[Dixielandjazz] Sop Sax Vibrato + Loud Music

[john petters]

Steve said,
> I play and love loud Dixieland, contrary to many on the list. Growing up
> around the Condon Gang in NYC, I can't help it. Ask Jack Maheu about those
> days at Condon's.
Yes but Steve, did the Condon band have a big PA and mikes on every
instrument and a pickup on the bass?

"You'd open the door to some little club where
> those guys-Eddie and some of his cronies -were playing. And that music
> would
> hit you like a fist, a blast of superheated steam. It was powerful. . . I
> mean lots of guys today play well. But back then there was something else
> -
> in Pee Wee, Bud, Wild Bill, Teagarden, George Wettling."
> 
> "Take Wettling, for example. One of those breaks could just lift you off
> your chair. They had a fire to them. The records? Yeah, some of them
> capture
> it a bit, but you should have heard what it sounded like live. You
> wouldn't
> have believed your ears. It was the most emotionally powerful kind of jazz
> I've ever heard. But that's gone now."

There is a difference between the power of a band and the volume of a band.
You can play powerfully and dynamically without amping up. I bet Wettling
would not have a mike near his drums. The secret is to make a big sound. I
saw Yank Lawson, Bob Haggart and co in a big concert hall in Croydon - 1
mike. I could hear the rhythm guitar!
Kenny Davern switched all the mikes off when I played with him, and Wild
Bill at 83 didn't need one. PA is used by bands because it it there. It
discourages projection and dynamics.
John Petters
Amateur Radio Station G3YPZ
www.traditional-jazz.com