[Dixielandjazz] Leonard Feather

[JimDBB at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/16/03 4:11:19 AM Central Standard Time, 
a.crouch at unsw.edu.au writes:


> 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

   I suppose that Leonard Feather did have some redeeming attributes.
  However, they were overshadowed by his relentless, pernicious attacks in 
print.  As Anton points out, the Mouldy Figs were equally vitriolic, however, 
none of these had a national forum of any significant influence.

   I hestitated about writing my piece on Feather because his daughter was 
involved. But as I related, she started up the same old attacks on 
'Dixieland' musicians.  Over the years I have heard many stories from many 
musicians of Feather's negative reviews and writeups.  I barely scratched 
this surface.

  Jim Beebe
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