[Dixielandjazz] Interesting-To-Imagine Bands

[Charlie Hooks]

   I belong to several lists--Jazz Musicians' Forum, DJML (Dixieland Jazz
Musicians' List)--and many others.  This came in from the JMF but was first
posted on the DJML.  Interesting fact: there is an enormous (and quite
unexpected) crossover: players whom you would never suspect as "mouldy figs"
or some other pejorative, pop up on both lists.   Dizzy Gillespie loved to
play "dixieland," and could play the shit out of it (by the way), as (I'm
told) could Miles Davis when challenged.

    In the late swing/early bop era there grew up many young players who for
one reason or another never learned the basic repetoire of jazz, never
learned anything Bix played, leave alone such "primitives" as Jelly Roll
Morton, yet hold both in contempt.   Much like people who have never read
Boswell's *Life of Johnson* yet list it along with *War and Peace* among the
top ten "Dullest Books I Ever Read."

   A test I love to run on superhip trumpet players is, "Could you, if
necessary, play the lead line on 'Panama'?"   And, if he unaccountably
answers, "Yes,"  I ask: "How many strains?"  If he holds up four fingers,
I've found a friend.    So many young alto players can groove "Donna Lee"
but haven't a clue about "Indiana."

   The letters OKOM stand for "Our Kind Of Music," invented to avoid labels.
We know the music we love, and inventing labels isn't part of it.    OKOM is
the "Back Home Again in Indiana" of singer Bonnie Kolac, who was born in
Indiana, loves Indiana, and smells the "new mown hay" with every phrase she
sings.  Sort of like me and Texas, though I lack such a song...  We admire
the technique of superstar players like Maurice Andre; but we especially
admire them when they also, like Mike Vax, understand the value of older
"simpler" styles and work to perfect them.

   "Simpler."  Umm.  Yeah.  Well, let's hear you PLAY 'em, baby!

charliehooks at earthlink.net



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>From Ron Davisson of Del Ray Beach;

Rick Knittel - JAZZBONE
6323 Gulf Drive; Holmes Beach, Florida 34217-1633
Phone/Fax; (941)-779-0089; Cell; (207)-233-3480
from Tom Sheeder.......
 
For years I've toyed with the idea of an interesting-name all-star band.
It's, of course, an interesting concept and, I'm sure any band made up of
all star OKOM musicians would sound great.
There are also other "all-star" band concepts which we probably ought NOT to
post on the DJML but you all know musicians here and there who would qualify
for membership in these bands.
First there is the band comprised of the worst musicians you know but who,
for some reason, are gigging prominently in some band somewhere.
Then there is the band comprised of musicians with the biggest egos. Do you
know any egotistical trumpet men? Clarinetists? Symphony conductors?
Then how about a band made up of good (technically) musicians but who, due
to some tragic genetic flaw, simply cannot swing.
And how about a band made up of musicians who tend to solo not only on their
own chorus but also on everyone else's chorus.
How about the guys who think they must play all the time, even playing
harmony notes on tunes they don't even know.
Then the guys who have no sense of dynamics and always play LOUDLY.
And the guys who love to drop beats in this or that measure and then add
them back in on some other measure.
Or musicians who love to play the highest notes possible on their axe ALL OF
THE TIME. 
Or musicians who think the essence of jazz is to play as many notes possible
in the alloted time for a solo.
Or a band made up of odd instruments (kazoos, washboards, gutbuckets,
spoons, bones, cowbells, ukuleles, stumpf fiddles, jugs, cigar box guitars,
etc. 
Or a band made up of all the musicians who play a quarter-tone high or low.

The list could go on, but I'll stop here.

But I must also add that our own self-image is often at odds with reality
and we shouldn't be surprised if one of the above listed musician types is
actually ourselves (not me, of course).
 
Respectfully submitted,

Bill "Waddaya mean, Dynamics? I'm playing as loud as I can!" Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com

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