[Dixielandjazz] African-Americans in Jazz

[Richard Broadie]

Jim I'm sure you mean Pony Poindexter.  I met him in San Francisco and
enjoyed a few sets with him circa 1960,   He's the Little Pony referred to
in Basie's classic performance of the song by that title.   I agree that
guys who think Miles and Trane invented jazz would do better if they went
back to the true roots of jazz to establish a better foundation.  What good
is it to play off extensions of changes in a random manner if you have no
idea what changes are?


At least half of the trad musicians I played  OKOM with in LA in the 1960s
were black.  Teddy Buckner, Mike DeLay, Alton Purnell, Sammy Lee, Ed
"Montudie" Garland, Barney Bigard, Teddy Edwards,  Red Callendar, Johnny St.
Cyr, Rex Stewart, Norm Bowden, Andy Blakeney, Sammy Price, Alton Redd, Britt
Woodman, Chester Lane, Harvey Brooks and Joe Darensbourg come to mind with
ease.  I could likely double or triple this list with a little
concentration.


Many were what I would consider to be "first generation" okom players.
Garland was with Ory in 1919, St. Cyr with Armstrong in the 20s on the Hot 5
and 7 sessions, Bigard with Duke before 1930, etc. It was such a kick to
"grow up" and play with so many who could claim to have had a part in
inventing our music.


Sadly, from my experience, I can locate no black musicians these days that
play okom.  Of course I live in Palm Springs where we barely have enough
musicians of any color to put an OKOM band together.  We've had some great
musicians who moved here to retire.  Unfortunately, that's what they did -
retire!

I was blessed to be Charlie Beal's bass player off and on for about 10
years.  Charlie was on piano with Louis in the film "New Orleans" and taught
Billy Holiday the music to "Do You Know What It Means..." prior to it's
initial performance in the film.  Charlie was a two fisted piano player so
playing bass wasn't always that much fun.  All I could do was duplicate the
notes he played in his left hand or my notes were "wrong."  Rather like the
afternoon, I played bass with Meade Lux Louis in the ealy 60s.  With his
Boogie Woogie style, I never did figure out a bass part that fit exactly
right.  On the other hand, things got interesting when someone requested
"Misty" and Meade played the first 16 bars with a boogie beat and then got
completely lost on the bridge.  He may have been a great Boogie player but
he was very much restricted to that genre.


I don't play many festivals these days, partly because I miss the guys I
used to play with who are currently gigging at a far distant and better
place.  Of course, another reason is that I'm rarely invited,  having lived
and gotten lost in the desert for more than 30 years.  When old friends spot
me attending a jazz festival as a civilian, I'm frequently asked, "Are you
still alive?"   So far the answer's been "yes!"   Dick B


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Kashishian" <kash at ran.es>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 2:40 AM
Subject: FW: [Dixielandjazz] African-Americans in Jazz


>
>
> I haven't had much chance to verify or not verify the A-A contribution
> on jazz as I've been in Madrid for 37 yrs, however, before that I did 8
> yrs in the Air Force Bands.
>
> In both of my AF bands, I was called upon to improvise on The Saints as
> a closing song for many of the band's concerts.  In both bands, this
> "solo" bit was frowned upon by the black guys in the bands.  They
> commented to me (or behind my back) that this wasn't jazz.  (They also
> may have been envious of the attention I was getting, and that I got
> promotions ahead of time due to the exposure!!! )     :>
>
> Never mind the fact that I WAS AT LEAST IMPROVISING, when most of them
> had only the ability to read.  Ok, some will argue that the ever-hated
> Saints isn't Jazz, but I don't go along with that, and this bit of
> exposure of jazz contributed to awareness amongst the public at our
> concerts, and certainly drew applause, not to mention clapping to the
> beat (on  2 & 4 in the States, and on 1 & 3 in Spain!!).
>
> None of our other members of the bands ever took a stab at early jazz,
> preferring to hit it right from the top...with Miles' style, or J.J.
> Johnson as their mode of operation.  My comment...no background,
> therefore no foundation for building the tall house they wished to
> construct!
>
> Now, in Europe, if you're black, they just assume you play jazz.  When
> the Canal Street heard our AF Band at a Univ. concert, they came up and
> asked the black trombonist if he played Jazz.  He turned them over to
> me, and I joined them that very night....35 yrs ago!
>
> I've played with some of the old fellows...Ponty Pointdexter & Hal Smith
> on sax, to mention a few, plus a white guy by the name of Tony Scott on
> clarinet (louder than Louis on trumpet...honest!), and all these guys
> could hit it on all our Dixie tunes.  They'd paid their dues, played the
> older stuff, and decided to go into the more modern stuff.  Fine.  But,
> pay your dues, first!
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
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