[Dixielandjazz] "Oriental" jazz?

[Craig I. Johnson]

Well,  given the 20's concept of what the "Orient" was:
there also are the following titles which jump to my mind:

"Constantinople"
"Give Me The Sultan's Harem"
"Cleopatra Had A Jazz Band"
Old King Tut (Tut tut tut) 
King Tut Blues
Harem Eyes
Lock Me In Your Harem & Throw Away The Key (Berlin)
Pearl Of The Harem
Please Don't Take My Harem Away
"Afghanistan"
"Bagdad" (sic)
"Egyptian Fantasy"
"Sahara"
"Sahara Moon"
"Soudan" or "Sudan" (Lew Pollack)
"Suez"  (Grofe'/deRose)
"Desert Blues"
"Egyptian Ella"
and that old Chris Smith Favorite: "Irish Were Egyptians Long Ago"
"Oriental Man"
"Oriental Strut"
"Palesteena"
One of my old favorites (heard in the 1950's I think)
was "The RIch Maharajah of Magadore" eee-ee-ee--ee--ee-eeee-ee-ee-ee-eeee-ee)
("Y0u can take my money and take my pearls,--- something something,--- but don't take my girls")
(If you run out of songs, fake it and play something by "Turk" Murphy...)

You might search for words on Diz Swift's site listing
the songs in the Chas Anderson Fake "Book"**
www.diz.swift.ukgateway.net/anderson/
**( A true 'book' can be carried by one person without a baggage cart.)  


Actually my understanding of "The Orient" would place place it a bit
further to the east and would therefor include tunes about Shanghai,
Hong Kong, Inda etc.  - but then I are a engineer, not a geographer.)

Hong Kong Blues (Carmichael), Hong Kong Dream Girl etc."Moonlight on the Ganges, etc. China Jumps (Waller)
or "Big Crash from China"  (Bauduc), Original Chinese Blues
and a bunch of real non-pc things about China, Chinese and variations on those words.


The composers had a similar problem as the musical motifs and
totally confused far eastern and near eastern harmonies and rhythms.
Their concepts of the local customs were equally erroneous...
Note the lyrics to one tune I read recently which referred to either
Egypt or some other moslem country and referred to the sounds of
the "temple bells" HUH? (Maybe he didn't have a good rhyme for "minaret".)

Regards,
Craig Johnson