[Dixielandjazz] FW: Mick Mulligan

[Brian Harvey]

Mick Mulligan's Magnolia Jazz Band.
This was a fine band.
As a young journalist I toured with them gathering material for feature
articles.
They were dedicated - dedicated to playing good music and being
entertaining.
George Melly was with them and he was of course a great jazz cabaret act.
Being "educated" by them as to what it was like on the road in the 1950s was
a fine experience.
It was jazz show business if you like and that reminds me of a time
backstage at a Count Basie concert when Marshal Royal - the band's "straw
boss" walked along the corridors calling the men to order with the cry
"show-time guys".
That was a culture shock for me because until then I hadn't appreciated that
jazz is show-business.
Whatever jazz is to all of us - art - whatever - it's still show business.
I found the same with Louis and the All-Stars backstage and on tour with
Eddie Condon, George Lewis and others like Woody Herman.
It's all show-business guys and as long as you all continue to entertain -
to be in jazz show-business - the music will never die.
Brian Harvey



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