[Dixielandjazz] Teagarden & the boppers.

[LRG4003 at aol.com]

I passed the Tegarden thread along to a  trombonist friend who is not on the 
list.  I thought his comments were  worth forwarding to the list.  -- K.C. 
Clarinet
 
I had heard that Big T was no stranger to  boppers or the bop movement.  I do 
have a really great recording set  originally put out about 1952 on the long 
since defunct Urania label, now  remastered on CD.  On that set you have Ruby 
Braff, T, a clarinetist  whose name I cannot recall.  But it also included 
Tenor Sax man Lucky  Thompson!  Lucky Thompson was definitely heavily 
bop-influenced, and his  solo work on the CD proves it.  However, Teagarden fits in 
perfectly.  
 
Because of his total technical mastery,  Teagarden had no problem keeping up 
with anyone, boppers or not.  BTW,  that CD has the BEST jam version of 
"Lover" I have every heard.  It is 12  minutes long and there is lots of solo room 
for everyone.  T takes about  three different choruses.  
 
 I have read in numerous places that  Teagarden was loved by literally all 
jazz musicians regardless of their  style.  I know that Dizzy had nothing but 
good things to say about  him.  I also have a story about how Jack and Maynard F
erguson knew each  other!  It reminds me of the story about Charlie Parker 
who, in the  very early 1950's, was known to make a point of watching the old 
Jackie  Gleason show so that he could listen to Tommy Dorsey.  (Tommy and  Jimmy 
Dorsey fronted the band for that TV show.)  Parker is on record as  saying 
that he had great respect for Dorsey as a trombonist and musician.   Interesting 
how the really great jazzers often did not seem to make too much of  the lines 
that separate the various  styles