Good 03:15
10.
Meh Granny 03:25
11.
Goodnight 04:34
12.

about

Trombonist Charlie Halloran’s fifth album imagines the musical experience aboard cruises run by the Alcoa Steamship Co. out of New Orleans from 1949-1959. Pulling from dance band repertoire of Mid Century New Orleans, Trinidad, Venezuela and Guadeloupe, the Alcoa Sessions presents a band in the style of Paul Barbarin or Dave Bartholomew, augmented by Cuban percussion, French Creole and calypso vocals, fully leaning into the Crescent City’s placement as the northernmost city in the Caribbean.

Don Vappie leads the band through “When I Was a Little Child”, a swinging creole number from the Paul Barbarin/John Bruinous band, followed by the appropriately titled “Everybody’s Wailin’”, originally recorded by Huey Piano Smith.

By now the cruise has left the Mississippi River and we begin to explore ports further south. Considered Venezuela’s unofficial national anthem, “Alma Llanera” is given a Trinidadian dance band treatment ala Johnny Gomez. The moody and exotic “Margarita Rosa” comes from the Fitz Vaughan Bryan Orchestra, another dance band working in Port of Spain throughout the 1950s.

Back on the boat now, Halloran provides the vocals for the old jazz standard, “I Used To Love (But It’s All Over)”. 1950s New Orleans saw the explosion of seminal Rock and Roll and R&B recordings, so surely a New Orleans dance band of the era would be ready to let rip on a tune such as Dave Bartholomew’s “Twins” featuring fine trumpet work here from Mike Davis.

Lionel Belasco was a prolific composer working in Barbardos, Trinidad, Venezuela and New York City through the 1960s. His composition “Miranda” is a Venezuelan waltz and provides the perfect outlet for practicing some Arthur Murray dance steps, whose classes were often taught on these cruises. But don’t get too comfortable in 3/4, as Martinique’s Dédé St. Prix is up next to lead the band through “Moune a ou, ce moune a ou”, a brisk biguine from the French Caribbean, featuring the interplay between the trombone and reeds, particularly Tomas Majcherski’s tenor, giving the trumpet player a moment to grab a drink.

Johnathan Doyle steps to the front on the raucous, “Feeling Good”, harkening to Herb Hardesty, Lee Allen and the screaming tenor sax driven R&B of the 1950s. Trinidadian/Canadian singer Drew Gonsalves of the band Kobotown joins the band for a humorous calypso from Lord Funny, featuring Gonsalves’ infectious rhythm and cadence.

The band swings out the last two numbers, first with the uptempo “Goodnight” written by Pat Castagne for the sign-off music for Radio Trinidad, and finally the dreamy tropical standard, “Song of the Islands”.

The “Alcoa Sessions” mines wonderful, under the radar repertoire, all of it danceable and from the era when calypso, biguine, R&B, and traditional New Orleans Jazz were exploding and intermingling, alongside the tiki craze, mambo and tropicalia. The Alcoa Steamship company used music imagery and language in their ads and brochures, and Halloran’s “The Alcoa Sessions” is sure to have you packing your suitcase for a TWA plane bound for warmer climes.

credits

released January 1, 2022

Trombone: Charlie Halloran
Sax: Tomas Majcherski
Clarinet: Jonathan Doyle
Trumpet: Mike Davis
Drums: Doug Garrison, Chris Davis, Joe Lastie
Guitar: John Maestas, John Rodli, Don Vappie
Bass: Tyler Thomson, Pete Olynciw
Piano: Lawrence Seiberth, Leslie Martin, David
Boeddinghaus
Percussion: Cesar Bacaro
Vocals: Drew Gonsalvez, Dede St. Prix, Mia Goldsmith

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Charlie Halloran New Orleans, Louisiana

Scorching Tropicalia and New Orleans Jazz. A subtropical party waiting to happen.
Live from the Spotted Cat, Palm Court, DBA, Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, with his Tropicales, in trad jazz ensembles, Anders Osborne, Jon Cleary, Meschiya Lake, Panorama, Shotgun, the Palmetto Bug Stompers. Charlie is one of the most ubiquitous hornmen in New Orleans. ... more

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