Various Artists - Anthologie (3CD)

Facts This anthology brings together the first three albums by the Oignons, an inescapable jazz group whose mission was to restore to it's former glory every vigorous ounce of the New Orleans style: not by taking the old to make it something new, but by emphasizing all the avant garde power that lies behind the main style of the first era in jazz. And the band puts it's own inimitable signature to the compositions and arrangements here by adding a tap-dancer to the rhythm section: the result overflows with communicative energy. This retrospective set underlines how much trumpeter and leader Julien Silvand succeeded in establishing his band as the worthy heirs to France's eminent New Orleans representatives, from Claude Luter to the Haricots Rouges and Orphéon Célesta.