[Dixielandjazz] Duke Ellington tag

[Craig I. Johnson]

On 3/14/2006 9:19:58 PM, Laurence Swain (l.swain at comcast.net) wrote:
> Ellington's recordings are nice to listen to, even if not strictly
> OKOM. 

Larry,
Why in heaven's name is Ellington's music not OKOM ? 
Maybe it's not YourKOM, but it's MYKOM.
Certainly "Early Ellington" fits the genre even if you're restrictive.
The very earliest Ellington could even fit the more specific
description of "Dixieland".and was far closer to New Orleans
trad than the harmonies of the Bix/Mole/Nichols branch.(My categorization)

Just how the heck restricted IS this so-called definition?
Mine goes from King Oliver to Miles Davis (until "Bitches Brew" when I gave up.)
And that's just the jazz part of MyKOM.

I guess I get a bit up tight about this. The term OKOM always sets me "off."
It reminds me of the country club set referring to "OUR king of people."

Craig Johnson
Persnickety curmudgeon.