[Dixielandjazz] Who Are These Guys (Rampart Street Paraders)

[DaveH]

Just for the heck of it I did a Google search and found the bio on 
allmusic, written by Bruce Eder:

"Artist Biography by Bruce Eder

"The Rampart Street Paraders were a group organized by Matty Matlock at 
the behest of producer Paul Weston for a one-off recording project, but 
they proved so successful that they enjoyed a four-year run as one of 
the better studio Dixieland outfits of the mid-'50s.

"In late 1953, Columbia Records decided to do a 12" LP -- then an 
ambitious format that allowed for extended songs and jamming -- titled 
Jam Session Coast to Coast; the idea, in keeping with the title, was to 
pair off musically compatible sessions by two different bands on 
opposite coasts of the United States. As this was to be a 
Dixieland-themed jazz album, Eddie Condon's group was to record in New 
York City under producer George Avakian, while Weston was to deliver a 
recording of equal worth and stature from Los Angeles. Weston assembled 
the band he needed mostly with the veteran players who filled the studio 
music department ranks and session logs, and gave them the name from a 
street in Los Angeles that had become associated with Dixieland jazz 
over the previous 30 years or so. The lineup was built around Matty 
Matlock and Eddie Miller, ex-members of Bob Crosby's Bobcats, on 
clarinets and, in Miller's case, tenor sax as well. Matlock and Miller 
had been working together for years, and with the two of them as the 
starting point, there was also Stan Wrightsman at the piano, Phil 
Stevens on bass and tuba, Abe Lincoln on trombone, Clyde Hurley on the 
trumpet, Nick Fatool on drums, and guitarist George Van Eps. The 
resulting album was so successful that they went on working in the 
studio under the name, with the addition of Red Nichols alumnus Joe 
Rushton on bass saxophone. "

They owned the next two LPs they did -- there was no sharing with any 
other band on Rampart and Vine or Dixieland My Dixieland. Those two LPs, 
issued in 1954 and 1956, respectively, didn't break any sales records, 
but were sufficiently popular to permit them still more studio time 
together. In 1955, with Charlie Teagarden replacing Hurley, and Al 
Hendrickson replacing Van Eps, they cut another session in tandem with 
tin whistle soloist Randy Hall. In 1957 they made one last recording 
with Hurley back in the fold and were joined by fellow trumpet man John 
Best. The result was a final full-length LP with an odd western flavor 
to it, titled Texas! U.S.A., that showed them off handily in this 
offbeat musical setting. By the end of the '50s, the interest in 
Dixieland jazz was slackening -- as was commercial interest in most 
forms of jazz -- and this marked their swan song. But a four-year 
history as a studio ensemble wasn't bad for a group thrown together for 
what was supposed to be a single project, and it's surprising their work 
has never generated a free-standing reissue of its own."