[Dixielandjazz] Re: Faster and higher than Louis

[john petters]

 Jim said
>But I stand by what I said.  Clifford Brown is
> not a 'better' trumpet player.  I doubt that he would be able to play
Louis's
> choruses with the same timing and phrasing...and the same tone.  Wynton
> Marsalis can't play them.
>
Jim, it looks like you and I are are on nthe same wavelength. I looked
through my CD collection for a Clifford Brown recording. Found one. 'Whats
New' on a compilation album. Played it. Fine. Good playing - but not the
depth of the Louis version he did with Peterson, where he doesn't even pick
up the trumpet. I listened to another track with Bird with Red Rodney. Now
will Steve say he was a better trumpet player than Louis? I hope not. I
occasisionally spin the odd 'modern jazz' cd ( not very modern mow though
and only 20 years younger than old fashioned Noo Awlin's music) in an
attempt to again see what all the fuss is about. Sure Bird plays faster -
but I cannot hear the depth that there is in Hodges.
Brings me to the article you wrote in Jazz Beat on Feather and the Art
Hodes - Lester Young fiasco. There were not many piano players more economic
with notes than Art. And Lester didn't bust a gut to cram every bar with
trillions of notes. He thought about them - like Louis and used them
sparingly. What a shame Feather ruined the oppotunity for these great plaeys
to record together.
John Petters
Amateur Radio Station G3YPZ
www.traditional-jazz.com