[Dixielandjazz] Who was the trombonist on "Mad About The Boy"?

[Stephen G Barbone]

Apparently our ears deceive us as to who the trombonist is. <grin>  
There is some UK documentation about this question on the following site

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/yourviews/madabouttheboy.shtml

You can click on the aural words of Russell Davies there, or follow  
the below quote.


Russell Davies says:  (CAPS IN MID QUOTE ARE MINE FOR EMPHASIS)

" The record stands high on many peoples list of favorite performances  
yet it is quite an oddity - a gay anthem in very British disguise,  
sung in a peppery, semi spoken style by one of the great black  
American divas. Coward himself wrote at least four full refrains for  
this song including the lines 'I know quite sincerely/Houseman really/ 
Wrote The Shopshire Lad about the boy', but only the lines sung by  
Dinah Washington are well known today. AFTER A TROMBONE INTRODUCTION  
BY BILLY BYERS which recalls the sound of Billie Holiday's late album,  
'Lady In Satin', Dinah attacks the song with her most cutting tone,  
making the whole record a memorable sweet-and-sour experience. If  
you're looking for strict realism, there are moments where singer and  
words don't match --- when she sings 'traces of the cad about the  
boy', you do wonder if the word 'cad' ever otherwise crossed her lips  
('You're a cad sir') But she betrays no unease about it, and other  
lines with quite a literary flavour. (this odd diversity of misery and  
joy') come off quite well."


I think our UK members can vouch for the expertise (or not) of Mr.  
Davies, who is a film critic for the Observer, a caricaturist for the  
Times literary supplement, deputy editor of Punch, TV critic of the  
Observer and the Times, feature writer  for Telegraph Magazine and  
sports columnist for the Sunday Telegraph.

He is also a jazz musician who has also written several TV  
documentaries on Jazz, writer and presenter of many BBC radio programs  
and a BBC film about Artie Shaw.

While all that may not make him an expert on "Mad About The Boy", I  
think he comes a lot closer than the rest of us who rely on ears and  
conjecture. <grin> Therefore, I submit that list mate Gerard  
Bielderman was spot on when he first identified Billy Byers as the  
trombonist on Dinah Washington's "Mad About The Boy."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband