[Dixielandjazz] Big Sid Catlett /Louis armstrong

Wed Jan 14 17:39:40 PST 2009

Hi Thad and Listers,

Many thanks for your reminiscences of the All-Stars at Billy Berg's in 1947. 
I interviewed Humphrey Lyttelton at some length about that band as he had 
heard them at the Nice Jazz Festival in 1948 and had jammed with some of 
them. His abiding memory of them (apart from the excitement of hearing "the 
source" and the sheer brilliance of the musicians) was that they didn't play 
loud. The volume was always under control, so when they decided to let rip 
in the out-chorus, it really stood out from everything that had gone before.

You make the point that "Louis was undoubtedly the leader" and it wasn't 
just his mastery of his horn and historic importance in the music that made 
him so. I was privileged to work with and know Benny Carter, and he once 
told me that the most powerful personality that he had ever met in his 
entire life was undoubtedly Louis Armstrong. Given that Benny knew everyone 
and had worked with everyone (Fats, Dizzy, Ella, Sarah, Duke, you name 
them), that's quite a statement. Benny said "if Louis walked into a room, he 
didn't have to say a word; he was automatically the focus of all attention, 
no matter who was there." People like that don't have to exert authority: 
it's just invested in them and when Louis turned on the "1,000 killerwatt 
smile", everyone was on his side.

I made the point in another post that only those who saw him perform can 
describe Big Sid's showmanship. It's obvious from audience reactions in some 
of the live recordings that he's doing some visual "business", but it 
doesn't interfere with the musical logic of his performance. If you can 
remember any of his "visuals", that would be a great help to me in writing 
his biography, as it's often through things like that that a personality can 
be described.

Thanks again for sharing your memories with me and the rest of the list, as 
there aren't too many people around now who actually witnessed these giants 
at work, and if anything else comes to mind, I'd be indebted to hear from 
you.

Regards,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thad McArthur" <wthadmc at whidbey.com>
To: "Ken Mathieson" <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 11:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Big Sid Catlett /Louis armstrong

> Hi Ken,  I am responding to your post re Dream Performances you wished you
> had seen--a 1947 concert in Chicago featuring Louis Armstrong--I picked up
> this info from an Ed Coltrin response to your "Dream" post which I didn't
> receive and am contacting you thru your Sid Catlett post which in this 
> case
> seems appropriate.
>
> If you thought you might enjoy the Chicago 1947 Armstrong outting you 
> would
> have been quite ecstatic over his engagement in the Summer of 1948 at 
> Billy
> Berg's, Sunset and Vine, Hollywood, CA, which I attended at least 4 or 5
> nights.   The engagement was for several weeks or more as I remember it. 
> It
> was hailed as the rebirth of Traditional Jazz.  It featured all the guys 
> you
> would really like to see and hear, including Sid Catlett, Jack Teagarden,
> Barney Bigard and Earl Hines.  The only junior member of the club was 
> Arvell
> Shaw on bass, whose talent as you know, propelled him to a long and
> acclaimed career.  Berg's was a fairly large and open club and the 
> musicians
> sat/stood at floor level in an informal and changing arrangement toward 
> the
> south end of the club with the patrons very close to them on three sides. 
> I
> have never been so close to performing first line musicians in any venue
> (Stan Kenton once came up to the fraternity house and worked on our 
> Steinway
> for two hours, another interesting afternoon).   The program was set but
> somewhat flexible.  They played a lot of the standards, little or nothing 
> of
> the unknown or obscure, at appropriate tempos, they didn't rush.  Strong
> ensemble openings, solos, solos with back-up riffing, two or three great
> out-choruses.  The people went wild, there was no doubt you were in the
> presence of greatness.  One of the things that you look back on in later
> years is how well it all went together.  The audience was so close, there
> were so many talents to be accommodated, they were so nice to each other,
> everybody got heard, a lot.  Louis was undoubtedly the leader and probably
> only he could make the musician relationships so easy and the performance
> flow like it did.   The audience heard and experienced exactly what they 
> had
> hoped for.   All this, and it was very reasonable, otherwise I wouldn't 
> have
> been able to enjoy it that many nights.
>
>               Thad McArthur
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ken Mathieson" <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk>
> To: "Thad McArthur" <wthadmc at whidbey.com>
> Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: 01/09/2009 2:40 PM
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Big Sid Catlett & All the other drummers!
>
>
>> Hi Bill,
>>
>> Thanks for the heads up on this site. The narrative is fairly minimal, 
>> but
>> the photos are great. I'll take some time to check out some of the other
>> drummers, or at least some of those that I've heard of!
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Ken Mathieson
>> www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk
>> _______________________________________________
>> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz
>> Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
>>
>> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>>
>>
>>
>> Dixielandjazz mailing list
>> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>> Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.5/1882 - Release Date: 1/8/2009
>> 8:13 AM
>>
>>
>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.7/1893 - Release Date: 14/01/2009 
06:59