[Dixielandjazz] Communicationm

[Steve Barbone]

Ron <lherault at bu.edu> wrote (polite snip)
 
> It is a bit off topic to bring pit band music into the discussion I
> think.   It seems to me that the whole performance, band music, singing,
> dancing and lines are intended to be exactly the same in every
> performance.   Is it not correct that the performers need the music to
> be exactly the same for reasons of timing, cues, distance they have to
> move during a dance or while speaking etc.?

Right on Ron, and not so far off topic. Our trumpeter Paul Grant did 16
weeks with Andre De Shields' (of The Wiz fame) production of West End Blues
(The Louis Armstrong Story), in Philadelphia and New York. 8 performances a
week. (There was a Hot Five replication band in the show which included
pianist Terry Waldo and briefly, clarinetist Orange Kellin, among others.

Paul; played the EXACT Louis leads and solos on about 22 Songs, many Hot
5/7, in a dark corner of the stage. While Andre who played Louis Armstrong
in the show, mimed them on a trumpet in the spotlight.

As you said, Andre needed that music to be the same in every performance for
timing, cues and the correct body language during the miming.

While Paul loved it for about a week, it got old after that. Especially the
cadenza on West End Blues which is not easy to replicate once, as Louis
played it. Paul said doing it 128 times, in 16 weeks, in performance, was a
challenge because it had to be exactly the same in order to work for Andre.

I saw/heard him in Philly and it was wonderful.

Cheers,
Steve