[Dixielandjazz] ODJB

[Stephen Barbone]

Yes, I would agree that theirs was the basic "template" for some, but
not all OKOM bands right up to this day. hard to say whether copy is the
right word to use when discussing the interweaving of N.O. Jazz players
and styles in the early days.

IMO there was a lot of cross pollination in early New Orleans among
musicians, bands, etc. After all, even though New Orleans became
"segregated" by law about 1901, much to the dismay of the Creoles, band
performances via funeral parades, dance gigs in the parks etc were
readily heard by almost all the N. O. musos. More so there than anywhere
else for the next 50 years or so.

Cullum's point, via Mop, that N.O. trumpeters sound very similar
regardless of race is an excellent read. N.O. Jazz swung. The drummers
swung and music in the whole city seemed to swing. And when Oliver went
to Chicago, Chicago swung. Even more so when Louis arrived. But one has
to sit back and ask this question. What, if anything, did Oliver and
Armstrong owe to ODJB?  Musically that is, not commercially in the
popularization of the music via those recordings. As I hear it, Oliver
and Armstrong were light years ahead of ODJB by the nearly and mid
1920s. Where they were in 1917 is pretty much unknown.

There will always be different views, for example, about whether is was
Armstrong who fathered "swing" or somebody else. The main point to be
made is that the music is colorblind and when you hear it without seeing
who was playing, you cannot tell race, creed or religion of the player
with any certainty, except where certain stylists are readily
identifiable by the uniqueness of their sound.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

Adaywayne at aol.com wrote:

>    I agree 100% Steve. Players such as Davern, Kellso, Sandke,
> Barrett, Varro
> and dozens of others (including many on this forum) are strides ahead
> of their
> counterparts in the ODJB, in terms of both technique and
> improvisational
> skills. Perhaps Jery really meant to say (and if so, I would agree
> with him) that
> the ODJB were not, themselves, simply copiers of their "black"
> colleagues but
> inovaters in their own modest way. Don't you agree that they pulled
> together
> various aspects of New Orleans music of the time to from something
> "new".....or
> at least a "template" for OKOM bands to come, right up to this day?