[Dixielandjazz] The Perfect Recording

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Listers,

I'd rather hear a recording played with conviction, originality and passion, but with imperfections, than something that had all the soul edited out of it in the studio in the pursuit if perfection. What is perfection anyway? I bet we all subscribe to the notion of playing in tune and in time, but who'd want to play with a metronome? The best rhythm sections play even time but with some elasticity to create and release tension. And how do you define playing in tune when discussing Bechet with his wide vibrato, growls,  smears, glisses etc?

As Duke Heitger says: Anyone who gets upset by the odd split note should be made to listen to Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven's Wild Man Blues There are splits in it, but it's still one of the greatest recorded instrumental solos in any genre.

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk