[Dixielandjazz] Charlie Barnett

[Stephen G Barbone]

>  "Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com>
>
> The other day I was listening to my old reel-to-reel tape recorder.
> one record ended, and the next one sounded like Ellington to me.  I
> looked at the papar, and lo and behold - it was Barnet!  Even when not
> so Dukish, the band still sounded much more like the  black rather
> than white bands of the era.  I have several Bbarnet records, but,
> always knowing what I was going to play, I've never noticed the
> Ellingtonian flavour, except on numbers like "The Duke's Idea."
>
> Has anybody ever noticed it?

Hello Marek:

Barnett was very strongly influenced by Ellington. Many of his records  
are covers of Ellington arrangements/songs. He was also greatly  
influenced by Basie. In fact when Barnett lost his band arrangements  
(in a fire I think) Basie graciously lent his to Barnett to use until  
he could rewrite his own book.

Because of his admiration for Basie and Ellington, and the way his  
band sounded, Barnett was known in NYC as the blackest white band  
around. And when he played alto, he sounded a lot like Johnny Hodges,  
who he also greatly admired. He had some really great players in his  
bands, black and white, having integrated his band early on.

I saw him at Basin Street East in NYC in the 1960s and he was a darn  
good copy of Ellington & Basie depending upon the tune.
Interesting man, born to great wealth, who never lacked for anything  
and followed his heart into music.

Funny, today he is almost unknown. Perhaps because, even though Billy  
May did some arranging for him, he did not really have his own sound  
to the degree that Goodman, Basie, Ellington, Miller, Dorsey, et al  
had? .

Cheers,
Steve Barbone