[Dixielandjazz] Woody & Butch & Jack & Steve

[Steve Barbone]

 "Jack Tracy" <JackTracy26 at msn.com>
 
> Butch Thimpson wrote:
> 
> Woody is sincerely devoted to New Orleans jazz, but he doesn't play very
> well.  To assert that his playing represents early players just doesn't make
> sense.  If they had sounded like Woody, the music would have gone nowhere.
> 
> ***************
> 
> Bravo, Butch!! I wish I'd said that.
> 
> Jack Tracy

I have great respect for both Jack & Butch. But I disagree. I said that
Woody Allen is playing revivalist Uptown New Orleans Jazz. I stand by that
statement. Whether he represents early players or not is up to your ears.
Both Jack & Butch are, like me, old enough to have heard some pretty bad
Uptown New Orleans jazz players.

Early Uptown New Orleans Jazz is awful. Some of the tired early players who
inhabited Preservation Hall were awful. Some of the early marching bands
were awful. Some of those early clarinet players were awful. A lot worse
than Woody Allen. Yet Jazz did spring from them. And if somebody wants to
play like that today, why should it bother anyone?

But then again, who ever said the music (Uptown New Orleans Style) actually
went anywhere? Other than being interesting as a form of "musical
archeology" as I think Condon wisecracked one day. Even the Britons wisely
modified it enough to lead to a new style, British Trad, after listening to
it for a year or two in New Orleans.

Cheers
Steve Barbone