[Dixielandjazz] tuba, bass sax etc.

[Stephen G Barbone]

> Stephen G Barbone wrote [in part]:
>> 1) If Oliver did not actually use a string bass, why do his  
>> publicity photos include one?
>> Perhaps he did in live performance, but was unhappy with the way it  
>> recorded and so switched to the instruments you mention when  
>> recording in 1923.
>
> Dear Steve,
> Those photographs were taken in late 1922 when Johnson WAS in the  
> band.
> The first Oliver Creole Jazz Band recordings were made in April 1923  
> almost 12 months after it was formed, by which time Johnson seems to  
> have become a non-playing business manager.
> However, Johnson (who ran the original Creole Band and probably  
> still owned the name) may well have left Oliver by May 1923 when the  
> band changed its name to King Oliver's Jazz Syncopators.
> Until someone finds the evidence, we can only speculate.
> However, I do suspect that Oliver was probably already experimenting  
> with his musical line-up.


Dear Bill:

Yes he probably was experimenting with his musical line-up. Didn't he  
later, say 1925 or so, add a tuba to the line up of the Dixie  
Syncopators?

The later versions of the Syncopators vs. the Creoles sound to me like  
he "sold out" for commercial success and tried to become more of a  
dance band in an effort to remain financially viable. Didn't he also  
turn down the Cotton Club gig, circa 1927, which was then offered to  
Ellington?  Since that gig rocketed the Duke to fame and fortune due  
in part to radio broadcasts from there, that was a big mistake. Do you  
know why he turned down the Cotton Club?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband