[Dixielandjazz] Mezz

[Richard Broadie]

Mezz was basically a white guy who wished he was born black.  Not a very
good player but knew lots of people and found himself in many interesting
situations.

I read the book twice.  The first read was when I was young and
impressionable.  In later years, re-read was not nearly as good.

Seems like living in the real world for 40 years can change one's
impressions quite a bit.

Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Denham" <james at jiming.demon.co.uk>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 4:59 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Mezz


>
> I've just been reading Mezz Mezzrow's autobiography, "Really the Blues"
> (published by the 'Jazz Book Club' in 1959). It's often called
> "picaresque". Most of it is a load of self-serving bunk (IMHO) -eg, his
> attempts to make out that Jimmy Noone, Doc Poston, Sidney Bechet and
> even Louis himself, regarded him (Mezz) as an equal in musical terms (as
> opposed to valuing him as a dope supplier).
>
> The other unpleasant side to Mezz's story is his constant wish to do
> down his early collaborators, in particular Gene Krupa, Bud Freeman and
> Frank Teschmaker. It may be that some of the "Chicagoans" went on to
> make their names in the swing-era, playing music that Mezz didn't
> approve of. But -hey- given a chance, Mezz would play "swing" too. He
> was proud to be part of bands involving Benny Carter, Chick Webb and
> Teddy Wilson (even playing drums with one of them), during the 1930's.
>
> He was also the leader of a ground-breaking mixed-race 15-piece swing
> band called the "Disciples of Swing", including Willie "The Lion" Smith,
> Gene Sedrick and Zutty Singleton. Then band's initial success was,
> apparently, destroyed by Nazis smashing up the club they played in,
> daubing it with swastikas.
>
> I've come to the conclusion that Mezz was basically a good guy, who did
> a lot to promote and record good music (especially Sidney Bechet, Tommy
> Ladnier and Hot Lips Page), despite his own woeful clarinet and sax
> playing (for the WORST tenor solo in jazz history, listen to Mezz on
> "When You and I Were Young, Maggie"). He was, at least sincere. And on
> one occasion, at least, managed to play half-decent clarinet: " West End
> Blues", recorded in Paris in 1953 with Buck Clayton and Kansas Fields,
> is a masterpiece and Mezz shows that when it comes to the blues, he
> really can play.
>
> I know a musician who met Mezz in a bar in Paris in the fifties: this
> guy says "I never met anyone who seemed so content". That seems to
> contradict stories that Mezz died in "abject poverty". Does anyone know
> the truth?
>
>
> --
> Jim Denham
>
>
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