[Dixielandjazz] Eldridge and Krupa

[David Dustin]

C.D. Six wrote:

Like a good number of jazz musicians, I'd say color didn't matter
for Krupa, what mattered is if you could play.


IMO, Krupa came by that principled opinion thanks to his association with
Benny Goodman, the pioneer of mixed-race bands with Teddy Wilson and Lionel
Hampton (and Krupa).  Was it Benny¹s Jewishness or his phenomenal popularity
that led him, and not many others, to finally say enough is enough to Jim
Crow?  With the known backstage friendship between players like Armstrong
and Teagarden, one might have looked for the public breakthrough there, but
it didn¹t happen until the All-Stars, well after other bandleaders like
Goodman and Krupa had led the way.

David Dustin