[Dixielandjazz] Regina Carter

[Rob McCallum]

Hi Tamas and everyone,

I was rather sad to hear the negative review of Regina's recorded work.
I've never heard her recordings but heard her many many times, years ago,
live with Straight Ahead (before they went the "Smooth" jazz route) and at
jam sessions.  Playing live, she really lit up the room.  She was very
unassuming and quiet, but when she walked up and took a solo on an uptempo
swing tune, she could really play the hell out of it and really got the
audience cheering and urging her on.  Like Rebecca, I was also reminded of
Stuff Smith when I heard her play.  Perhaps her recordings just don't
capture that spark.  I've often noticed that people with less than perfect
recordings are excellent live, as well as the reverse;  I've heard groups
that have killer recordings that fall flat when playing live.  Maybe that's
the case here, I guess I'll have to buy the disks to compare!  I've never
heard her play a classical piece, and was surprised to read that she had
been chosen to play on those famous violins.

All the best,
Rob McCallum