[Dixielandjazz] Evan Christopher in Tel-Aviv, Isradixie

[Marek Boym]

If by OKOM you mean "strictly from Dixie" - well, you might be right.
But it was mostlu OKOM.  The band played Indiana, Buddy Bolden's
Blues, High Society, etc.
Sure, there was the "Latin tinge" as recommended by Jelly Roll; the
tune played was Morton's Mama Nita, which certainly qualifies as OKOM.

The there were two Creole songs by Evans himself - one with a long
Patois title which translates to something lie "Listen to the One That
Makes the Thunder Roar" (his translation, not mine), and a "gospel
waltz" the title of which I cannot recall (something ... for All
Souls).

The problem was the supporting cast that did not know such warhorses
like Indiana.

Cheers

On 11/01/2010, Thompson <rebecca.e.thompson at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> The last few times we have heard Evan play, he has had a more Latin sound in
> the style of his music.  Really could not label it as any kind of OKOM, and
> at time tedious.
>
> He is a wonderful player and can make the instrument do things many other
> players cannot.  However, he has strayed from the gendre I prefer.
>
> Rebecca Thompson
> Flower Mound, Tx
>
>
> Jan 10, 2010 11:21:53 PM, marekboym at gmail.com wrote:
>
> Hi,
> Last Thursday and Friday we went to hear Evan Christopher at the
> Tel-Aviv Museum.
> We were not too happy with the supporting Israeli band - proficient
> musicians but, other than the drummer, not conversant with OKOM. I
> don't know how how the band was put together, but it did not
> improvise, and was a bit stiff. Evans himself sounded great, but one
> person is not enough to carry a band through.
>
> Those of us who attended both performances found the Friday one
> infinitely better; the bass player sounded mouch looser, and some of
> the rough edges were rounded up.
>
> In previous years, when we had OKOM'ers at the Museum, they were
> supported by more sympathetic groups. But this year it seems that
> management has changed, and the person who held the pre-concert talk
> did not really understand why Mr. Christopher objected to the
> application of the term "Dixieland" to his music.
>
> On Saturday night, two of us went to hear Isradixie. Now, on a
> person-to-person level Evan Christopher could match most of its
> members, but what a difference! The band had a sense of purpose, and
> a "togetherness" that could only develop over a long period of playing
> together. A lot of clowning, too, but not at the expense of music.
> The band's singer, Paul Moore, who also plays washboard, ukelele,
> ukelele-banjo (not this time) and assorted pots, pans, tea spoons and
> a kazoo, is a fantastic entertainer and pssesses that crazy British
> sense of humour. Yesterday he outdid himself. He always changes
> words of songs, so that it is never boring to hear him again and
> again. The leader Avram Felder "Agashkin" writes good arrangements,
> and is an excellent improviser. For example, he never plays the
> famous intro to "West End Blues" the same way; last time it was closer
> to its usual reading than I've ever heard him doing it.
> The others are wonderful musicians. You should see the verve of
> Jacques Sany, the octogenarian soprano sax player, and hear his
> impassioned playing. Another octogenarian, Merton Cahm (originally a
> Mancunian) excelled on clarinet and tenor sax (doesn't he always!).
> And it is difficult to believe that the SWINGING banjo player was a
> star of a rock group!
> In general, a much more satisfying performance, and a great, albeit a
> wee bit late, start of the new year.
> Cheers
>
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