[Dixielandjazz] Leonard Feather

[fred spencer]

Dear Brian,
Your doubt about Leonard Feather's "racism" is apropos. Benny Goodman, John
Hammond, and Duke Ellington wrote the "Foreword/ Introduction" to three of
Feather's "Yearbook/ Encyclopedia of Jazz "series. I don't think any of these
jazzmen would have supported a racist author. Whatever bias Feather may have had
as a critic, he performed a service of enormous value to jazz by compiling seven
biographical dictionaries from 1956 to 1999 (the last two with Ira Gitler,
posthumously for Feather in 1999). The current edition is entitled "The
Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz" and is a $49.50, 718 page book, offered in an
Oxford University Press sales catalogue until January 31, 2003 at $15.00!
Regards.
Fred


"Goggin, Brian (Dublin)" wrote:

> Feather did some great work and did a lot to promote jazz, but he could be
> odd. He said he reckoned there'd even be a CD of Leo Watson come out
> eventually and there was!
> I think he took a few unfair digs at some people though. I'm not too well up
> on modern jazz and have no real interest in it, but in his book he was
> giving out about Stan Kenton's lack of black guys in his band etc. implying
> he was racist and it turned out later that he had submitted arrangements to
> Kenton who didn't want to use them and Feather was quite peeved by this. I
> never heard anyone else say Kenton was racist, so that was a little bit
> petty.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Anton Crouch [SMTP:a.crouch at unsw.edu.au]
> > Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 10:13 AM
> > To:   DJML
> > Subject:      [Dixielandjazz] Leonard Feather
> >
> >
> > Hello all
> >
> > I come neither to bury Feather, nor to praise him. However, there is some
> > middle ground which may lighten the black picture painted by Jim Beebe.
> >
> > On the matter of the antagonism between the "modernists" and the "mouldy
> > fygges" in the 1940s, there was intractable bias on both sides. Rudi
> > Blesh,
> > for example, couched his views in elegant  prose but he was just as
> > narrow-minded as Feather. Read Blesh's comments on Duke Ellington in
> > "Shining trumpets" or listen to him explaining what "real jazz" is, at the
> > Bunk Johnson concert in San Francisco in May 1943 (available on American
> > Music CD AMCD 16). I suspect that most DJMLers would now be appalled by
> > such views.
> >
> > As a record producer, Feather is deserving of some praise. Listen to his
> > London sessions of May 1937 and September 1938. There is both humour and
> > fine playing here (the band is called "Leonard Feather and Ye Olde English
> > Swynge Band"), the repertoire is adventurous( "jazzy" folk songs), and we
> > can hear that Feather was an adequate pianist.
> >
> > In America he promoted the work of relative unknowns such as alto player
> > Pete Brown and is particularly noteworthy for his support of female
> > musicians on record. Mary Lou Williams, June Rotenberg, Beryl Booker,
> > Vivien Garry, Edna Williams and Hazel Scott are some of the people who
> > benefited from Feather's work as a producer.
> >
> > All the best
> > Anton
> >
> >
> >
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>
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