[Dixielandjazz] The World in a Jug

[Bob Brodsky]

 My wonderful book, which I wrote for YOU  -Trad Jazz lovers - has been out since May ($15, Amazon.com/books) and has so far sold an amazing 41 copies! Do you wonder that I now bill myself as "The World's Oldest and most Unsuccessful Author". I placed an Ad in the American Rag - and got zero results. The RAG asked Bill Mitchell to review the book - which he did-below - but they have not printed it. Nor has Jim Cullum's Newsletter seen fit to hype it, despite my praise (and story inclusion) of his work.  Fortunately, I'm on  pension!

Bob Brodsky
Secretary/Historian
South Bay New Orleans Jazz Club
Redondo Beach, CA.,  USA



THE WORLD IN A JUG (The Lore of New Orleans and DixielandJazz), by Robert F “Bob” Brodsky. Foxbro Press, Redondo Beach, CA, 2010. 235pp.
 
Reviewed by Bill Mitchell
 
Bob Brodsky is a true lover of jazz if there ever wasone--but with certain reservations. He detests saxophones, drum solos, and isnot particularly enchanted by vibraphones. He dotes on the classic recordingsof the 1920s (Armstrong, Dodds, Morton, etal) and the revivalist bands of the thirties, forties, and fifties (BunkJohnson, George Lewis, Watters, Murphy, Sharkey Bonano, Firehouse 5 + 2 etc), commonly known as New Orleans andDixieland jazz. Turk Murphy preferred to call it Traditional Jazz. Take yourpick. Lately we have been seeing more and more of a new acronym: OKOM (Our Kindof Music) used by the “in” crowd. In mid century the modernists derisivelycalled the traditionalists “moldy figs,” or, to rub it in, “mouldy figges.”There are quite a few of us moldy figs still around, as the readership of The American Rag might suggest. Brodskyis a card-carrying moldy fig and proud of it. In his book he is shouting thebattle cry of figdom, if you will pardon the pun.
 
In 1996 Dr. Robert Brodsky retired from the University ofSouthern California, where he held a professorship in the Aerospace EngineeringDepartment. He describes himself as a “failed hot jazz cornetist,” although hedid have a brief career as a musician in the late 1940s. He was tutored by thegreat Frankie Newton. Before and after service in the U. S. Navy during WW2,Brodsky was drawn to New York City where the action was. He became closefriends with Bob Wilbur, Bob Mielke, and Dick Wellstood at the beginning oftheir careers. At Nick’s in the Village he met such famous jazzmen as MuggsySpanier, Pee Wee Russell, and George Brunies. At the Stuyvesant Casino he metBunk Johnson and George Lewis. In Harlem he met some great pianists: Willie“The Lion” Smith, James P. Johnson, Meade “Lux” Lewis, to name but a few. 
 
 New York was onlythe beginning, however. During his navy days he was lucky to spend time inChicago and New Orleans. In Chicago he befriended Jimmy Yancey, AlbertNicholas, and Lee Collins. In New Orleans he heard Wingy Manone, ThomasJefferson, Sharkey Bonano, and others. After the war he checked out SanFrancisco and Los Angeles, where the jazz revival was in full sway. In theformer he heard and met Turk Murphy, Bob Scobey, and Clancy Hayes. In LosAngeles there were Kid Ory, Teddy Buckner, Joe Darensbourg, Pete Daily, WardKimball, Johnny Lucas, among others. 
 
When he was teaching at Iowa State University in 1975 he wasappalled by the “terrible musical cacophony the students were then enjoying,”and he decided to undertake a series of lectures with pictures and recordingsto gain some converts to New Orleans/Dixieland.
He called these events “Serenades for Mouldy Figges,” and hedevotes a chapter to describing them and including excerpts. He continuespresenting these serenades to audiences to this day. 
 
 
 
The World in a Jug ispart memoir, part scrapbook (with photos, posters, programs, vignettes of greatmusicians, a list of 189 classic jazz tunes, blues lyrics, a bibliography ofjazz books and articles, letters, obituaries and newspaper clippings), and partanthology (Jim Cullum’s articles on BixBeiderbecke are outstanding).  Thesefeatures make it an enjoyable book for browsing. But for this reviewer, thebest part is Brodsky’s extensive accounts of his musical travels, meeting andhearing such an exciting array of jazz legends. There are not many of us left whowere able to catch the bands at Nick’s, Jimmy Ryan’s, the StuyvesantCasino,  Hambone Kelly’s, EarthquakeMcGoon’s, the Hangover Club,  theBeverly Cavern, et al. We are fortunate to have these vividrecollections of those glory days.   
 
To order:   Amazon.com/booksand enter Robert F. Brodsky                                    
                                   
 
 
 
 


 


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