[Dixielandjazz] Jazz in Russia - was - Joya Sherrill Obit - Sang wilth Ellington & Goodman

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Jul 9, 2010, at 8:15 PM, Jack Mitchell wrote:

> Stephen G Barbone wrote:
>
> "In 1962, Ms. Sherrill was the singer in a band assembled by Benny
> Goodman that performed throughout the Soviet Union. The Goodman tour,
> sponsored by the State Department, was the first by an American jazz
> ensemble behind the Iron Curtain."
>
> Quite true, but I think it relevant to this group to mention that an  
> Australian dixieland band the SOUTHERN CROSS JAZZ BAND played in  
> Moscow in July, 1957, recorded a 10" LP there that was released in  
> Australia, and appeared in a Russian movie. Travelling across China  
> and Russia in the trans Siberian railway, they entertained  
> appreciative crowds at every stop along the way.

Yep and  relevant to mention that the first jazz concert in Russia  
took place in Moscow on October 1, 1922. The band  "The First Jazz  
Band of the Republic" was Russian and led by dancer, Valentin Parnakh.  
They were later employed by theatre director, Vsevolod Meyerhold, in  
one of his plays where the sounds of live jazz represented "Western  
reality." It included piano, saxophone, clarinet, trombone and drums.   
BTW, Pablo Picasso painted a portrait of Mr. Parnakh.

The first American jazz band to perform in Russia was drummer Benny  
Payton's Jazz Kings in 1926, with the legendary Sidney Bechet on  
clarinet.  This hot New Orleans-style band spent several months  
performing in theatres and ballrooms in Moscow, Kharkov, Odessa and  
Kiev; Bechet had to extend his Soviet visa for a while, because he  
needed a few weeks in a hospital to recuperate from drinking too much  
Russian Vodka. That same year, London-based  Sam Wooding Orchestra  
toured Moscow and Leningrad as part of European musical revue  
Chocolate Kiddies. The band also consisted of African-American  
musicians, but, according to historical sources, was less hot than the  
Jazz Kings.

And, In September 1957, Louis Armstrong, a few days before his  
scheduled departure, cancelled a US State Department concert tour of  
Russia because of events in Little Rock saying: "The way they are  
treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell". So  
much for his Uncle Tom image. <grin>

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband