[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Jazz Festival 1955 (was Willis Conover and Jazzfest)

[Bill Haesler]

David Richoux wrote:
> I have the same album, and I asked the same question one year while  
> talking to several Jazzfest officials. They said that was a totally  
> different thing - no connection between the 1955 festival and the  
> later Jazz fests. They seemed to indicate that the early ones were a  
> much more "commercial arrangement with some French Quarter  
> nightclubs" but I didn't get any further details from them.
> http://tinyurl.com/av2map  leads to a Googlebook with several  
> paragraphs about Turk's performances in New Orleans for that 1955  
> festival.

Dear Dave,
I could not find the details you refer to in the link provided.
However, you and Marek have raised some interesting questions.
The Turk Murphy Columbia sessions in New Orleans had Doc Evans (c)  
Turk Murphy (tb) Bill Carter (cl) Pete Clute (p) Dick Lammi (bj) Thad  
Wilkerson (d)
and were recorded on October 7, 8, 9 October & 4 November 1955.  
Trombonist Santo Percora was included on 2 titles.
I have a 'research copy' of the 'live' LP.
The clarinetist, Bill Carter, is the author of the fine 1991 book  
'Preservation Hall. Music From The Heart.' However, although he  
mentions "For six months in 1955 I left school to make a national tour  
with Turk Murphy's Jazz Band." I found no reference in Mr Carter's  
book to a 1955 New Orleans Jazz Festival.
The internet turned up Turk Murphy 2006 article in George Buck's  
Jazzology magazine 'JazzBeat' that mentions the Columbia LP and that  
"They’re from a three-day “New Orleans Jazz Festival” in 1955."
plus
"For this outing, Turk invited the great Doc Evans to be guest  
cornetist. Doc temporarily gave up leading his own band to make this  
appearance."
We know that Doc Evans did join the Murphy band tour for a while and  
an internet biography of Evans says "The road was never an attraction  
for Evans but he undertook a short tour with Turk Murphy’s band in 1955 
—Columbia issued an LP of the band’s performance at the New Orleans  
Jazz Festival."
Now for Turk.
In Jim Goggin's 1982 book "Turk Murphy. Just For The Record' Turk  
discusses Doc Evans and the Columbia session but makes no specific  
mention of a New Orleans Jazz Festival.
Related comments by Turk tell us that: Doc Evans did not like the  
band. Evans was with it for 5-6 months. Turk and Dave Brubeck were in  
the middle of a promotional thing 'Jazz Hot and Cool' [for Rubenstein  
cosmetics] and "came down to New Orleans for that purpose to take this  
cruise on a ship, on a riverboat. We went up the river and Columbia  
sent a crew along .... and we recorded all the way.... the whole  
night.... but nothing came of it. " [Recording problems with the  
boat's power.] There is nothing more of value to this subject.
OK. Mike Logsdon, DJML's Turk Murphy expert, where are you when we  
need you?
8>
Kind regards,
Bill.