[Dixielandjazz] Re: Songs I hate

[Don Mopsick]

Tiger Rag
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
 
Both are in the regular nightly JCJB playlist at the Landing, and both
have found their way into Riverwalk shows. There are fabulous recordings
of both by Louie, as well as many others such as the Dorsey Bros.
w/Teagarden, etc. . Speaking only for myself, I draw my inspiration from
these definitive versions, NOT the hackneyed bad-jazz versions one can't
seem to avoid these days. For 'But Love" we do the Louie ending, which
is a big kick. 
 
In terms of points of view, it seems that several frequent contributors
to this list have one or two "songs to sing." Here's mine:
 
The more you listen and open yourself up to old jazz records, the more
insightful you become about old jazz and the better player you evolve
into. In my 16 years with the JCJB, I have spent more and more of my
time listening to old records, and it has made all the difference in my
outlook, playing, understanding, and enjoyment of old jazz. And here's
what I get from the old records:
 
They swing.
 
The reason you hate these songs is that you have not heard and been
inspired by the genius versions, or like some on this list you feel you
are "beyond" or "too hip" to listen again to old records. I find that
revisiting something I have heard a thousand times before after years of
neglect can be a humbling experience, because after all those years I
finally "get it." Which forces me to marvel at just what a jerk I must
have been before I got it. 
 
Here's another way of putting it: Jim calls "In the Shade of the Old
Apple Tree" on a regular basis these days since we learned the verse and
chorus for a recent Riverwalk show. The tune was written in 1905, has
maybe 5, 6 changes total, yet it last night at the Landing it swung its
ass off. That tune has absolutely no ass left on it at all. 
 
Honestly, I really look forward to playing tunes like High Society,
Panama, Tiger Rag, Bucket's Got A Hole in It, and others with only 3 or
4 chords. Also, I really like playing 12-bar blues with only 3 changes,
NOT resorting to the hackneyed bad-jazz bebop "hipster" substitutions.
With simple tunes, you can really concentrate on what makes jazz go, and
that is-
 
Swing. 
 
And if you think this is some kind of wacko traditionalist fringe
opinion, consider this: we played Panama just that way at the IAJE
Conference two weeks ago before 3,000 stone boppers, and got a standing
O. Modern jazz hipsters came up to me afterward and told me that they
found our sound and groove to be "refreshing."  
 
I think we could be onto something here. 
 
Here's a quote I love from Lord Buckley paraphrasing Shakespeare:
 
"The bad jazz a cat blows wails on long after he's cut out. The groovy,
the groovy, is often stashed with his frame!"
 
mopo
 
http://www.riverwalk.org