[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 6, Issue 39

[Stephen Barbone]

> Wim Mossel wrote about my Louis/Oliver analogy:
> >Of course you have heard a better Dippermouth we all have. The object
> >was not to make the "best" Dippermouth Blues, but to pay homage to King
> >Oliver and his contribution to jazz at the time. King Oliver was
> >immediately eclipsed by Louis Armstrong, etc, etc, etc. Everything he
> >did was done better by Louis later on.
>
> A bit to simple in my opinion. I have never heard of  Louis a better Sugar
> Foot Stomp than King Oliver made with the Dixie Syncopators May 29, 1926.
>
> Kind regards, Vriendelijke groet, Grusze
> Wim Mossel

OK, if you say so, everything but Sugar Foot Stomp. :-)

But keep listening, maybe Bill Haseler will come up with a better version by Louis.
There may have even been one live out there, never recorded, that we all missed. In any
event, what we have on the records doesn't come close to what they were playing live.

Who can define "better"? Louis supposedly said when asked what jazz was replied: "Jazz
is what you are." That makes us all experts about who is better than whom. And it is why
we disagree on subjective matters that have no final answer.

Any statement anyone of us makes is bound to be erroneous in the eyes of at least one
list mate. So, you "pays your money and takes your choice" to quote an American slang
expression.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone