[Dixielandjazz] Free Jazz and its New Orleans Jazz Roots

[Bill Haesler]

Stephen G Barbone wrote:
> For those who think free jazz came out of nowhere, check this Mp3  
> out. it is a snip from Air Lore's version of King Porter's Stomp,  
> circa 1977 or so. It features the avant garde trio of Henry  
> Threadgill on sax, Steve McCall on drums and Fred Hopkins.
> CAVEAT: Not for the faint of heart, but it is for the adventurous, a  
> kicky sound and a reminder that all jazz goes back, in some fashion,  
> to the roots.
>     http://thebadplus.typepad.com/files/king_porter_excerpt.mp3

Dear Steve,
That one didn't upset my faint heart.
Nor my mouldy fig ears.
But, "a reminder that all jazz goes back, in some fashion, to the  
roots"?
Hardly.
"King Porter Stomp" for most 'jazz' musicians would only go as far  
back as the Swing era and Fletcher Henderson's 1935 arrangement for  
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra.
Ask almost any jazz person who composed it and when and they would be  
quite surprised to hear that it was Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll' Morton in  
1902.
Present company excepted - of course.
<grin>
Kind regards,
Bill