[Dixielandjazz] aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!!

[Dingo]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ROBERT R. CALDER"

> Hi, there, folks outside of the UK!
> I have just started watching the BooBooC Fore (OK, BBC4) documentary on
> "SWING" and we have traced it all back to Louis Armstrong .....

<snip>

It is not often I emerge from lurking mode but this dire BBC programme has
prompted it in support of Robert's  "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!!"  What a
mess !! To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much but with the faint hope
there might just be one uninterrupted film sequence of a swing era band in
action, decided to record it on the PVR for later viewing. As it happens,
even tho' there was a family seasonal "do" going on at the time, I did
see/hear most of it, as background, as it was being transmitted. As Robert
has noted, the Swing Era was traced back to Armstrong, in fact, I think I
did hear earlier years (the early 1900's) associated with it. The producer
chopped 'n' changed from one decade to another so often it all became a
confusing 90 minute muddle.  As someone who likes original Swing Era music
but dislikes anything Armstrong, the last thing I wanted to see/hear was
Armstrong again. I s'pose I should be grateful for the few monochrome
seconds of a 50's or 60's Goodman band even if the accompanying soundtrack
was pure 1937/38 BG ....... but I'm not.

What little there was about the era and its bands and musicians could have
been contained in a 60 or even 30 minute slot. I just wish Channel 4 would
re-run their series of "Sing & Swing" programmes again. No big production,
no clips, no voice-overs, just wall-to-wall soundies and Snaders.
~~
John D