[Dixielandjazz] The not so authentic 1920s music

[dwlit at cpcug.org]

David Dustin wrote"
> an impeccable playlist of
> Tin Pan Alley detritus from the 1920s when you could have been giving them
> Bill Bailey, The Music Goes Round and Round, the Washington & Lee Swing,
> Dinah, and Riverboat Shuffle.

Perhaps he meant "*should* have been giving them. A reasonable point.
However, I really hate his referring to 20s pop tunes as "detritus",
because I'm finding so many goodies from the era.

I have mixed feelings that swing back and forth between a desire to play
neat songs no one heard before, and the same ol' same ol' songs to be
played in case some one in the audience recognizes some of them besides
"Saints". My Sheiks of Dixie (some times referred to as Same Old Dreck) go
with the commonplace. However, I keep having the feeling that what my
general audiences like is the combination high energy and the bouncy
2-beat (percussive banjo-tuba) style we use, rather than the tune
selection. No doubt at all in my mind that they'd enjoy novelty vocals if
we were able to use a PA, which we usually can't.

Tonight I was looking over my introduction to the forthcoming "20s-30s
Fake Book" on my website, and found this quote which I think is relevant
to this thread:

"My initial list drew on previous research done to find tunes for my
bands. I was surprised at the number of 1920s non-jazz tunes which I
knew well enough to whistle at least partly; many I knew because they were
revived and played on the radio in the 1950s-60s--I
certainly hadn't heard the original 20s versions. Some are "standards"
most folks wouldn't dream go back to the 20s."

I think this idea provides fertile food for thought.

Also, perhaps the "gangsta" thread might benefit from substituting the
term *Prohibition".

--Sheik