For biographies of each of the band members, plus photos and music clips, go to the Big Chris Barber Band page.

Take Me Back To New Orleans

Take Me Back To New Orleans is a double-CD re-issue of a previous LP and CDs of the Chris Barber Band in concert with the Grosses Rundfunkorchester Berlin, recorded in 1986, and issued under the title, New Orleans Symphony. The original LP was released on the Jazz Zounds label, which also issued the first CD of the concert. Another re-issue came from Timeless Records, so this Bell Records edition is the third to appear, although the title has been changed for the current release. Unfortunately, the CD is not listed in the Bell Records on-line catalogue, but it is readily available from Amazon, and possibly on eBay, so Chris Barber fans should have little trouble acquiring this new release should they wish to do so.

European Tour 2011: New Faces

This new CD covers almost a complete concert of the present Big Chris Barber Band. However, not all the recordings are from a single concert: all the recordings were made in January and February 2011 in England, Scotland and Germany. Rebecca Evans, the band's sound engineer, mixed and put together the best ones from several concerts for the CD, supported by the band's banjo player Joe Farler, known as a technical wizard. The sound quality of the live recordings is great.

The CD features the new faces among the band: David Horniblow, clarinet & saxes, since March 2010; Jackie Flavelle, bass/bass guitar, who joined the band in August 2010, but was formerly on tour with Chris Barber from 1967 to 1977; Amy Roberts, saxophone and clarinet - the outstanding young talent joined the forces of the Big Chris Barber Band in January 2011; and Gregor Beck, drums, started in April 2010 with the band.

For more details, go to the New and Recent Releases page or the cover page for this CD.

There Were Some Changes Made, 1961-65

This new compact disc from Lake Records fills in some important gaps in the Chris Barber Band’s recording history, notably between 1961 and 1965. The tracks on There Were Some Changes Made come from a variety of sources, including selections from an LP that was only available from the World Record Club (e.g., Weary Blues, Black & Tan Fantasy), and later re-issues on compilation LPs (for example, there are several tracks that appeared on a much later Black Lion LP, Chris Barber Special. Finally, others have never before been released (e.g., Georgia Swing, and a novel version of Shout ‘Em Aunt Tillie).

In sum, There Were Some Changes Made is an excellent and welcome addition to the available catalogue and one which many Barber fans will greatly enjoy listening to.

For more details, go to the New and Recent Releases page or the cover page for this CD.

Like the two CD-sets shown immediately below, this new double-CD, Chris Barber Greatest Hits, is a compilation of 40 tracks spanning the Chris Barber Band's earliest recordings in 1954 to those of the mid- to late-1950s. The tracks are drawn from records originally published on several labels, including Decca, Pye/Nixa, and Columbia. As such they provide a comprehensive -- if conventional for this sort of compilation -- selection of tracks from roughly the first five years of the band's existence, plus a couple of additional "hidden gems". While there is little here to appeal to serious collectors of Chris's older recorded output, the current double-CD provides an excellent introductory compilation of the Barber Band's catalogue in the 1950s.

For more details, go to the New and Recent Releases page or the cover page for this CD.

Chris Barber's Jazz Band, High Society and Hits from The Golden Era Of Traditional Jazz.

These two receNtly-released compilation CDs are similar in that both draw upon the rich vein of Barber recordings from the band's first studio session for the Decca label in 1954 to the latter part of the 1960s. High Society is a single disc comprising 20 tracks all drawn from the Pye/Nixa catalogue. Hits From The Golden Era Of Traditional Jazz is rather more ambitious: this is a double-CD album with a total of forty tracks, many the same as those which appear on High Society, but the scope is both narrower (the last track is from 1957) and broader: as well as tracks from the Pye/Nixa label we also have numerous tracks that were recorded for Decca, Storyville and Columbia. It's unlikely that they will appeal to serious collectors but, on the other hand, they do provide an excellent introduction to the Chris Barber Band's early recordings.

