[Dixielandjazz] Re: Organs in Jazz - Was Fats Waller first?

[Stephen Barbone]

Bill Haesler wrote: (polite snip

> Dear Steve,
> Regarding your question: >Has anybody got those early Fats Waller records with
> him on organ? Of course! Hasn't everyone on the DJML got them? 8>)
> (Snip)
> As is usual for me. More than you needed to know. Guess what I am playing at the
> moment? Yep! The Fats' organ sides. Thanks for the reminder.

Thank you Bill, for all the information. As you might know, NYC and Philadelphia
are only 90 miles apart and a haven for jazz organ players. (mostly modern) I grew
up in NYC listening to Wild Bill Davis, Milt Buckner, Jimmy McGriff, Groove Holmes
et al., and then came to the Philadelphia area and kept listening to Shirley Scott,
Papa John DeFrancesco, Joey DeFrancesco et al. I was aware of the Waller recordings
but never gave them a serious listen until about a year ago. Personally, I love the
sound, regardless of the musical genre.

I too was surprised at the Waller reference in the NY Times when trad jazz is so
rarely mentioned. I tried to get a write up for Barbone Street's trumpet player who
did a week's show tour there playing the trumpet part in  Andre De Shields'  "West
End Blues - Louis Armstrong"  Great show. Solid crowds in attendance, and Paul
Grant did a masterful job with the West End Blues cadenza as well as the rest of
the show. All I got from the New York press corps was polite yawns. Even a player
who looks like Louis of the late 30s and is obviously influenced by him, though not
a clone, can't get any respect. Bummer.

Ah well, at this Wednesday's brewpub gig, the Philadelphia Inquirer (the major
paper in Philadelphia) is preparing a full page article on Barbone Street, complete
with color photos and interviews at the venue. It will appear on Sunday, December
15, in the Arts & Leisure section so I'm told. Paul will be on that one too and
hopefully get some press. The reporters told me they are getting tired of doing
artists like Andrew Wyeth and James Wyeth and a bunch of others. They are grateful
for the chance to drink some beer, or single malt and write about the "Lively
Arts". ;-)  (wait till they see our beautiful, young, audience)

Go Philadelphia.

Cheers,
Steve
Barbone Street Jazz Band
http://home.earthlink.net/~barbonestreet/