[Dixielandjazz] Taking Sides

[TBW504 at aol.com]

Steve & Ken
Well said. Some of the best summing up of the ludicrous nature of factions  
in jazz I've heard in a long time. I'd go further: when I hear music I do 
not  understand I tend to think it might be down to my critical faculties not 
being  up to scratch. Rap and hip-hop are not my cup of Lapsang but when 
Kevin Herridge  pointed out that it's where the black youth in New Orleans are 
(certainly not in  Preservation Hall!) I made enquiries and found that 
whilst I still didn't like  it much, I nevertheless could appreciate it more. 
Incidentally, there's a  mention of Ornette Coleman in "The Song for Me" - 
brief because it's a book  about New Orleans:
COLEMAN, Ornette     Saxophone
1930, Mar 9:  Fort Worth, TX
Began playing sax at the age of 14, mainly influenced by  Charlie Parker. 
Left home to work mostly in carnival bands. Met Melvin Lastie in  Natchez who 
invited him to move in with the Lasties in New Orleans in 1949 but  Ornette 
worked mainly in non-musical jobs, although he played regularly with  
Melvin and his father at church. It was at a gig in Baton Rouge that some men at  
a dance took exception to his appearance and outside the hall beat and 
kicked  him, smashing his saxophone. The irony is that they were black men. A 
complaint  was registered with the police after Lastie and the band rescued 
him but they  (the police violence, or force, as they prefer to be called) 
threatened to  finish the job. Ornette left the New Orleans area in 1950.
 
Brian Wood