[Dixielandjazz] Al Hirt, Bob Havens, and Eternity

[Patrick Cooke]

>>and then i played Hirt's first LP for Audio
Fidelity (AFLP 1877, from 1958) called "Al Hirt Swingin' Dixie! at
Dan's Pier 600 in New Orleans", not expecting very much.  I mean, i
don't think i've played it in 10 years, and only maybe five times in
the last 40 years.  But (and here's where i'm coming to my point), i <<<

No need to apologize for liking Al Hirt, Dan.  During his prime he was an
absolutely dazzling trumpet player.  The records he made when he was at
Dan's were some of the best.  Unfortunately, somewhere along the line his
health started to deteriorate, and his playing went downhill as well.
Sadly, he still recorded as his playing declined; and many base their
opinions of his playing on what they heard on these recordings.
    I was at his last performance before he died...it was pitiful.  He had
more than a few ailments, and had to be helped onto the stand; and when he
started to play, he was awful....He sounded like a beginner, or worse.  It
seemed like the longest set I ever sat through.  It was so sad, considering
how he played when he was on top.
     No, he never sounded like Louis, or Bunk; and I never  thought he was
supposed to, nor did Al.  In fact I never thought that any player was
supposed to sound like another player.  I always thought the idea was to
play a little different from all the others.  Al was different enough for
the purists to dislike him, though most of them couldn't begin to play
anything close to his playing.   But then, there are no purists on this
list........are there?
      Pat Cooke



----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Augustine" <ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 11:38 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Al Hirt, Bob Havens, and Eternity


> Folks--
>      The following is going to seem a little disjointed, but hang in
> there, i do have a point (yeah, and if i comb my hair right,
> nobody'll notice).
>      This coming Monday night Ed Polcer's Jazz All-Stars is giving a
> concert in town, and a friend and neighbor of mine (Jeff Van Horn,
> president of the Austin Traditional Jazz Society) wondered if i had
> any recordings by him, as Jeff was going to do a radio interview
> about the concert.  As it happened, i did have the CD called "Coast
> to Coast Swingin' Jazz" (Jazzology JCD-198), which has Bob Havens
> playing trombone.  (The concert here has Dan Barrett on trombone.)
> The radio fellow (a trombonist himself) was blown away by Havens,
> never having heard him play before.  Jeff said he was going to make
> him a recording of other tunes that Havens plays on, and i said i'd
> do the same. Upon further reflection by each of us, we agreed that
> Havens is one of our favorite (maybe _the_ favorite) trombonists.  I
> looked in my collection and found a number of recordings that Havens
> is on, and i made a short CD of a number of tunes, mostly from the
> Great Pacific Jazz Band's cassette called "Music of Louis Armstrong"
> (it's a major crime that this is not on CD).
>      But i also have four albums by Al Hirt from the 1950's that
> Havens plays on (plus some George Girard cuts on other albums), and
> he's especially good on the one that Pete Fountain is also on
> ("Blockbustin' Dixie" is one of the album-names). So i listened to a
> couple of songs on it, and then i played Hirt's first LP for Audio
> Fidelity (AFLP 1877, from 1958) called "Al Hirt Swingin' Dixie! at
> Dan's Pier 600 in New Orleans", not expecting very much.  I mean, i
> don't think i've played it in 10 years, and only maybe five times in
> the last 40 years.  But (and here's where i'm coming to my point), i
> really enjoyed it.
>      Aha, i see your gag reflex competing for ascendancy with the
> finger reaching for the delete-key, but hold on a second.  I, like
> everyone else, am under no compulsion to justify what i like to you,
> so i don't have to try to explain why i like something, just as you
> don't have to justify to me your knock-kneed and totally indefensible
> devotion to the twitterings of Crazy Otto.  Whatever.  It's OK to
> like what you like.
>      However, let us examine the Al Hirt recordings in a more
> historical light: the players are all technically excellent (Harold
> Cooper on the clarinet), who play in tune, with good tone.  The
> arrangements are good, and occasionally inventive and even humorous
> (cf. "Saints").  While Hirt does try to play faster, louder, and
> higher than everyone, and while stylistically what he plays is not
> (shall we say) in the mainstream of dixieland expressions, his
> playing is interesting and doesn't make me bolt for the tone-arm (as
> some players with foul intonation make me do).  Harold Cooper acquits
> himself admirably, but the playing of Bob Havens is an ill-remembered
> joy to hear.  He has such a chorus-long melodic invention, along with
> superb chops, that i feel guilty not playing these records for so
> long.  (Bob, if you're reading this, bless you for being such a great
> player.)
>      We all know people who dislike or hate music of some type, while
> others equally knowledgeable like or love the same stuff.  That's
> normal.  (Robert A. Heinlein had a line about 'experts', saying that
> you can always find one 'expert' to say the other one is a
> diamond-studded liar.)  But who cares?  Unfortunately, we do.  We
> tend to be influenced by the fear of what others will say, so we
> don't say anything at all, which just confirms and continues the
> problem.
>      Well, to hell with you then, if you think this way.  I like ol'
> Al Hirt and Bob Havens and Harold Cooper, the (Assunto) Dukes of
> Dixleland, the Firehouse Five Plus Two, and even Kenny Ball, the
> Village Stompers, and Pee Wee Hunt.  I also like Jelly Roll Morton,
> the Condon gang, the Queen City JB, High Sierra, Caoba JB, the
> Society Syncopators, Bob Schulz, the Yerba Buena Stompers, the Sandy
> Lopicic Orkestar, and lots of others.  To me, 'art' is something you
> can experience multiple times with pleasure, and i get pleasure
> (different kinds, to be sure) from listening to all these bands and
> players.  It doesn't bother me if you don't like them; i'm sure you
> like stuff i have no use for.  But let's not step on others'
> pleasure, shall we?  It's OK to like what you like.
>
>      Dan
> --
> **--------------------------------------------------------------------**
> **  Dan Augustine     Austin, Texas     ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu  **
> **    "I can't sing. As a singist I am not a success. I am saddest    **
> **     when I sing. So are those who hear me. They are sadder even    **
> **     than I am."  --  Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne)          **
> **--------------------------------------------------------------------**
>
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