[Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 56, Issue 2

[Marek Boym]

I basically agree with you, Steve, except that there were many white
groups that used a guitar (Eddie Lang, Al Biondi, Carl Kress, etc).
Also, banjos coule be better recorded acoustically, but the
introduction of electric recording changed that.  Nevertheless, the
banjo stayed for a while (personally, I usually prefer the guitar, but
there are exceptions).
Banjo is a louder instrument, and as ballrooms grew larger, there was
a need for an instrument that could be heard, and that gave the banjo
(and the brass bace) an edge over the quieter guitar (and double
bass).
And if "contemporary" traditional bands more often use banjos rather
than guitars, that's because: a)Lu Watters preferred it that way, and
b)the white critics who "invented" the "original" New Orleans sound
(and would have neither guitars nor saxophones) wanted it that way.
The blask New Orleans musicians, many of whom had no banjos, shrugged
bought them because there was demand for them (and not the electric
guitars they did own).
Cheers
SUPPORT LIVE JAZZ (tomorrow we're going to hear a Gypsy jazz violinist
Vitali Imerelli in Tel-Aviv).
On 03/08/07, Steve Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
> "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" wrote (polite snip)
>
>
> > There is a movie that L.A. made called "New Orleans"  I'm not sure of the
> > year but it looks like middle to late 30's and the banjo had been replaced
> > by a guitar.
>
> If we go further back to the originators of jazz, I think we find that
> guitars were the preferred chordal instrument of many, if not most, black
> jazz bands. Note the guitar in that famous Buddy Bolden Band photo.
>
> As I read it, banjos replaced guitars at about the time jazz started to be
> recorded. (after 1917) Because the guitar could not be effectively recorded
> acoustically  Then, once electric recordings became viable, guitars once
> again became the preferred chordal instrument for small band swing. (a/k/a
> Black Band Dixieland and/or Condon Style)
>
> ODJB may have had some influence on the change also. Since they used neither
> banjo nor guitar, many bands who wished to copy their instrumentation, or
> compete with them, cut out the 6th man. (guitar and/or bass)
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
>
>
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