[Dixielandjazz] Individuality With Solos

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Bob -............No matter how good a recording is, or the
playback system is, it still is not the same as hearing it live.

LW.  Not only that there are other differences like where you are sitting. 
When you are in the band you get the ultimate stereo experience and by the 
same token you don't always hear it the best because "X" number of feet out 
in the hall the sound blends into something else.  The sound also is altered 
by the room acoustics so a band in one hall will be different in another 
hall.  When I was in college we had a 120 pc marching band.  Standing out on 
that field what you hear is completely different than the fan's.  The sound 
of a marching band coming down the street is completely different a half 
block away than from the flute row.

Bob - I don't mean this for all old arrangements nor for all old solos. 
Just
certain ones.

LW - I think it depends on how many times we have heard the tune.  If it is 
a favorite and you have more or less memorized the solo, as a listener, then 
you sort of expect to hear it that way.  You know that's why, I believe, 
that many groups fold up.  They just get so tired of re creating their own 
stuff they get to hate it but their fans demand their hits.

Bob - By the same token, I love the GRP's take on "Sing Sing Sing," which is
certainly not a recreation.  I wonder if you have heard it?

LW -- No I haven't  About 10 years ago I went up to Spokane Washington to 
help make a recording with the AF band there.  They needed a Bass Clarinet 
for some of the classic stuff.  They were recording Sing Sing Sing, the 
classic version.  They brought a couple of sax players out of retirement to 
do it.  They tried to play it but it just didn't come off as well as it 
should have.

Bob - On the same
recording is a version of Cherokee with 5-trumpets, including Arturo
Sandoval, trading chorus's, 8s and 4s, which is
not to be believed.

LW- Nor that one either.  I feel sort of deprived.
Larry
StL