[Dixielandjazz] Early Jazz Bands and musicians who read

[Marek Boym]

Willie Humphrey (or Humphries) made "the big time" (with the Louis
Russell Orchestra in New York) before returning to New Orleans, and
was an excellent and schooled musician.
Bunk Johnson hated the 1942 band, which had been forced on him.  Bul
listen to sessions with musicians of his choice - there he really
shows his mettle.

La Rocca denied that blacks played jazz before they learnt it from him
(he "invented" jazz, remember?).  However, the ODJB, despite their
denials, must have rehearsed a lot; hence the similarity between
"takes" (but not necessarily recordings of the same tunes from
different sessions).  Moreover, in those days, mistakes could not be
corrected, and every additional take made the recording executives -
the guys with the purse - angry.
Cheers

On 14/10/2007, Steve Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
> jazzchops at isp.com
>
> > For the person willing to do the research, I think the end result will
> > yield more readers than non-readers among early jazz players. Granted,
> > there certainly were non-readers,  (Remainder snipped for brevity)
>
> Great post Chris. Very well researched. And you may be right.
>
> Couple of points. When I referred to "Uptown Musicians" I meant the style,
> not where the musicians lived. Uptown style is, to me, a relatively
> unschooled sound, developed by unschooled players, with a heavy blues based
> content.
>
> Downtown style is, to me, the schooled sound, again, not where the musicians
> lived. Thus a guy like King Oliver would be a "Downtown" style musician.
> Same for many you mention who lived Uptown. JRM's Hot Peppers, Ory's
> Sunshine Orchestra, Clarence Williams Blue Five, and Louis Armstrong by
> Hot5/7 time et al., are what I would call Downtown style N.O. musicians
>
> Plus the Uptown routines are sometimes a bit disconnected. Like when Kid
> Thomas Valentine called a tune, he would start to play it and the rest would
> come in when they recognized it.
>
> Uptown style musicians? Kid Valentine, Willie Humphries, Billie and De De
> Pierce, The usual versions of Preservation Hall George Lewis, Bunk Johnson,
> Jim Robinson, Louis Nelson at al.
>
> The New Orleans revival (George Lewis et al) was, to me, the epitome of
> Uptown style. As is Preservation Hall, though I think the current versions
> all read these days.
>
> No doubt some Uptowners could read and some couldn't. Either way they often
> mixed up tunes. For example; Bunk Johnson's 1942 recording of "Blue Bells
> Goodbye" seems to be a mixture of the 1905 "Bright Eyes (Goodbye)" and the
> 1904 "Blue Bell". Or the 1953 George Lewis version of "Ice Cream" where Joe
> Watkins sings words totally unrelated to the sheet music. And many Uptowners
> played "Weary Blues" under the title of "Shake It And Break It". (Not
> anything like the real "Shake It An Break It" by Chila). Same confusion also
> exists between "Panama", played by Uptowners under the wrong title of
> "Panama Rag" and others.
>
> The shame of it is that Uptown New Orleans style back in the 1920s was not
> recorded anywhere near as prolifically as the Downtown style. Probably
> because few were called to the major recording studios by Morton, Oliver,
> Armstrong, Ory and others. But there is plenty of written and anecdotal
> evidence around opining that many of these musicians were unschooled and
> couldn't read.
>
> On the other hand, your point about Hot Dance Bands is well taken. Just
> about all of them were readers.
>
> I also agree with you about LaRocca and would also say the Larry Shields was
> able to read. When you listen to various takes of their records, they are
> close to note for note sameness. I think they may have said they couldn't
> read as a marketing ploy. I wonder why? Maybe because in 1917, the audience
> thought authentic jazz was a gift to "non-reading" Black musicians.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
>
>
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