[Dixielandjazz] Re: Good and Bad Music

[Mike Durham]

Maybe so, Steve, and maybe not. At the time (late 40's), Pops may well have 
been dismissive of the new music - a lot of the established guys were. Like 
I said, he probably mellowed after a bit, and in any case, whatever he 
thought about the music, no reason why he shouldn't stay friends with the 
guys who played it. And as Dizzy said of Louis - "No him, no me"

'best,

Mike


>From: Stephen Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: barbonestreet at earthlink.net
>To: Mike Durham <mikedurham_jazz at hotmail.com>
>CC: bowermastergroup at qwest.net, dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>Subject: Re: Good and Bad Music
>Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:35:43 -0500
>
>Mike Durham wrote:
>
> > >Kurt wrote:
> > >Wasn't it Louis Armstrong who said, "There's two kinds of music - Good
> > >and Bad."?
> >
> > Yes, but he also referred to bop as "That modern malice" and "Chinese 
>music"
> > - maybe he mellowed in later years! Actually, I think it was Duke who 
>said
> > the good/bad thing: Louis did, however, famously reply to a lady who 
>asked
> > him if jazz was folk music "All music is folk music - I never heard a 
>horse
> > play anything!"
>
>Kurt, Mike & List mates:
>
>The references by Louis about "chinese music", and "that modern malice"  
>etc.,
>are examples of the out of context press hype that distorts the reader's
>conception of what was going on. Further reading about Louis Armstrong 
>reveals
>that he almost takes credit for bop trumpet lines, calling them figurations
>that he used to play before Joe Oliver straightened him out about playing
>melody.
>
>The snips above were taken from discussions between interviewers and Louis
>where the main thrust of the discussion was then fragmentation of jazz into
>different styles. Both Louis and Dizzy, when asked about it in the context 
>of
>their respective styles losing ground and audience to the other's would
>naturally respond with some hubris. Perhaps something like: Modern Jazz?, 
>Nah,
>I'm not worried about that chinese music was said and a clever editor then 
>cuts
>it down to: Louis Armstrong says :Modern Jazz is "chinese music."
>
>Very similar to my remarks in the last digest about "British Trad" which 
>had a
>smiley icon next to it. If quoted alone, out of context, whether now, or a 
>year
>from now, it will appear that I do not like British Trad. Not the case. I 
>like
>that which is played by good bands and do not like that which is played by 
>not
>so good bands. One has to read the entire post in order to understand the
>nuances of what I actually said.
>
>As John Farrell so accurately pointed out, just because something is 
>written
>down, that does not mean it is necessarily right. (Especially if it has 
>been
>edited)
>
>So when we pick a sentence or a phrase out of a paragraph or two and try to 
>use
>is as gospel proof about some matter unrelated to the original context, we 
>are
>almost guaranteed to be less than accurate and often, dead wrong. These are
>very much like the "sound bites" that politicians use to "prove"  that the
>other guy is a bum.
>
>Fact is, Gillespie and Armstrong were friends, respected each other as men 
>and
>respected the music the other guy played. In fact, Gillespie was well 
>grounded
>in Dixieland Jazz, and played it the 1950s, subbing for Charlie Shavers one
>night at the Metropole in NYC. He was flanked by Big Chief Russell Moore 
>TB,
>and Tony Parenti on Clarinet. According to Parenti who enjoyed that 
>evening,
>Dizzy also enjoyed it immensely and knew all the tunes.
>
>Cheers,
>Steve Barbone
>
>
>

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