[Dixielandjazz] Quote

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

There is a band here that is really excellent.  All the musicians are 
friends and are of the highest caliber but everything they do is at tempo de 
tearass.  It might be refreshing to hear a ballad.
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "philwilking" <philwilking at bellsouth.net>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Quote


> It's a good joke, because there's so much truth in it.
>
> However, it opens up a whole new (old but forever young) topic for
> discussion, argument, tirade, flame, etc.: tempo.
>
> I think it would be useful to use this list to discuss several too often
> neglected tools of performance, tempo and dynamics among them. But let's
> start with tempo.
>
> Speaking strictly about New Orleans or dixieland type jazz, and thinking 
> of
> the pre-depression tunes, my personal preference is dancing speed unless 
> the
> tune obviously is a lament or ballad, and even those frequently have 
> foxtrot
> or waltz choruses. Of course, "dancing" in this context doesn't mean just 
> a
> simple box step or a shuffle. When those tune were new, the bands which
> played them played for dances and the dancers expected to foxtrot,
> quickstep, waltz - fast and slow, polka, schottisch, peabody, and even
> (gasp!) tango and rhumba, plus novelty dances. If the dancers could move
> easily to the music, the tempo was correct by definition.
>
> Since bands now often play sitdown concerts, and there are fewer dancers 
> to
> act as metronomes, I think the general tendency is to play TOO FAST. On 
> many
> of the record tracks I hear, and in live performance, the result is mushy.
> Subtle synchopations, chord changes, phrasing emphasis, indeed all which
> requires precision to execute (and to hear properly), gets thrown away on 
> the
> altar of the great god Loud and Fast.
>
> Well, I'm a banjo player, and I say "loud and fast" does NOT equal "good."
> (Is that noise the sound of a cold snap in Hell?) Which "High Society"
> clarinet feature sounds better: brisk (a canter not a gallop) and under
> precise control, or runaway fast and blurry? And what about "Puttin' On
> The Ritz?" I have never yet heard both  accuracy of execution and a
> flat-out run in the same piece.
>
> I realize that increasing familiarity with a tune allows a musician to
> execute more it rapidly, and thus increasing familiarity with a piece 
> makes
> the same tempo sound slower to the player(s), but I think one should use
> this apparent extra time to improve the precision of execution. What say
> you?
>
> Remember: no low blows, break a clinch when the referee says to, go to a
> neutral corner on a knockdown, and no punching after the bell.
>
> Round One. Bong!
>
> PHIL WILKING
>
> Those who would exchange freedom for
> security deserve neither freedom nor security.
>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Robert S. Ringwald"
>>
>>> Gabriel Faure was once asked what the ideal tempo for a song should be.
>>>
>>> "If the singer is bad," he replied, "very fast!"
>>>
>
>
>
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