[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 6, Issue 44

[W.P. Mossel]

At 03/06/24 23:29 -0700, Stephen Barbone wrote:
> > But to say that King Oliver was eclipsed
> > by Louis Armstong is an underrating of King Oliver.
> > How about Henry "Red" Allen and Bix Beiderbecke for instance? Are they
> > eclipsed too?
>
>Well, yes, I am saying exactly that. Louis Armstrong eclipsed them all. But I
>don't agree that therefore I underrate Oliver, or Bix, or Allen. Just that I
>believe Louis Armstrong was the top guy.
>
>He was the major innovator of this music and folks like Oliver, Bix, Red 
>Allen,
>Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval are all 
>eclipsed by
>Louis Armstrong. That does no mean they are not good or even great players.
>
>Louis was, in my opinion, the single most influential Jazz Musician in the 
>first
>50 years of jazz and possibly the first 100 years. He was one of the most
>influential musicians of any genre of the 20th century and for me, one of 
>the best
>entertainers of the 20th century. Bix, Oliver or Allen don't come close to 
>that.
>Nobody in OKOM comes close.
>
>In other words, Louis Armstrong was THE MAN.
>
>Many today may play better than he did. with more virtuosity, better tone, 
>higher,
>etc. However, Louis was there first with the most and everyone playing 
>jazz today
>owes a debt to him.
>
>It's like Miles Davis said 30 years ago. "You can't play 32 bars in jazz 
>without
>playing something something Louis Armstrong already played."
>
>Is there anyone else in Jazz that we could make that kind of a statement 
>about?

No.  It was the word "eclipsed"  that gave me the wrong feeling, but in the 
way you mean it I agree with you completely.


"The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings 
wisdom". -H. L. Mencken-

Kind regards, Vriendelijke groet, Grusze
Wim Mossel

Tenor guitar player of  The Autoreverse Jazz Orchestra
http://www.autoreverse.nl/

a.k.a. w.p.mossel at wanadoo.nl