[Dixielandjazz] Louis Armstrong Quotes - was - solos

[Stephen G Barbone]

> "Jim Kashishian" <jim at kashprod.com>
>
>
> Steve wrote:
>> Sounds suspiciously like what the be-boppers did as they moved  
>> towards 16th
> notes and rhythmic surprises. They simply continued along his (Louis
> Armstrong's) pathway  of innovation, while we Dixielanders stood  
> still.
>
> What?  Who's standing still?  I'm not taking this sentence out of  
> context at
> all, by the way, as your complete recent email I've taken the  
> sentence from
> is in plain sight for everyone to see on djml.
>
> I play Dixieland, and I love to play around with the timing (not  
> with the
> time!). I gather you were trying to say that Dixie players don't do  
> that.
> That's a very flat statement and demands a call from those that  
> consider
> they are not "standing still".
>
> Apart from liking to play with the timing, I like to play with the  
> mike
> (naughty me!)by using it as extension of the horn for special  
> effects (no
> standing still by being unknowledgeable about technology!).
>
> Sometimes I fall all over myself when I've stepped out on a limb  
> during a
> solo.  It proves that I tried to do something new (translates to not
> "standing still").  And, finally, being a VERY active trombonist, I  
> never
> physically "stand still"!
>
> Nope.  I can't believe all Dixielanders missed Louie's lessons.

No, you are not taking my quote out of context, just misunderstanding  
it, since you are not relating it to the context of my entire post. I  
never said, nor do I think ever implied, that Dixie players don't play  
around with the timing. Most, like Louis, do indeed do that.

What I thought I said was that most Dixielanders are following, almost  
exactly, what Louis did musically. In that sense they are standing  
still. They learned his lessons well and then stuck by them.

The boppers, by contrast, expanded upon the lessons of Louis Armstrong  
and took jazz a step farther. Just as Louis took jazz a step farther  
from where it had been. They did exactly what he did, change jazz.

Even playing a new solo in Dixieland, is IMO if one is still playing  
within the confines of Dixieland, in effect, standing still. All of us  
who do that are really revisiting a past time period in jazz and are  
not changing jazz.

Nothing wrong with it, but that is simply where we are. IMO of course.

My entire point was that Louis in talking about "too many notes, too  
fast" was exactly what he, himself did in relation to Jazz before  
Louis. Why then would it become a no-no when some else did it in  
relation to jazz after Louis?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband