[Dixielandjazz] Basin Street Blues

[LRG4003 at aol.com]

(Snip) 
(I have not seen any  clear thinking individual suggest that Wagner's work
should be removed from  the classical repertoire just because he was Hitler's
favorite  composer) 
I'm going to stir this  pot a little. 
Comparing the politics of  a composer you're considering playing to a lyric 
you’re considering singing  is bullshit. 
You can certainly choose  who to play and if your politics dissuade you from 
Wagner or  Spencer Williams, composer of Basin  Street Blues, that’s fine.  
But, in  the case of Williams,  it would also  remove from your playing 
repertoire such tunes as "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues",  "Mahogany Hall 
Stomp", "I Found A New Baby", “Everybody Loves My Baby”,  "Squeeze Me", 
"Shimmy-Sha-Wobble", and  “Tishomingo Blues” among  others. 
But choosing to change a  lyric for an audience is hardly new or particularly 
offensive to the heritage of  jazz.  Who among us has never done  an 
alternate version of “Honeysuckle Rose” or "Carolina" to site a couple of  examples.  
There are times, places  and crowds which dictate that maybe “Dixie” isn't 
the  smartest tune to play and “Where all the darkies gather round and  shout” 
isn't the best lyric to use when performing “Mississippi  Mud”. 
If you want to present a musical history  lesson to make a point then it’s 
possible to build an entire repertoire around  the racial prejudice and strong 
sexual double entendre that is well  embedded in  older jazz tunes. 
But to say that changing the lyric is  somehow "getting themselves away from 
music that has great heritage" is failing  to recognize that a) that heritage 
has had racial overtones at  times and b) in a modern context, you may piss 
somebody off.  And that somebody may be an audience  that’s paying your salary 
for that gig. 
I am as politically incorrect as they come,  depending on the venue.  But, 
IMO,  if somebody wants to use an  alternate lyric, a sanitized lyric, so be it. 
  
Louie changed lyrics. Improvisation is the  lifeblood of the music. 
Ain't nothing sacred in jazz except playing with  swing.  
K.C. Clarinet 




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