[Dixielandjazz] Dixieland/Boppers

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Oct 22, 2010, at 7:28 PM, Bill Haesler wrote:

> Steve Voce wrote:
>> I had it on a couple of MGM 10" LPs, and remember it as not being  
>> very good, despite the stellar cast (Ed Hall was a particular  
>> favourite of mine).
>
> Dear Steve,
> Following your lead, I checked Manfred Selchow's 1988 'Bio- 
> Discographal Scrapbook on Ed Hall' and found some interesting  
> references to the 'Hot versus Cool' recording session (live at  
> Birdland).
> Included is the 3 January 1953 Leonard Feather Melody Maker article  
> "When Dizzy's Bop Clique Played Muskrat Ramble" which describes the  
> event in detail. (Pages 297-299.)
> Too long to transcribe with my unorthodox typing skill. Or lack  
> thereof.
> I then went to Leonard Feather's 1986 book 'The Jazz Years -  
> earwitness to an era". On pages 200-201 he also discusses the LP and  
> the follow-up album, 'Dixieland Vs. Birdland' and says,  
> significantly: "The most important message of these albums was that  
> the internecine hostility of the 1940s had all but vanished, and  
> that musicians representing wrongly contrasted values could  
> negotiate the same material and even join forces amicably."
> Something my old mate, Steve Barbone, has been preaching on the DJML  
> for years.
> 8>)
> Feather also refers briefly to a third LP, 'Cats Vs. Chicks' [Clark  
> Terry and His Septet] of which (as you would assume) I have no recall.
>

Yes indeed, Bill and Steve (Voce).

By 1950 most of the boppers and the Dixlelanders, at least in New York  
City, were getting along famously. Most of the NYC musos (jazz and  
otherwise) felt that the media was responsible for the "supposed" Bop  
vs. Dixieland hostility that was played up in the press. Only a few  
extremists on both sides fueled the controversy.

Not too different from the media and extremist positions today. The  
media seem to believe that controversy, real or imagined, makes news  
and so the press hypes it by quoting extremists . Good news is boring  
and so the press ignores it.

Couple of personal examples; It was Omer Simeon who introduced me to  
Charlie Parker one night outside of Jimmy Ryan's. And then suggested I  
go across the street to listen to what Bird was doing. And it was  
Chuck Traeger (house bassist at Nick's with Erwin, Napoleon and Maxted  
bands) who turned me on to Clifford Brown, and Charlie Haden. Chuck  
would say, "List to the way they play the changes. Don't disparage  
what they are doing because it may just be that YOUR EARS are  
deficient, or otherwise not yet ready to hear their genius." <grin>

It is also well to remember that Dizzy and Louis were great friends  
who in later years, lived just a few blocked apart in the Corona  
section of Queens County, NYC.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband