[Dixielandjazz] ODJB

[Stephen Barbone]

Mike Durham wrote: (polite snip)

> As for your suggestion they stole even the
> tunes, well that may be going a bit far. Have you ever read of anyone else
> claiming At The Jazz Band Ball, or Sensation, or Bluin' the Blues, or
> Ostrich Walk, or Clarinet Marmalade, or all the other ODJB compositions (OK
> I know Tiger Rag probably predates them) or seen any documented proof the
> tunes were pirated? Seems that wholesale theft on that scale would have been
> a well-publicised scandal by now.

Hi Mike:

I did not say their was "wholesale theft". Yes I have read of others claiming
that these tunes were the same (in whole or in part) as performed by other
bands during the time. One example is Livery Stable Blues a/k/a Barnyard Blues.
The foremost example I can think of regarding possible copyrighting of existing
tunes came directly to me via spoken word of Sidney Bechet circa 1955. He made
that claim (Livery Stable) not only to me, but to others and it appears in
several books about him. That of course does not make it the truth, but merely
answers your question of "have I read" etc.

That kind of thing was/is quite common in jazz. W. C. Handy has been accused of
"stealing" many of the Blues he copyrighted, including St. Louis Blues. And
through the years, many such accusations are made essentially that the folks
who copyrighted the tunes were just smart enough to claim composer credit first
and that many of the tunes were being played previously in part or entirely by
other bands and could be classified as "traditional"

> So at least we can thank them for that
> particular contribution to our repertoire. Just a little plea for
> tolerance....

If I am intolerant of ODJB, I will try and mend my ways, I certainly do not
intend to convey that impression. I value their contribution to the history of
jazz. After all, they popularized it by being the first to record it and
getting mass distribution, as was possible to do so, in the early part of the
20th century. I am just stating that of all the many forms of OKOM, theirs is
not a viable form today while the others are. And theirs ceased being popular
very quickly, except as cartoon music in the movies.

Regarding the fact that Levinson makes a CD now and then in the style is simply
validation that anything mankind does, or has done, will find a zealous
collector or small group of collectors somewhere on the planet. For example, I
read of a guy who has a very valuable collection of human excrement, preserved
in "artistic" form.

Darn,  I have flushed away a fortune during my 70 years. ;-)

Cheers,
Steve Barbone