[Dixielandjazz] Re: Jazz Popular?

[D and R Hardie]

Hi all.
                  I had begun to wonder where  the
list was going with all this remote  stuff,
until   someone questioned whether  jazz had ever
been popular. Of course, jazz was the pop music of
the roaring twenties; one commentator reporting
that  there were over 10000 jazz bands in the US
in that decade. It was also hugely popular in
Britain and Europe at that time. Scott Fitzgerald
called it the Jazz Age, saying it began with the
introduction of Prohibition in 1919 and ended with
the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The pop audience
of the thirties and forties were  then introduced
to Swing and thought the earlier music  out of
date -'square' they called it . Most of them were
probably  never really conscious that Swing was a
form of jazz, or at least its descendant.
                  Perhaps it is not important for
the young to have a sense of history. But if we
are to understand the meaning of terms like
Classic Jazz or Mainstream Jazz some historical
perspective would seem to be needed. The latter
term was used in Australia by followers of the
1940's Chicago Style to differentiate their
somewhat 'progressive'  music from that of the
revivalist bands  who were imitating  recordings
by Bunk Johnson and the Classic 1920's jazz bands
of  King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton .  It seems
it may have  have had a broader meaning elsewhere.
Adulation, including the adoration of Louis
Armstrong, seems to have been generational too,
some fans cling to their idols  on until old age.
My father adored the Jazz Singer.  Miles Davis
music is not MKOM but I suppose its a type of 
modern jazz..
Regards
Dan Hardie
Check Out the Early Jazz History site at:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~darnhard/EarlyJazzHistory.html

briantowers wrote:

> Personally I find his playing a total bore.  My
> ears hear a weak skinny
> tone;  little rhythm; no humour or fun.
> Mournful, whining self-conscious stuff -
> absolutely none of the essential
> ingredients and nothing to do with jazz as I
> know it - the music of
> Armstrong, Morton, Oliver, Waller and company. 
> The seemingly mindless
> adulation he enjoys always puzzles me.
>
> But that is just my opinion.  Millions of people
> out there think it is jazz
> and think it is great.  To each his own.
>
> A Happy New Year to Everyone!
> Brian Towers,
> Hot Five Jazzmakers, Toronto, Canada
> Band web site:               
> http://hotfivejazz.tripod.com
> Newsletter:                     
> http://hotfivejazz.tripod.com/TJM
> New Year's Eve Bash:   
> http://hotfivejazz.tripod.com/nye
>
> Ted Wrote:
>
> > Does the list not like Miles Davis?- he is not
> OKOM but is a great jazz
> > player with few notes-Ted Borodofsky
> >
>
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