SimplyJazzTalk

The Oxford Concert album has been made with a with a sense of place, history and a past master of the genre. The place is New Orleans and religious settings; the history is that of the early jazz; and the past master is clarinettist George Lewis. The album was recorded at St Charles, Oxford, one of many churches that band played. So where did it all start?

(these quoted sections are taken from and interview between SimplyJazzTalk – SJT – and Alyn Shipton – AS – that took place in February 2026. More of the interview will be posted on this site in due course).

SJT: So moving on to the album you’re releasing. Now that came off the back of a group of musicians coming together around 2018.

AS: That’s when the New Orleans Friends was first formed. It was put together by Emil Martyn, the drummer, who’s the son of Barry Martyn. Emile put this band together for the Davos/Kloster’s Sounds Good Festival in 2019. We played in Davos and we had an absolutely wonderful time, so much so that at the end of it we agreed we should keep this band together. The clarinet player in that first version of the band was a brilliant player Adrian Cox. Adrian’s currently touring with his own trio and he also plays in the ska rock band Bad Manners, so he has two completely different careers and it just got impossible for him to make gigs with our New Orleans Friends. Fortunately, a very old friend of mine, Tom Sancton, who grew up in New Orleans, who I met when we were at Oxford University – we had our first band in Oxford in 1972, so we’d been playing together a long time – came and joined us, I think first for the Swanage Festival in 2022, and then he’s been over for numerous concerts and tours since.

So Tom Sancton on clarinet links instrument and former residence to the spirit of this album and its inspiration: The Jazz at Vespers album released on the Riverside label in the 1950s. The opening mid-tempo track, Precious Lord Lead My Hand, is a fine example of the New Orleans sound with its measured rhythm, warm-toned clarinet interplay with the cornet of Alan Gesty and the additional layer of sound provided by Simon Picton on banjo.

SJT: So the set list is not just a replica of the original album?

AS: No, it’s not but we’ve drawn some from the Jazz at Vespers. I think there’s a couple of Vespers-related songs on there that aren’t actually on the Jazz at Vespers album but it’s part of that jazz and spirituals connection. We also thought that as we’re playing in a church, it’s a good idea for at least one of the two sets we play to be based on music that has a connection to that building that we’re playing in. The thing is, we play acoustically, no microphones, it’s an entirely acoustic band: we balance ourselves in the feel of the building that we’re playing in. We’ve played in a lot of churches.

We Shall Walk Through The Streets Of The City picks up the tempo and is a joyful example of the New Orleans sound that permeates this recording. However, it is the third track, Just A Closer Walk With Thee, that stands out for me. It opens with a funeral march sound, respectfully soulful with its wonderful clarinet sound, before drummer Trevor Richards breaks out and sends the music off in another direction of joy, revelry and wonderful group playing as well as delightful solos.

SJT: So in the information I received it talks about the George Lewis connection and the Vespers album released in the ‘50s. What is it about George Lewis in particular that you’re really attracted to?

AS: He was an extraordinarily versatile and sensitive clarinettist and his technique is remarkable so I first heard him on the Bunk Johnson recordings from the 1940s and the most consistent playing, even when he was suffering from acute toothache on the Decker sessions, apparently, is George Lewis. And some of those things, like One Sweet Letter From You and Maryland, My Maryland, I can recall every note of those records, and I loved George’s playing. When Tommy met me in Oxford and I discovered he’d been taught by George Lewis as he was growing up in New Orleans, and he’s the closest, it’s not that he copies, he’s the closest in spirit to George.

There’s something about Tommy’s playing that is unique and it takes you right back to that feeling of New Orleans and the sound that George pioneered and we like the Vespers concert because that again was an acoustic concert. The way it’s recorded by Riverside Records is a very natural sound and that’s what we were aiming at just in performance.

That “feeling” Alyn refers to comes across so well in The Old Rugged Cross, a number I would describe as a New Orleans jazz standard, whose essence is not diminished by familiarity with the tune. Over the Waves is another fine example of how this band play for each other. The banjo drives the tune forward, there is a strong bass line from Alyn Shipton accompanied by crisp drumming from Trevor Richards. Tom and Alan weave their melodic lines over the top and there is a very good piano section from Martin Litton: this is a fine track indeed.

The album closes out with two numbers: Jerusalem Blues, containing delightful use of stop breaks and entrancing clarinet playing from Tom Swinton, and Algiers Strut. The final number is a very good example of what this album, and the band who plays it, is all about: keeping that New Orleans sound alive and relevant and in that endeavour I believe the boys have succeeded.

The final word goes to bassist Alyn Shipton:

SJT: With those concerts, it comes across in the book that you were rather surprised to sell out in London at that time. Why were you so surprised?

AS: Well, the London concert was actually midday,it was a lunchtime concert at the Pizza Express. And, you know, I’ve been to those in the past when three men and a dog would be a big audience. So actually to sell out at lunchtime was quite something: we were different from everything else on the festival programme, there was nobody else doing anything like that, so we pulled in an interested audience who wanted to hear it.

The Oxford Concert is an album that will allow listeners to hear some of what interested that London audience and enjoy that link between today, the spirit of George Lewis and the wonderful New Orleans sound that Alyn Shipton and Friends know how to play.

Tracklist: 01 – Precious Lord Lead My Hand; 02 – We Shall Walk Through The Streets Of The City; 03 – Just A Closer Walk With Thee; 04 – The Old Rugged Cross; 05 – Over The Waves; 06 – Jerusalem Blues; 07 – Algiers Strut.

Musicians: Tom Sancton (clarinet) Alan Gresty (cornet), Simon Picton (banjo), Martin Litton (piano), Alyn Shipton (double bass), Trevor Richards (drums).