[Dixielandjazz] Dixieland Tuba Solos CD

[Dan Augustine]

Folks--
     By which i mean: those in the DJML (Dixieland Jazz Mailing List), 
TubaEuph (Tuba/Euphonium mailing-list), and others who play or are 
interested in tuba-music. (Y'all need to be aware of each other, by 
the way.  See http://www.islandnet.com/~djml/ and 
http://www.iteaonline.org/).
     This is a strangely difficult message to write.  I mean, all i 
did was copy to a CD some tuba solos from some dixieland-recordings i 
have to give to some (mainly tuba-playing) friends of mine here in 
Austin.  I made a similar CD half a year ago of classical-music 
tuba-solos from the last 60 years, and i also wanted to give them an 
idea of the incredible richness of tuba-playing in dixieland (not all 
of jazz, just dixieland), whatever i could put onto one CD.  I wanted 
to give chronological examples starting in the 1920s through today. 
This wasn't supposed to be the 'best' dixieland-tuba solos, just some 
good examples chronologically over the years; i mean, all i have is 
my own recordings and what i could find on the web (such as at 
http://www.redhotjazz.com, a wonderful archive of jazz from the 
1920s-1940s).  Since nobody has all the dixieland-recordings in the 
world, i don't think it's possible to come up with a list of the 
'best' solos in history (and what would that mean, anyway?).  In most 
cases i had a lot of different solos by the same player that i had to 
pick only one of, and it was a tough choice (and maybe not a choice 
i'd make again or that you'd make).
     After a couple months of listening to my recordings and making a 
list of players and recordings, i started putting them onto a CD. 
However, i was bitterly disappointed that i didn't have enough room 
for all the songs i wanted to include.  What i finally did was to 
include only the most recent recordings (back to the 1950s), so i had 
to leave out all the good stuff from players of the 1920s through the 
1940s, guys like Joe Tarto, Cyrus St. Clair, Clinton Walker, Country 
Washburne, and Phil Stephens.  Maybe i'll put them onto another CD 
just by themselves.
     I also had to leave out a host of good dixieland-tuba players as 
well as wonderful jazz-tuba players, guys like Don Butterfield, Red 
Calender, Marty Erickson, Dick Remington, Bill Carroll, Kirk Joseph, 
Mark Vehrencamp, Gil Corella, Howard Johnson, Dave Bargeron, and 
Michel Godard, among others.  Sigh.
     One more comment: i made this CD for myself and a couple of my 
friends, and it contains copyrighted materials, so i can't distribute 
it to others.  So my list below is kind of a 'virtual' CD, made from 
my own recordings. If you're interested in a CD like this, make one 
yourself out of your own recordings, and i'm sure you'll include lots 
of other players and solos than the ones i used.  Heck, only five 
years ago i would have selected an entirely different list of players 
and solos, so go ahead and roll your own, it's fun. The main 
selection-criteria i used were that the players had to have been 
playing for years in dixieland bands, had a body of good solos over a 
period of years, and played in good bands with other good players. 
(All my own peculiar ideas, see?)  Oh, and i'm not going to try to 
answer questions like "Who's the best player?"  Roll your own.
     OK, enough gab.  Here's what's on my CD:


  1) George Bruns, "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"
         Firehouse Five Plus Two, _Goes to Sea_ (1957)

  2) Lowell Miller, "Whiffenpoof Song"
         Dukes of Dixieland, _Volume 8: On Campus_ (1958)

  3) Rich Matteson, "Avalon"
         Dukes of Dixieland, _Louie and The Dukes_ (1960)

  4) Singleton Palmer, "Washington and Lee Swing"
         Singleton Palmer, _At the Opera House!_ (1962)

  5) Eli Newberger, "The Mooche"
         New Black Eagle Jazz Band, from a video (1975)

  6) Mike Swanson, "Trog's Blues"
         Professor Plum Jazz, _After Hours_ (1983)

  7) Mike Walbridge, "Pretty Baby"
         Original Salty Dogs Jazz Band, _Long, Deep and Wide_ (1989)

  8) Sam Pilafian, "Buddy Bolden's Blues"
         New York Trumpet Ensemble, _Trumpets in Stride_ (1990)

  9) Dave Gannett, "Keepin' Out of Mischief"
         Black Dogs Jazz Band, _Head Sessions_ (1991)

10) Dan Marcus, "Just a Little While to Stay"
         10th Avenue Jazz Band, unknown recording (before 1995)

11) Pip Avent, "Tiger Rag"
         Society Syncopators (Australia), _Revolutionary Blues_ (1996)

12) Red Lehr, "King Chanticleer"
         Jazz Incredibles, _An Incredible Draw_ (1997)

13) Stan Freese, "Sweet Georgia Brown"
         Dixieland Ramblers, _Do You Know What It Means..._ (1998)

14) Gary Kiser, "Skeleton in the Closet"
         Sac a Pulses (France), _C'est Pas Ma Faute!_ (1999)

15) Westy Westenhofer, "Roll on Mississippi, Roll On"
         Reynolds Brothers Rhythm Rascals, _Zasu Records No. 5_ (1999)

16) Matt Perrine, "Isle of Orleans"
         Tim Laughlin, _Isle of Orleans_ (2003)

     That's it; i'm outa here.

     Dan

-- 
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**  Dan Augustine     Austin, Texas     ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu  **
**    "The tuba is the certainly the most intestinal of instruments,  **
**     the very lower bowel of music." --  Peter De Vries             **
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