[Dixielandjazz] The Arrogant Woody Allen

Sun Dec 17 11:07:25 PST 2006

Steve Wrote: Perhaps some folks don't understand what "Uptown New Orleans 
Jazz" is? Here
is an approximation:

Personally I'm not a fan of Woody Allen for other reasons so I have never 
wanted to hear him or his group play.

Your description of  Uptown  NO Jazz is horrible to say nothing of his 
apparent stage presence.  Now I can describe the worst bands in town.  My 
names for them is nowhere nearly as elegant as "Uptown New Orleans Jazz". 
Now I no longer have to be crude.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 10:46 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] The Arrogant Woody Allen

> <brian at radiojazz.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> A friend an I attended one of his London concerts some years ago and he
>> remembers the occasion like this.....
>>
>> .....he never spoke,  never smiled, let alone cracked a joke, and played 
>> a
>> non-stop clarinet line which paid scant attention to what was going on
>> around him. I never wanted to go again and the best that one could say 
>> for
>> him was that he was providing work for some quite good sidemen. What is 
>> not
>> in question, of course, is that his heart is in the right place and if it
>> pleases him - and thousands of undiscerning so-called jazz fans - then 
>> good
>> luck to the man. It just proves that you can fool most of the people....
>>
>> And with that I concur.
>>
>> That evening was a total waste of time and his musical arrogance is an
>> insult to jazz.
>
>
> Well, here I am defending Woody Allen again. But let me be clear, I do not
> particularly enjoy the style in which he plays. HOWEVER:
>
> Regarding his persona . . . Like Miles Davis was, Woody Allen is a very 
> shy
> and insecure man. Full of complexes. And so like Miles Davis, he reacts to
> the audience by pretending they are not there, ignoring it because it 
> scares
> him. Avoiding contact with it whenever possible. So too, like Miles Davis
> got, he gets a lot of crap about it. But, in the MANY times I have seen
> Woody Allen play, I have NEVER SEEN MUSICAL ARROGANCE, though I did see 
> some
> in Miles. But then, Miles could back it up.
>
> However, also like Miles Davis, the music he plays is enormously popular. 
> So
> to categorize it as an insult to jazz is not only elitist, but baseless.
> Besides, how can anyone insult jazz? We can't even agree on what jazz is?
>
> As to the line Woody Allen plays in his band, listen again. It is the same
> line that Johnny Dodds played in various bands, and the same line George
> Lewis played in various bands. Is it as good? (or poor depending upon your
> musical taste) No, of course not, but it is musically VERY SIMILAR. Allen 
> is
> simply playing revivalist New Orleans Uptown jazz.
>
> Perhaps some folks don't understand what "Uptown New Orleans Jazz" is? 
> Here
> is an approximation:
>
> 1) Close to folk music, it is played by unschooled musicians with little
>   regard to accepted "legitimate" performance models.
>
> 2) So, listeners who are used to hearing schooled musicians are surprised 
> by
>   the thin or sour tone sounds of Uptown. Often out of tune, ragged
>   routines. No premium placed on soli. Mostly ensemble, but unvoiced.
>
> 3) Basically, what it lacks in technical agility, it delivers as a sort of
>   righteous conviction, or soul.
>
> 4) More highly blues based than any other style.
>
> That's what he and his band are playing. Point being, it is WOODY'S BAND,
> musically directed by Eddie Davis. If Woody's lines do not mesh with the
> others in the band, either that's the way the style is supposed to be
> played, or the sidemen are not paying attention to Woody.
>
> If folks don't like it, that is their right. However, to blast it as
> insulting, or not very good, or categorically, ignores the fact that his
> audience is far larger than ours and "they" obviously like it, and/or his
> arrogant self because they pay a $75 cover charge to see the band in New
> York City and it plays to sell out crowds all over the world.
>
> Audience size is not an indicator of whether it is good or bad, just proof
> that lots of people we don't know and can't speak for, like it. Perhaps 
> they
> are rightly listening to what the music is supposed to be, rather than
> comparing it to other styles. Perhaps they understand better than we do 
> that
> this is pretty much how jazz originally sounded? Perhaps they know more
> about it than we think? And it is we who are musically arrogant?
>
> Besides. Woody is simply playing what British Trad used as a base model. 
> The
> Britons simply went legitimate by cleaning up the instrument tones, 
> voicing
> the ensembles, (never done in Uptown) smoothing the routines, adding soli
> content, using schooled musicians and playing more jazz numbers and less
> dance numbers. What they lost in the process was some blues content.
>
> You pays your money and you takes your choice.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
>
>
>
>
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