[Dixielandjazz] Term 'Moldy Fig' in jazz

[doctordubious at verizon.net]

Dan is right on with this exegesis, but he, above all, may recall a humorous
interpretation of moldy figs posted to this list. Can anyone dredge up the
story of the English trad band that played in a French seacoast town over a
long period of time and became fond of the local food specialty, mussels and
figs . . . Well, do the French . . . And, please share this tale again if
anyone recalls it or saved it.

Thanks,

Tom Duncan
Doctor Dubious and the Agnostics
PO Box 2118      Teaneck, NJ 07666
P   (201)836-6076     FAX   (201)833-4143
www.doctordubious.com
 

Our CD "Hot Jazz" available at venues or through CD Baby
http://cdbaby.com/cd/ddta
 
For mp3 download of individual tunes or full album
http://www.digstation.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?albumID=ALB000024164

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Daniel
Augustine
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 10:58 AM
To: doctordubious at verizon.net
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Term 'Moldy Fig' in jazz

Barb & DJML--
     I've written about this before (in 2003), but here's the short
answer:

"Moldy figs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moldy figs are purist advocates of early jazz, originally those such as Rudi
Blesh, Alan Lomax, and James Jones who argued that jazz took a wrong turn in
the early 1920s with developments such as the introduction of printed
scores. Blesh, for example, dismissed the work of Duke Ellington as "tea
dansant music" with no jazz content whatever.

According to John Lowney, the term moldy figs was first used in this sense
by Bernard Gendron in a 1942 editorial in Metronome magazine, "'Moldy Figs'
and Modernists: Jazz at War".

The term was later used by the beboppers with reference to those who
preferred older jazz to bebop. During the post-World War II era there was
something of a revival of "traditional" jazz, and bebop displaced swing as
the "modern" music to which it was contrasted. [4] More recently, Gene
Santoro has referred to Wynton Marsalis and others, who embrace bebop but
not other forms of jazz that followed it, as "latter- day moldy figs", with
bebop now lying on the side of "jazz tradition".

Although the term was originally a pejorative, it has at times been embraced
by trad jazz fans and players."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldy_figs)

     For the record, i checked out all editorials in 1942 Metronome
magazines, but never saw this reference.

     Dan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
From: Barb Jordan <jordan_barb at hotmail.com>
Date: June 23, 2009 9:15:51 AM CDT
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Been gone for 10 months and yet...

I sing periodically with a Dixieland band called the Fig Leaf Jazz Band.
Can someone explain the connection between figs (mouldy or otherwise) and
jazz/swing/dixieland?
Thanks,

Barbara Jordan
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
> From: rebecca.e.thompson at verizon.net
> Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:19:54 -0500
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Been gone for 10 months and yet...
> CC: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> To: jordan_barb at hotmail.com
>
> Some things remain the same. I have been away from DJML since last 
> August and return to hearing the same arguments as before. Why debate 
> Mouldy Fig vs Modernist when THIS IS THE Dixieland Jazz Mailing List 
> and not the Modernist Mailing List?
>
> Everyone has their own style to which they prefer to listen. Just 
> leave it at that. The music I prefer does not reflect my respect - or 
> lack there of
> -- for previous musicians.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Rebecca Thompson
> Flower Mound, TX
> -----Original Message-----
> The Mouldy Fig v Modernist arguments still appears to rage. I can't 
> get my head round this at all. To my way of thinking, everything that 
> happened in jazz up to about 1970 developed out of what went before. 
> It was all the one music at different stages of development: Horace 
> Silver and Thelonius Monk (to name just two) couldn't have done what 
> they did without Jelly, James P and others having done their thing 
> first.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------**
**  Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
**             "Thank you, but I have other plans."
**     -- Response to "Have a nice day" suggested by Paul Fussell
**--------------------------------------------------------------------**


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