[Dixielandjazz] stylistic crossover p.s. to Dave Gravatt

[Dave Gravatt]

Dick,

The story of "The Letter", as I understand it, is that the late, great Jim
Snyder who was, at the time, playing bone with Terry Waldo's Gutbucket
Syncopators, had a teenager who was having trouble relating to Dad's music.
So, Jim took "The Letter", a popular rock tune recorded  by "The Boxtops" in
the '60s, and did it up trad jazz style in hopes of getting his teenager to
"understand". The Syncopators recorded it in 1974. The changes are fun and
the tune is hot!

When I was in school in New Mexico, our group, "The Creole Dixieland Jazz
Band", stole the tune from The Syncopators and recorded it in 1987. When I
came to Springfield, Missouri and was playing with Hoover's group, "The
Firehouse Dixieland Jazz Band", we stole it again and played it with that
group. Our present group from Springfield, "The Creole Dixieland Jazz Band"
(yeah, I know, I don't have much of an imagination so I named the band the
same as the one in New Mexico), plays the tune a lot these days.

To come full circle with the story: "The Letter" was written by Wayne Carson
who is from and lived at the time in Springfield, Missouri. He lives now in
Nashville, or so I'm told.

To answer your question....I'm not sure. There may be a recording or two of
it by someone or another around here somewhere. Send me your snail mail
address and I'll put one in the mail for you if you want.

No word on whether Jim's kid likes jazz these days or not.

Dave
====================
The Creole Dixieland Jazz Band
"It's a treat to beat your feet"
417-581-5626
Springfield, Missouri
http://www.CreoleJazz.com and
http://www.Syncopation-Enterprises.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Crockett" <rcrockett1 at houston.rr.com>
To: "dix" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 4:15 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] stylistic crossover p.s. to Dave Gravatt


> Jerry Hoover's Firehouse Band out of Springfield MO played an arrangement
of
> "The Letter" (rock tune from the 1970's) that worked so well I'm amazed
that
> someone didn't re-release it as a single. It was "stomped-down early jazz"
> style complete with banjo, tuba, and tailgate.
>
> dc
> p.s. to Dave Gravatt: is there a recording of that arrangement somewhere?
I
> need it in my archives.
>
> dc
>
>
>
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