[Dixielandjazz] vocals

[briantowers]

Gee Charlie, you have a lovely way with the language!
Brian Towers


SNIP
>   ..........................................But I'll put her right up
there in the Trinity: Ella
> and Cleo and Bessie Smith.  I'll never forget the first time I caught her,
> early 70s; it was on TV, so I had video as well as audio.  My jaw dropped:
> "Who the HELL is THIS???  Where's she been?  Why do I not know this
woman?"
>
>     One more piddling cavil: To attend only the "tunes of the twenties" or
> any such limited designation simply shrinks one's musical awareness down
and
> down, until at last one becomes an "expert," a "knowledgeable person" who
is
> just a bit more handy than an IBM card.  (Do we still have those?)  Such
> chosen shrinkage is even worse than that of the super-hip modernist who is
> way too cool for "all that old shit," man!  Because, knowing the roots,
one
> should know better.  Because knowing the roots should promote admiration
for
> the entire plant, the marvelous, complicated, not-really-explainable bean
> stalk that is the whole of Jazz.
>
>     True, we like what we like and hate what we hate; but stretching
> exercises are mandatory if calcification isn't to destroy all flexible
> functioning.
>
> Charlie