[Dixielandjazz] Trombone Style Change

[Stephen G Barbone]

My 2 cents agrees with Marek & Chris.

I am no expert, but can add some anecdotal evidence which dovetails  
with Mole's jazz stylistic development. And also with Mole's timing on  
the jazz scenc.  Like Ory, he was one of the original jazz  
trombonists, born prior to 1900, about a decade or so after Ory.

This is more or less what he said to me in the late 1940s, or early  
50s in a three way conversation along with Tony Spargo (Sbarbaro). He  
talked about how the ODJB records hit like a bolt out of the blue and  
created an incredible amount of interest among his peer musicians. And  
about how he and others listened to them, and how he especially  
listened to Eddie Edwards, whose influence he acknowledged. He also  
saw the band live in NYC at the club whose name I forget at the  
moment, which was where he met Phil Napoleon. Then and there, he said  
that those musicians interested in jazz, saw this music as a way to  
make money and have fun. And how they strove to get their own bands  
going. All kinds of bands formed. (end conversation)

 From about 1918 on, (before Ory recorded) Mole was playing with  
Napoleon's Original Memphis Five, a much smoother organization than  
the ODJB and one that played pop tunes instead of copying ODJB. I  
think their first recording was 1921 or 22. You can hear the link  
between him and Edwards in the ensembles of that record however you  
can also hear the broader vocabulary and better technique that Mole  
had. As the Memphis Five progressed, they used arrangements, right  
down to the solos. And they got smoother and smoother with Mole, in  
particular, using more legato phrases.

As Chris said, Mole was a studied player. IMO, a virtuoso, as opposed  
to Ory who did not possess a large musical vocabulary. IMO, he and Ory  
developed their playing styles at the same time, and probably pretty  
much independent of each other.

For a real treat, listen to Mole's break on Original Dixieland One  
Step intro in bars 3 and 4 from the "Miff Mole and His Little Molers"  
record, OKeh, 1927. Instead of the traditional trombone smear, he  
executes a 16 note break that will knock your socks off. Why? Because  
he could.

He was a true original with a huge musical, harmonic, vocabulary and  
wonderful technique. Learned,perhaps, from some of those classical  
trombone teachers in NYC who had made trombone solos famous among non- 
jazz musicians in the beginning of the 20th century. As opposed to a  
host of trombone players who learned jazz by ear and from copying  
records.

He went on to play with Red Nichols, but then left jazz for a while  
for the security of studio work. Then in the 1940s, he worked some  
with Eddie Condon at Nicks, and later with others at Nick's until his  
health started to fail in the 1950s.

He lived not too far from me on Long Island and I last saw him in the  
late 1950s, on a visit with trumpeter Kenny Butterfield (who was the  
leader of a band in which I worked) and his dad Charlie Butterfield  
who was a studio trombonist and friend of Mole's.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband