[Dixielandjazz] Re: Banu in New Orleans

[TBW504 at aol.com]

I get OffBeat sent to me: a good read. I also spotted that reference to Banu 
Gibson and noticing the presence of Billy Huntington in her latest CD backing 
group set me thinking. Billy is of course a renowned bassist these days, much 
in demand. But when each year a group of British enthusiasts for that ol' time 
religion journey to New Orleans he often gets out his banjo for old times' 
sake. As a youngster he had banjo lessons from Lawrence Marrero (and got racist 
death threats for his pains) and when Ken Colyer recorded in New Orleans in 
1952/3 Billy was on two of the sessions; the one on February 23rd 1953 included 
the venerable Albert Glenny who had played with Buddy Bolden. Thus, mention of 
Banu Gibson and Billy Huntington leads one back to the very dawn of jazz!
Brian Wood