[Dixielandjazz] The Death of Dixieland

[Steve Barbone]

David Richoux <tubaman at tubatoast.com>
 
> Not quite dead yet, if it can be tied in with Lindy Hop dancers - or
> other creative marketing...

> -------------------------------------------------------
> Young and old cutting a rug at City Hall
> 
> By Misha Berson - Seattle Times arts critic
> 
> Ninety-three-year-old Frankie Manning had some official business at
> City Hall on Thursday. It was showing people young enough to be his
> great-grandkids how to do the Shim Sham.
> 
> Known as "The Ambassador of the Lindy Hop," Manning was not the only
> one laying down moves at City Hall's outdoor plaza in a noontime
> concert. . .  snip to
 
> The festival runs
> through Sunday and features 10 surviving star dancers from the Big
> Band era,. . . Though now in their 70s,
> 80s and 90s, these elder hoofers are still cuttin' a rug.
 
> While here, Manning and contemporaries Jeni LeGon, Norma Miller,
> Sugar Sullivan and others will reflect on their escapades as star
> African-American hoofers, at nightspots like Harlem's Savoy Ballroom,
> from the 1920s into the '40s. They also will teach their fancy
> footwork for such crazes as the Lindy Hop (the jazzy partner dance
> that led to the Jitterbug),. . .

Amen Dave. Frankie Manning and Norma Miller were in Philadelphia last year
at an event for the local Lindy Love group.

It was quite a treat to meet them both. In the swing dance world, their
stature is like that of King Oliver. Not the originators of the Lindy, but a
few years later, the undisputed King and Queen of the Lindy Hoppers. I
talked with them about their nights dancing at the Savoy Ballroom to the
Chick Webb Orchestra and how they won a city wide Lindy contest in NYC at
Madison Square Garden circa mid 1930s.

The Savoy? A magical place and integrated from its opening day. If you could
dance, nobody cared what color you were. And even if you couldn't dance, if
you were a musician you were welcome. Even Leopold Stokowski visited.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone