[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dr Jazz - The Oliver recording.

[Brian Towers]

Dear Bill,

Thanks for your input - I am sure you are right in saying it would have been
a decision by Vocalion, not to issue Joe Oliver's 1927 version.

I am very embarrassed to say that I already have a copy of  the Oliver
track - on the re-issue  Decca CD sets (GRD-616)
I have so much stuff these days, on CDs, cassettes, LP's "45", "reel to
reel", video, that I do not know what I have got!
The excellent liner notes by Richard Hadlock on this Decca re-issue CD tell
the story very well.  I quote:

"The story of Doctor Jazz is a strange one.  Joe was showing off his new
tune at the "Plantation" in November, 1926.  One month later Jelly Roll
Morton - who also had close Melrose Brothers connections - got out a
crackerjack version of it, with vocal, on Victor.
When Vocalion finally got an acceptible Oliver rendition (based on Mel
Stitzel's score) they shelved it, and there Doctor Jazz sat, unissued, for
some 40 years.  Maybe Joe's heart was no longer in it.  His new second
trumpet man "Tick" Grey, gets the main solo.  there is also an engaging
clarinet by another new member, Omer Simeon - The same man who had played
the classic clarinet solo on Morton's recording of this number....  "

I have now listened to the aborted 1927 Oliver release and it is pretty
good, though not in the class of the JRM.   They do a very nice job with the
verse and it seems a shame Vocalion dropped it.   As a result, bands the
world over play the Morton version and the verse is lost!

The 1992 Decca version on my CD was taken from Swaggie E.P. recording in
1967 - which came from the discarded pressing - according to the notes.

Thanks for making me dig into my "Oliver" recordings again - it has been far
too long since I listened to them!   Should be required listening for anyone
calling themselves jazz enthusiasts!

Regards,
Brian Towers,
Canada
Visit the NYE web site:   http://hotfivejazz.tripod.com/NYE


> Dear Brian;
> Regarding: >As a matter of interest, did King Oliver's version include the
verse?<
> Yes!
> Intro, chorus, the verse, then choruses. No vocal. Medium tempo.
> Tightly orchestrated in the Syncopators' fashion with lots of breaks and
not even a nod in the
> direction of the definitive JRM version.
> Still worth a listen though.
> Even though the popular Morton version eclipsed (by far) the Oliver
effort, in those days (as now)
> the major record companies would have made the decision to withdraw it
before release. Not the
> bandleader. ............................
> Kind regards,
> Bill.
> Aaaaaargh. Beryl Bryden.
>  We well remember her from her several long visits to Oz.