[Dixielandjazz] Lomax - father and son

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

Thanks to Dave Richoux for bringing to our attention the Marsh piece on the
Lomax duo. I don't agree with the spirit of the article but it does raise
some valid points. The "Good night Irene" incident is reasonably well known
and is best seen in the light of John Lomax's love-hate relationship with
Leadbelly. That Leadbelly was a difficult person is a simple matter of
fact. A true egalitarian might say that all copyright is theft.

Alan Lomax, the folklorist, has come in for a fair bit of criticism -see,
for example, Phil Pastras's recent book "Dead man blues - Jelly Roll Morton
way out west". Lomax's "cantometrics" for classifying folk song style is
treated with disdain by some scholars.

I prefer to think of both John and Alan Lomax in terms of the records they
made. Morton alone is grounds for admission to the jazz pantheon.

All the best
Anton

PS: will anyone take up the "copyright is theft" theme?