[Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 45, Issue 33

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

When I was young I started playing with Gary Dammer and the worst thing he 
could say about a situation or player was that he didn't or couldn't swing.. 
I always lived in dread that he would say that about me.  For those of you 
who don't know Gary he's a trumpet player who definitely swings.  His 
understanding of jazz just simply exceeds almost everyone else.  He still 
uses me so I guess I passed.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 45, Issue 33


> dingle at baldwin-net.com wrote
>
>> To paraphrase Louis : "It is swings, you know it. If you have to ask,
>> you ain't never going to know it!"
>> Now that's a philosophy to live with.
>
> Hear hear, Don. IMO Louis was the real inventor of "swing" in jazz. He was
> the primary swing influence on the musicians in Fletcher Henderson's band
> during the mid 1920s.
>
> During that period, he probably wasn't reading tied triplets and/or dotted
> 8ths or anything else. More like Artie Shaw's definition as Russ G., 
> stated;
> "playing in a relaxed manner". He was a swing player before the style 
> became
> codified and countless musicians followed his swinging rhythmic concept.
>
> I think it is hard to state firm conclusions about what swinging is, other
> than that. We can read the dots all we want, but if we don't play relaxed,
> it probably won't swing. Proof? The many swing bands playing today, 
> reading
> the dots and understanding the concepts that simply don't swing.
>
> And it is hard to make general statements like trad jazz doesn't swing.
> Because Louis was playing trad jazz in his small band groups all of his 
> life
> and most, if not all, everything he played swung.
>
> He also differentiated between the New Orleans four beat rhythm that 
> Oliver
> used vs. the two beat style that most Dixieland dance bands used in those
> days. The two beat was great for the older dancers who knew what foot went
> where on the beats. Four beat took a little getting used to but eventually
> the young Lindy Hoppers made it look easy.
>
> And his All Stars from 1947 on? Pure, Swinging, 4 beat, Dixieland Jazz. 
> Now
> whether that fits one's definition of trad jazz or not depends upon, I
> guess, whether one defines Armstrong as a trad jazz player or not.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
>
>
>
>
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