[Dixielandjazz] Re: New Orleans 60+ years ago

[Patrick Cooke]

Hi Charlie.........

     Yes, I remember Sharkey in the Blue Room and Tony Almerico at the
Parisian Room, Papa Celestin at the Paddock lounge.  At the time I was one
of the 'young' players.  It was around 1947 or 48, or maybe 1949.  I was
playing with Irving Fazola  at the time, doing 3 nights a week at Tony's on
Canal Blvd., plus 2 shows a day on WTPS, and a few off nights with Sid
Davilla at Leon Prima's 500 and a couple other spots.  I played with Pete
Fountain and George Girard when they were with the Basin St. Six.  Bunny
Franks had the mumps for about 2 weeks, and I subbed for him with the group.
              The tuba was used mainly because without amplifiers, the 
string bass
could not be heard....also it was too cumbersome to march with.   I also 
used to play trombone, and am now trying to get my lip back,
though it was never that good to begin with.  I hope I live long enough to
get the lip back.
         Well, I have given up plaing the acoustic standup bass, mainly
because it is just too cumbersome to deal with.  Also it was designed for
bowing, which I haven't done since I played shows in Miami Beach in the
early 60's.  I now play the electric bass which was designed for picking.
Now most purists go into cardiac arrest when they just see an electric bass,
before they even hear a note.  They saw one once before and they didn't like
it, and they assume they all sound the same.  Actually the kind of strings
one uses has more of an effect on the sound than whether it has an acoustic
chamber or not.  My bass does not sound anything like the ones the rock
players use, but no matter....the 'elite' purists enjoy thinking they know
something the rest of the world doesn't.  They don't know jack.  Their
'preferences' are really prejudices.  Their attitudes are beginning to
tarnish my love for the music.
      I went to a festival in Calif last year.  It was a mainstream
festival...no trad.  There were none of the prejudices expressed or the
usual put downs I hear from the trad purists.  It was refreshing.
      Re Palm Court:  Palm court has some fine players, and a few not so
fine ones that seem to continuously show up there.  I was there a couple of
weeks ago...Lars on piano, Jim Singleton on bass, Elie on Drums, Evan
Christopher on clar, Clyde Wilson on trumpet and I don't remember the bone
player's name, but all the other players
were great.
      Got to go....I'm spending too much time on this computer!
      Pat Cooke

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Suhor" <csuhor at zebra.net>
To: "Patrick Cooke" <amazingbass at cox.net>
Cc: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 30, Issue 19


> On Jun 9, 2005, at 3:38 PM, Patrick Cooke wrote:
>> Judy writes:
>>> Chris reckons that jazz in New Orleans has moved on
>>> since the days when Ken Colyer was there.
>>
>>    I have to admit I don't know who Ken Colyer is/was, but I was living 
>> California and Florida for about 45 years, and just returned to New 
>> Orleans 11 years ago.  New Orleans has advanced to using PA systems, and 
>> there are a few purists who even stay to listen when there is more than 
>> one microphone in use.  There are still a few smug "elitists" who still 
>> would rather hear an out-of-tune acoustic piano than an in-tune 
>> electronic one, even though the new keyboards can sound like a concert 
>> grand.  There are a few other silly notions harbored by a few that make 
>> them feel they are above those of us who live in a world of electric 
>> refrigerators, TV, computers, and automatic transmissions.
>>    But basically the music has survived and even advanced a little, 
>> somewhat to the dismay of a few who feel that improvement is impossible. 
>> Come to the French Quarter Festival.....It's mostly local New Orleans 
>> musicians.  They still play a lot of the old chestnuts, but most of the 
>> musicianship is superb.
>>     Pat Cooke
>
> English trumpeter Colyer was in N.O. in '52 or '53, just as the local 
> popular revival of early & Dixieland jazz was starting to wind down. A 
> noteworthy point about N.O. players "moving on" is that the international 
> revival of the 40s and 50s took a very specialized form in the city. First 
> generation black players were revived, some of them mainly to record on 
> labels like American Music, a few (like Papa Celestin and George Lewis' 
> bands) getting gigs and exposure. (Bunk rarely played in town.) Seasoned 
> white players, mainly a little younger (Sharkey Bonano's and Tony 
> Almerico's bands), did very well.
>
> The point is that the younger players didn't emulate Oliver or the Red Hot 
> Peppers. Nothing resembling Lu Watters, Turk Murphy, or Claude Luter, or 
> the Firehouse Five. Tubas and banjos were seen as old or corny, or even 
> commercial, suggesting minstrelsy. The fluidity and invention they were 
> seeking weren't as easily achieved, the youngsters felt, with the 
> insistence of a strummed banjo and the enforced "2" feeling of a tuba. And 
> marching and brass bands were years from getting the attention of young 
> players.
>
> Most black and white kids were in fact attracted to modern jazz, many 
> black youngsters to the new R&B as well. The was cultivated in the city by 
> a good number of white youngsters who took up the Dixieland style and 
> "moved on" with it--Fountain, the Assunto brothers, George Girard, Roy 
> Liberto, Connie Jones, Murphy Campo, Al McCrossen, Pee Wee Spitelera, Paul 
> Ferrara, and others. Exceptions existed, of course. Dr. John was a young 
> white R&B comer. The Last Straws used a banjo but the band in its early 
> incarnations wasn't taken seriously. Like many revivalist bands, they 
> could "play hot," but they didn't swing.
>
> It was the largely the influx of young foreign musicians in the 60s that 
> turned interest back to earliest jazz styles, instrumentation, and 
> repertoire. Many of them hung out with Preservation Hall veterans after it 
> opened in 1961. Lars Edergan, Barry Martyn, and others contributed greatly 
> to this. (Tom Sancton was one of the few locals.) Danny Barker later 
> worked to bring kids into marching bands, which also "moved" on, sometimes 
> nicely, sometimes in R&B and other strange directions, and regressing at 
> times to the glorification of arrested amateurism.
>
> The local jazz scene today is a very mixed bag, but updated Dixieland, 
> though sometimes too facile, is often the most driving and interesting 
> force. I don't get the N.O. that often, but typical bands I've heard at 
> the Palm Court are a good example. Musicians integrate many styles into 
> the ensembles and solos--listening to each other very well, often sounding 
> very modern, all the while keeping the spirit of freewheeling Dixieland 
> jazz. You can hear a lot of Clifford Brown in Leroy Jones' trumpet, Ray 
> Brown in Bill Huntington's bass, etc. It's good, deep, feelingful jazz. 
> Another way of saying that: it's to my taste!
>
> Charlie Suhor
>
>