[Dixielandjazz] Front Line - Back Line - Yerba Buena

[Robert S. Ringwald]

 Steve barbone barbonestreet at earthlink.net wrote:

 > I've hear it said that the peculiar arrangement of the YBJB when Turk 
Murphy
> in the group was due to the fact that when standing out front, Turk would
> sometimes get in altercations with the fans for one reason or another.
>
> So therefore, they switched positions and put the horns in back to keep 
> the
> Turkster from assaulting the paying customers and vice versa.



It is true that when a young man, Turk had quite a temper.  He would jump 
off the stage from time to time to mix it up with the customers.  However, 
that is not the reason why Lu set his band up with the rhythm section in 
front.  He did this so that the rhythm players could hear the front line 
better.  In those days they did not have monitors as we know them.

As any rhythm player who has worked a large hall with the horns in front 
with their backs to him knows, often, all you will hear is the echo of the 
horns coming back from the other end of the hall, a 1/4 of a second later. 
Among other problems, it makes it tough to keep good time.

--Bob Ringwald K6YBV
Placerville, CA USA
Piano driver



> You know how those TB players are. Opening the spit valve on folks, or
> moving the slide into them, in an effort to get attention, etc. :-) VBG
>
> Maybe urban legend, maybe not, I don't know.
>
> As opposed to Bob Ringwald's opinion, I think it makes no musical sense to
> set the horns up behind the rhythm section. But, that's just a personal
> opinion.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
> PS. On occasion we have moved the trombone player into an area where he
> would not be subjected to audience members bumping into his slide and that
> might be part of the reason. In small clubs, I think all players are very
> wary of getting a fan in their horn and hurting their chops. We play 
> several
> venues where a club workers are assigned to keep fans/dancers out of our
> playing space.
>
>
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