[Dixielandjazz] ODJB - again

[Marek Boym]

Gee, your programme has brought back memories!
In his ""The Best of Jazz," Humph refers to the ODJB as "a band so low
on creativity and inspiration."  Moreover, he says, "When, in 1963,
they came together...it was as if they had been pickled in soundproof
aspic during the intervening years. 'Tiger Rag' had lost some of the
explosive vigour ..., and had gained nothing."
That last remark sent my frineds Zvi znd Donna and me back to the old
records.  We listened repeatedly to the early ODJB's "Tiger Rag" on
RCA and the British Columbia, to the New Orleans Rhythm Kings'
version, and the 1936 recordings.  Our conclusion was quite different
than Humph's.  While the reincarnated ODJB might have deliberately
aimed at achieving the "old" sound, it neverhteless sounded quite
different, probably because of Eddie Edwards' and Tony Spargo's
experience in the intervening period.  If you listen carefully, you'll
find that on both the combo and the bib band recordings the rhythm is
much more flexible, "swinging," than on the older recordings.
In any event, we lo9ved all of them, Humph or no Humph (if anybody
wonders, "Humph" is Humphrey Lyttelton, the dean of British
cornet/trumpet players, whose early recordings I consider among "the
best of jazz," right after the Hot Fives and Sevens, The Hot Peppers
and the Goodman combos).
Cheers,
Marek