[Dixielandjazz] Bird Quote: "We took the fun out of Jazz"

[Steve barbone]

List mates:

"We took the fun out of jazz." attributed (falsely?) to Charlie Parker when
speaking about bop.

Well, I don't believe that he said that at all. Unless he was putting a know
nothing interviewer on, which he did do frequently. I'd need to see some
reliable source and the full context for that type of quote in order to
believe it.

We seem to attribute much too much power to bebop in the failures of OKOM to
attract listeners by being fun jazz. I do not see it that way at all.

Consider that Bop had a VERY SHORT LIFESPAN. It started about 1942, but was
not really heard because of the AF of M's ban on all recordings except V
Discs for the troops at war, until 1945-46. It was already dying by 1949
according to the music/entertainment media.

In 1949, Variety reported that Bop was a "commercial flop". Woody Herman
broke up his 2nd Herd (Bop Big Band), Dizzy broke up his big bop band and
even the Charlie Barnet Bop Band failed. (Barnet was a master at copying
trends and he guessed wrong on the longevity of this one)

So if we blame bop, we are saying that from 1945 to 1949, bop destroyed
Dixieland happy jazz. Nah, no way. In NYC and SF in the USA, "fun" Dixieland
was still VERY STRONG until about 1960.

To be sure, Bop was quickly surpassed by all sorts of modern jazz. As you
gray beards may remember, Dave Brubeck made the cover of Time Magazine in
1954. He was highly embarrassed to be the first "Jazz" musician on the cover
and felt that the honor surely belonged to Ellington. Brubeck did not play
bop, any more than Monk did.

Etc., etc., etc.

Bop did not take the fun out of jazz, nor IMO would Bird ever say that it
did. He knew better and was dead in 1955 while OKOM happy music still
thrived in the USA and worldwide. And guys like Coleman Hawkins, Roy
Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, and other giants were still playing Dixieland
under the guise of "small band jazz". (as named by the media and critics)

Who took the fun out of jazz? Look in the mirror. See all those OKOM bands
that seem to be suffering a severe case of piles when performing. Get
shushed at a Dixieland Concert by the "art form" literati. And for God's
sake, don't dance because it interferes with the pseudo sophisticated
listener's concentration.

Yes, I think "we" took the fun out of jazz, and are still doing so by
pretending to hear something that isn't there. . . "Jazz".

Cheers,
Steve Barbone