[Dixielandjazz] small band--bebop--dixieland

[Marek Boym]

Hello Ken,
Many critics have put the JATP sessions down as "rabble rousers."
Some of my friends (older than I) still say they don't like the mess
and the artificial excitement.  But then, that's what critics said
about Paul Gonsalves' solo on Diminuendo and Crescendo at the
1956Newport Jazz Festival.
I just love the JATP, which also shows how compatible musicians from
the various camps (swing and bop) were.
Cheers


On 16 February 2011 18:30, Ken Gates <kwg28 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2011A long time ago, must have been 1944-45, I was in
> high school living in
> south Los Angeles (it was white middle-class then) and an avid listener
> of the jazz/swing/pop widely available on radio in those days.  It never
> occurred to me to actually learn to play a musical instrument.  I guess I
> had
> somehow acquired the notion that it required a “gift” that I didn’t have.
>
> For reasons I can’t remember, I attended maybe two or three Jazz at the
> Philharmonic  sessions in downtown Los Angeles---yes, I actually traveled
> by streetcar to get there.  I had no musical knowledge, only some idea of
> what was pleasing to my ear.  I now realize that I was hearing the
> transition
> of “small band swing” to the new bebop style. I remember only a few names
> of the musicians---Howard McGhee (why was he wearing dark glasses?),
> Shorty Cherock, Willie Smith (I loved to hear him play the also sax).  There
> must have been some famous names also,  but not much registered with
> me, the music was not pleasing to my ear.
>
> What I do remember, and why I am posting this, is that the beginning and
> ending of each tune was a “dixieland” ensemble chorus.  Long, long
> variations
> of the melody (or chord structure?) followed the opening chorus by each
> soloist.
> My untrained ear really couldn’t appreciate what they were doing, and I was
> always glad to hear the ending ensemble chorus as a reminder that it did
> begin with a known melody. I think the “dixieland” ensemble sound of these
> swing to bebop musicians was “busier” and more “complex” than what we
> hear in bands favoring a more “New Orleans” sound, but in my opinion,
> it was, for those two brief segments---dixieland.
>
> Ken Gates
> Ventura, Calif
>
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