[Dixielandjazz] "dixieland tunes"

[jazzchops at isp.com]

Thanks for Bert Joss for stating "there are no dixieland tunes." I've been
carping on this for years. Even worse, those who refer to them as "dixie"
tunes. As far as I'm concerned, a "dixieland" or "dixie" tunes is one that
has those words in the title (And BTW, the tune so many refer to as
"Dixie" is really titled "In Dixie's Land.")

Songs are songs, period. If it has lyrics, it could easily be sung by
Diana Krall, or Rod Stewart, or anyone, and could be arranged for symphony
orchestra. Or played in the manner of a Bach fugue. Many people refer to
"South" as a dixieland tune, but it was originally played by Bennie
Moten's band, which was at the time, I believe, a 9 or 10 piece band
playing arrangements rather than in a style like King Oliver or
Armstrong's Hot Five.

There are thousands of tunes from 1920s and 1930s that are great tunes
that NOBODY plays. Personally, I would rather play those than modern
songs, no matter who they were written by. However I think probably the
only genre of music where tunes are being written in a manner easily
do-able for trad bands is in the country genre. (And, just for the record,
Crazy is not a country song. It's just a song. ;-) )

I'm a big Patsy Cline fan and a lot of those tunes would sound good played
by trad bands, i.e., Walking After Midnight, If You've Got Leaving on Your
Mind, et. al.

I've always wanted to do a Watters-style band playing 1940s pop tunes like
How High the Moon. That would twist the minds of some of the
dyed-in-the-wool trad camp! I'm really tired of hearing and playing "Canal
Street Blues" and "Snake Rag," which only represent a small slice of the
repertoire of the King Oliver band. You rarely hear any bands playing
"Camp Meeting Blues," "I'm Going Away Just to Wear You Off My Mind,"
"Zulu's Ball," et.al.

Regards,
Chris Tyle


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