For more details, go to the New and Recent Releases page or the combined cover page for these two CDs.

Chris Barber, the Chris Barber Band, and Guests, Memories Of My Trip (a double-CD released April 18, 2011 on Proper Records).

Chris Barber's much-awaited new double-CD, Memories Of My Trip, a retrospective of his 60-year career as a trombonist and bandleader, was released on April 18, 2011. The album contains a total of 31 tracks, many of historical importance but never before released, and others newly recorded especially for Memories. An amazing and varied list of guests contributes to various tracks on the album, including Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Rory Gallagher, Lonnie Donegan, Jeff Healy, Van Morrison, Paul Jones, Edmond Hall, Albert Nicholas, Jools Holland and Mark Knopfler.

You can read more details about this CD, together with a selection of short music clips and scans of the jewel box inserts, at two places in the website: the New Releases page and the cover page for Memories Of My Trip.

Ottilie Patterson with Chris Barber's Jazz Band, Blues Book And Beyond (2011 reissue of Chris Barber's Blues Book, Volume 1, with bonus tracks; Lake Records LACD 296, released in March 2011.

Lake Records has compiled a very interesting new compact disc, documenting the great musical diversity of Ottilie Patterson between the years 1958 and 1961. The first twelve titles comprise a complete re-issue of the original Columbia recording, Chris Barber's Blues Book, Volume 1, a 12-inch LP recorded and released in 1960. These twelve songs were re-issued by BGO Records in 1997 on a CD together with the 1964 album Good Mornin' Blues; however, they have remained comparatively rare items, so we are very happy to have the complete Columbia recordings once again on a widely available CD. The CD also includes a wonderful Ottilie EP: Ottilie Swings The Irish. The sound quality of this CD is excellent: Paul Adams has, as usual, put a great deal of work into carefully restoring this historic material.

Chris Barber, Elite Syncopations (2011 CD re-issue with bonus tracks); Lake Records LACD 294, released in February 2011.

The original LP Elite Syncopations, (Chris Barber’s Band Box, Volume Two), issued in 1960, featured the Barber Band with its classic lineup of Chris, Pat and Monty, Eddie and Dick Smith, and Graham Burbidge. It was recorded in January and February 1960. The LP was a great success and has been issued and reissued as an LP on various labels. However, it was not until 1995 that Lake Records decided to release the complete LP on a CD, adding four more tunes. This CD was soon sold out and remains a rare item. Now, in February 2011, Paul Adams from Lake Records has again reissued the original LP tracks. What makes this CD so interesting is that the additional tracks are completely different from those on the first CD issue: tracks 11 to 15 have not been previously issued, while the bonus tracks 16 and 17 feature the 1953 Ken Colyer's Jazzmen.

Chris Barber's Jazz & Blues Band with Special Guest Ken Colyer, New Orleans Parade
Lake Records LACD 293, released in November 2010.

New Orleans Parade is an “unexpected” compact disc from Lake Records: as Paul Adams points out in his notes, Chris Barber sent the tapes of a 1984 concert to him “out of the blue”, suggesting that they would make a worthwhile and historically important CD. This was largely because the eight-piece Chris Barber’s Jazz & Blues Band of the time was joined on-stage by Ken Colyer, with whom of course Chris had played in Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen in 1953 and 1954.

The concert, which took place on December 16, 1984, was recorded at the St. Ivo Centre, St. Ives, Cambridgeshire. It begins with two “Parade Band” tracks featuring the full band along with Colyer, and then continues in somewhat more formal pieces with Ken as lead trumpeter while Pat Halcox stepped aside. The last track on the CD is also a “Parade Band” feature, Dr. John’s All On A Mardi Gras Day.

For more details, go to the New and Recent Releases page or the cover page for New Orleans Parade.

Welcome to the Chris Barber Website Message Board.

We hope you will find this a useful and entertaining addition to the site, where you can talk about anything related to Chris, the band, concerts, tours, recordings -- you name it.