[Dixielandjazz] Obscure

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Dec 5, 2009, at 1:15 PM, dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com  
wrote:

> "Jim Kashishian" <jim at kashprod.com>
>
> Thinking about the reference to "obscure tunes", I suddenly realized  
> that
> what one band might call obscure, another band might refer to as  
> well-known.
> I'm sure that if one were to compare our set lists with someone  
> else's, you
> might find we play some unusual, if not obscure stuff.  That is  
> probably
> because we stray often into the swing & big band arena.  So,  
> although we do
> Muscrat Ramble, Doctor Jazz, etc., we also do Moonglow, Honeysuckle  
> Rose,
> Blue & Sentimental, Doxy, Paper Moon, Out of Nowhere, etc.  None of  
> those
> are particularly obscure, but would not normally be in the U.S.  
> Dixieland
> list.
>
> Jim "if it swings, it works" Kash

I completely agree with you, and like your musical selections. We also  
do all those tunes above except Doxy and thinking about it, we might  
just add it. Speaking about "Out of Nowhere", I believe Bunk Johnson  
also played and recorded it sometime in his second coming in the 1940s  
or so.

Note to Ric Giorgi, We also play "As Time Goes By"  became very well  
known in 1942 as played in the movie Casablanca and remains very well  
known today. It was written in 1931 and Rudy Vallee, among others,  
recorded it, but the song was largely forgotten. But "When Yuba Plays  
The Rumba on The Tuba, by the same composer was more of a hit in the  
1930s. Go figure. <grin> .  NPR (National Public Radio in the USA)  
includes As Time Goes By in their list of the 100 most important  
Ameerican musical works of the 20th Century. (While ignoring Yuba)  
BTW, Yuba etc., might be a good one for banjo/tuba rhythm section bands.

Also, regarding the early Ellington music, it was difficult to get a  
sense of his compositions when they were limited to 3 minute records.  
Many of them came out of obscurity to become hits after LPs were  
introduced, which goes to affirm the "it depends on the time, and  
where they were played." Like "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue".

When I say "obscure" I mean still obscure today. Rehearsing with Tex  
Wyndham's local band here, I have his book of over 1700 tunes. A lot  
of them are obscure and a lot of them will stay obscure because they  
don't go anywhere.

Cheers,