[Dixielandjazz] Uptown/downtown idea's origin

Gluetje1 at aol.com Gluetje1 at aol.com
Tue Oct 16 20:30:59 PDT 2007


 
I just know I'm getting more confused than I was--perchance enlightenment  
follows.  But I thought the words, uptown and downtown; came first from the  
musicians who used them to refer to and describe the musical practices  of each 
other as in some of the musician examples quoted in this  thread.
 
I realize that interpreters/analyzer of the music culture scene may  well 
have elaborated on or discounted what the words meant to the  musicians.
 
Why classify?  Because that's what brains do with all information:  sort, 
organize, discard, codify as in the Sesame Street song, "Which one of  these 
things is not like the others?"  Education reinforces those who  classify 
congruent with their surroundings.
Ginny
 
In a message dated 10/16/2007 10:04:10 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
butte1 at mac.com writes:

I've  always thought the Uptown/Downtown New Orleans thing started with  Alan
Lomax, who waxed poetic on the idea of "cultural ecstasy" in his book  Mister
Jelly Roll, published in 1950.   Anybody know of any  earlier?

Butch Thompson 







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