[Dixielandjazz] Louis Whistling/Playing/Composing

[Steve Barbone]

Chris at confit at isp.com wrote (polite snip)

> I think by the time Louis was working in Oliver's band he could pretty
> much play anything he could whistle, although this is my speculation ;-)

I'm with you on that speculation, Chris.

As an additional point, some of us seem to believe that Louis was not a
"good" composer. Perhaps we forget that in the beginning, Louis composed a
solo on just about every tune he played. Under the most creative
circumstances, in the here and now, without benefit of writing and
re-writing them until they were finely honed.

That to me, is the ultimate in composing. In those days, only Bechet
approached this high level of instant composition. Everyone who improvises
today is also a composer. (above thoughts IMO)

Later on, Louis repeated many of his earlier solos, rather than create new
ones. But then, so what, they were his solos and his compositions so who are
we to fault his repetition?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone