[Dixielandjazz] Re: Savoy Blues

[Steve barbone]

on 8/26/05 9:09 PM, luis daniel flores at luda at arnet.com.ar wrote:

> I am hearing this wonderful tune by L Armstrong, alone himself with a guitar,
> Was He J. St Cyr ?. Is there a difference with stomping at the Savoy
> Luis
> Dr. Luis Daniel Flores FRCOG
> www.jazzysentimientos.com.ar
> domingos/Sundays 9:30/12:30 GMT
> 

Hi Luis:

Yes, big difference in the tunes. You are hearing "Savoy Blues" by Kid Ory.
Bill Haesler probably knows who guitarist is. I don't.

Armstrong also recorded it with the Hot Five.

"Stompin at the Savoy" is a swing tune by Benny Goodman, Chick Webb and
Edgar Sampson. Webb recorded it in the early 1930s. It honors The Savoy
Ballroom, opened in Harlem in 1926. and owned by two friends, one Black and
one Jewish. It was one of the first racially integrated public venues in the
USA. It could hold 5000 dancers.

Huge success, Big Band battles there between Benny Goodman and Chick Webb,
and others, the Lindy Hop was born there, etc. All sorts of dancing happened
there from Fox Trot to Peabody to Mambo with swing dances in between. Very
colorful history.

It closed in 1958 and was replaced by a housing development. Still, the
Lindy Hoppers dominated Madison Square's Harvest Moon ball until the mid
1980s.

Ask some old timers who danced there what it was like and they will respond
with much emotion because it was an extraordinary place, during
extraordinary times.

Yep, when dancing to jazz died, so too did most of the audience.

Cheers,
Steve