[Dixielandjazz] Cloned jazz

[Stephen G Barbone]

> Stephen G Barbone wrote [in part]:
>> ......Those of us who do not try and force King Oliver clone music  
>> down the kid's throats find that they become fans and dancers to  
>> our music.
>
> I dunno Steve,
> Although not cloned, it worked for Lu Watters.
> 8>)
> Kind regards,
> Bill.

Dear Bill:

Not cloned as you say, are the operative words, IMO. Couple of  
thoughts, a short take if you will, on what was happening in the genre  
here in the USA.

First, it was at a time when Dixieland was undergoing a "revival", or  
was very popular, depending upon where one lived.

In the East, Nick's had opened in 1937 and folks like Condon, Summa  
Cum Laude and others were playing "popular" Dixieland there, (what  
they had always played) to good crowds. By the mid 1940s, a New  
Orleans Jazz Revival had started with Bunk Johnson and Sidney Bechet  
appearing with New Orleans Jazz in various clubs around NYC. Then  
George Lewis kept it going. Conrad Janis picked up the N.O. Revival  
style and was also very popular in various NYC Clubs. He then added  
Kansas City style players to his group, creating his own high energy  
hybrid style. Meanwhile Nick's thrived with Pee Wee Erwin, Phil  
Napoleon, Billy Maxted, Kenny Davern and other bands, while Ryan's  
thrived with Wilbur de Paris featuring Omer Simeon. And at Condon's  
joint, opened in the 1940s because of the music's popularity, you had  
high energy, hot, LOUD Dixieland by the likes of Wild Bill Davison,  
George Brunies, Edmond Hall, et al. So by the 1950s, there was all  
kinds of Dixieland going on and it was very popular.

Second, in the West, late 1930s, Lu Watters started his own style.  
Folks like to say it was King Oliver style, but to me, it was very  
definitely not. He brought something different to the party by going  
to banjo-tuba rhythm sections, and  2 beat rhythm both vastly  
different than Oliver. At the same time, Oliver's band was out of the  
Dixieland mainstream and much less popular. Additionally, Watters and  
his followers were very LOUD, high energy bands. Almost no dynamics  
other than loud and louder. His banjo tuba orientation may well have  
sparked the sing alongs at Shakeys Pizza Parlors after WW 2.

The point I would put forth is that Watters, Conrad Janis, Condon et  
al, popularized a looser, high energy, rhythmic jazz style that  
attracted the kids, as opposed to Oliver clones who even today, seem  
to get hung up on precise, arranged music that, important as it was  
historically, is not relevant to the kids in the USA today.

All, only my opinion, based upon what I heard live,  lived and  
experienced at the time, on both coasts. Plus what I hear, live and  
experience  today in the Northeastern USA. Namely that those bands  
bringing something new to the party, and making it relevant to the  
kids, (still Dixieland) thrive while the clone bands do not.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband