[Dixielandjazz] Lu Watters' tempos etc

[Eric Holroyd]

Stan:

Thanks for this:

SB:  The reason I responded to your post was this statement regarding 
compositions by Lu Watters:

EH: "If Lu wrote the tune, wouldn't HE have had the best idea of what the 
tempo should be?"

SB: My answer is not necessarily. Surely, Lu knew the range of tempos for 
his
> band and the circumstances in which he was playing - mostly for dancing. 
> I'm
> also certain that many of us are in general agreement with those tempos.
> Yet, jazz gives the player a wide latitude over which tempos to play. If a
> band leader decides that a much faster tempo is in order for his band and
> his circumstances, there is nothing wrong with doing that (assuming that 
> the
> players can all comfortably handle the tempo.).

EH I'd like to see the results if one of those bandleaders played 'Doing The 
Hambone' at a much faster tempo.

They'd be scraping blood off of the dance floor!

And as you accept the concept of  'a wide latitude over which tempos to 
play' how do you feel about people improvising on an already perfect melody?

I have 'Stardust' in mind here, and to me it is just SO beautiful in both 
verse and chorus that any attempt to 'improve' it with an improvised solo is 
futile.

And by the way, it was originally "Star Dust" and Hoagy wrote it as a stomp!

EH:  ie if they're playing for a 'Party Animal / Festival Crowd' it'll be 
faster,  but if playing for knowledgeable cognoscenti they'd play it 
slower...

SB: Duke Ellington didn't care about the cognoscenti's thought about the
> "recorded" tempo. He played at the tempo which was right for the moment 
> and
> not the audience.

EH: Good for him!

SB: Furthermore, musicians who  have recorded a work several times will do 
it at a faster or slower tempo than their first recording. This is true for 
classical music as well as jazz.

EH: Surely not ALL of those bands I heard at West Coast festivals with their 
'el furioso' tempos were comfortable with the tempos at which their leaders 
kicked in a tune?

SB: In the case that the band was not comfortable, I fully agree with you.

EH: Great.

EH: I stand by my contention that he [Lu Watters] and Turk played the music 
at a good dancing tempo with plenty of soul.

SB: I don't disagree with you here. All I'm saying is that others can and do
> play with plenty of soul at dramatically different tempos. The Hot Frogs 
> is
> a good example - Mike Silverman and Joe Ashworth had the chops to play
> comfortably at any tempo. They usually had other members in their bands 
> who
> could do the same.

EH: And so can I! But I do like to enjoy the tunes I'm playing...

But what do I REALLY know about any of this? After all, I'm just a 
musician...

Cheers

Eric