[Dixielandjazz] Re:was/Cornet Education for Bill Biffle/ DenyingHistory o...

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/17/03 1:36:03 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
jbeebe at centurytel.net writes:

>   It will take more than 'thoughts' to make sense out of this nonsense. So,
> the evil white promoters saw Elvis as a 'white Negro' who could get
> 'forbidden black' music to the very 'affluent' white teenage market and make
> big money.  Whew! what a nifty conspiracy. And his early stuff was VERY
> black.  I'm curious...how do you measure the blackness of a song?
> 
> You know, Mike, the music world cross pollinates all of the time.  Elvis
> hears a tune, he likes it.  His enormous talent makes it a hit.  Ray Charles
> hears a tune he likes it and records it.  It. is a country tune and Charles
> has a big hit with it.  Now is this a conspiracy for Ray Charles promoters
> (white or black)?  To rip-off country music.  Here is a clue for you, song
> writers don't give a damn who records their tunes...the more the better
> royalties for them.
> 
> Jim
> Beebe
> 
> 
> 
No No No Jim:   We did not say they were EVIL WHITE PROMOTERS at all, just 
stating how and why it happened.

Sam Phillips of Sun Records was not an evil promoter at all, he heard the 
great Black music and thought it should be exploited to a wider audience, and 
knew full well that in those days he could not buy a hit record with a Black 
artist int he predominately white repressed marketplace.

Hence when Elvis (a poor kid from a White Trash community) as it was referred 
to back in those times, showed up on the scene, it was an answer to his 
prayers if indeed he was a praying man.   

I understand it totally because I grew up with a very similar background, too 
bad I was not a good singer and went into Rock & Roll a few years earlier, or 
I might have had a shot at what Elvis did.  It was basically about being at 
the right place at the right time for Elvis.

I have stated before that I believe that Elvis was indeed one of the greatest 
Entertainers that ever graced a stage, but that he was far from being a great 
talented Singer.

He was a Star who was definitely MADE as most of them are ever since then.  
Very few ever make it on talent alone, it is a combination of savvy and 
sometimes unscrupulous managers, agents, and producers and record labels and radio 
programmers that determine who becomes a Star.

All one has to do today is turn on the radio or watch MTV to see that.

Without Col. Tom Parker, Elvis could very well have been just another poor 
white kid who sang a few songs and got dumped by the record label for the next 
unsuspecting kid who came along.  Elvis had good looks, and sex appeal, could 
sing a little bit, play a little guitar and had the guts to get up and try to 
dance like a Negro.

Remember Ed Sullivan wanted to only show him from the waist up, because his 
act was considered lewd and untasteful.  Such was the restraints placed upon 
entertainers in those days, especially if they became uninhibited like the Black 
performers.

The last thing our parents wanted was to have their children acting and 
dancing and walking like Negroes.  Elvis changed all of that forever for better or 
worse.  Hence he is fondly referred to by even Black Americans as a White 
Negro.  He walked, and danced and talked and dressed like them.

Elvis along was one of the first to recognize the difference in the music and 
adapted it to white rock and roll, as did Hank Williams Sr., so with his 
versions of Jambalya and other Blues songs he brought back from New Orleans to 
Nashville, which greatly changed the face and sound of Country and Western Music. 
 At the same time Buddy Holly became the opposite and more acceptable version 
of rock and roll for white kids.

To my musical experiences and ears this seems to be a similar situation 
between Black Traditional Jazz and the great success of Dixieland music to the 
masses.

The mainstream record labels have always been looking for new buzz words and 
titles for styles of music for marketing purposes.  So why is it hard to 
believe that it happened back in the 1920s as well.  Ragtime was fading, 
Traditional Black Jazz was not readily acceptable and certainly not exposed to the 
mainstream media, so it makes sense to create a new style How Bout Dixieland.

Just my view on the situation, and yes there has always been a musical cross 
culture and always will be.

We are always looking for some new sound, I am currently working on a project 
with middleastern melodies over Latin and Cuban rhythms, and getting some 
great response and reviews for the act and the music from Europe.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins