[Dixielandjazz] RE: Wow on WING...; humor in music

[Richard Broadie]

Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band of San Francisco, and their LP "Music for
Non-Thinkers  is one of my all time favorites.  I usuall sneak in their
"Stars and Stripes" at the end of jazz cds I burn for friends.  Have very
few friends left these days1  :-)  dB
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Augustine" <ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu>
To: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 9:19 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] RE: Wow on WING...; humor in music


> >From: "Bill Gunter" <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
> >Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Wow on WING...
> >Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2003 15:52:34 +0000
> >
> >Listmates,
> >The question was asked:
> >>Do you know something we don't, who is Foster Jenkins?
> >Florence Foster Jenkins was a lovely lady - loved the arts (especially
opera) and fancied herself a soprano of the first order. Her wealthy
husband, deeply in love with Florence, catered to her every whim. For a few
years he would rent out Carnegie Hall for a special recital featuring
Florence.
> ><snip>
> >You can't include Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in this genre because they
were actually engaged in a comic put-on deliberately performed to make
people laugh. Foster Jenkins and Mrs. Miller, on the other hand, actually
believed they were blessed with a great talent.
> >Respectfully submitted,
> >Bill "More Power to Wing" Gunter
> >jazzboard at hotmail.com
> **-------------------------------------------------------------------**
> Folks--
>     And, as long as we're talking about humor in music, let's not forget
(if in fact we ever knew) the famous Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band of San
Francisco, and their LP "Music for Non-Thinkers".  They did polka and band
music exactly wrong, but it was so funny because they sounded like a lot of
bad bands we've all played in (terrible intonation, wrong entrances,
fluctuating tempi, poor dynamics, etc.).  You actually have to be a pretty
good player (or singer, as in Jo Stafford) to sound as if you're
accidentally playing something wrong (she was great at singing about a
quarter-step sharp), but doing it in such a way that it's humorous (at least
to those who know what it should sound like).
>     Hoffnung Music Festival, of course, injected humor into classical
music, as did Spike Jones, Stan Freberg, and others for popular music.
>     However (and here's the ticklish point), who has done this for
dixieland? I'm afraid that people wouldn't recognize intentionally bad
dixieland as being humorous--in fact, some might (gasp) like it (at least as
much as they like other 'good' dixieland).  So why is this?  I'm not talking
about humor in the band's introductions to their tunes, but humor in the
music itself.  The Firehouse Five sometimes did humorous things with their
music (like the siren, or the duck-quacks), but i don't recall that they
ever deliberately played out of tune (or did other similarly wrong things)
to be funny.  Lots of bands (in fact, some of the best bands) use humor, but
do any deliberately play badly for a comic effect?
>
>     Dan
> --
> **----------------------------------------------------------**
> ** Dan Augustine - ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu             **
> ** Office of Admissions, University of Texas; Austin, Texas **
> **----------------------------------------------------------**
>
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