[Dixielandjazz] Dixieland in the Soviet Union

[RICK KNITTEL]

Four Years ago, I heard the Siberian Jazz Band play at the Orange County
Jazz Festival when I was there with the BBMJB. I really enjoyed their
playing and all appeared to be well trained musicians.
 
15 years ago, when I subbed for Dick Dreiwitz at the Cajun in Greenwich
Village, Lev Lebidev (sp?) from the Moskow Jazz band was there on
clarinet. When I asked him if he knew how trad jazz musicians starved in
the USA, he replied "Not like they do in Russia".
 
Rick Knittel
JAZZBONE - The Maine Street Paraders www.mainely-jazz.com  
 
 

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 10:03:35 -0400 Dick Baker <djml at dickbaker.org>
writes:
> At 09:37 AM 4/24/2007, Marek Boym wrote:
> >Hello Don,
> >Never mind the food - how was the vodka?  some of the Russian 
> vodkas
> >are excellent!
> >Somewhwre I've read that Russians were never exposed to 
> traditional
> >jazz, only to big-band swing and then to modern, so that there 
> were
> >hardly any traditional bands in the Soviet Union other thatn the
> >Leningrad Dixieland Band.  this, of course, is nonsense, unless 
> the
> >Moskovski Dixieland came from Moscow, New York...
> 
> Marek:
> 
> 1. You probably heard it from me, right here.
> 2. It's not nonsense.  What I said was that the Leningrad Dixieland 
> band 
> was the first (and, as far as I know, the only) *professional* trad 
> jazz 
> band in Russia.
> 
> I know several of the members of Moskovski Dixieland -- even had one 
> of 
> them stay with me for a week one time in Virginia.
> 
> As Baron von Munchhausen was wont to say, "Was you there, Charlie?"
> 
> -
> 
> --
> ---------------------
>       Dick Baker
>   djml at dickbaker.org
> 
>