[Dixielandjazz] Dave Nelson

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

Bill Haesler has drawn my attention to a possible ambiguity in what I wrote about Dave Nelson.  I wasn't DOUBTING that he had the capacities, abilities, technical ken, to function as an arranger, et cetera, but suggesting -- in the absence of evidence not immediately available to me -- that he might well have had.

I seem to remember a comment about Nelson made by a contemporary to the effect that he wasn't much of a musician, and that his involvement with Ma Rainey relied rather on a different, er, proficiency.   Historians can often find such remarks very instructive, but not with respect to such matters as Nelson's overall musical capabilities! 

       
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