[Dixielandjazz] Small band swing and dixieland

[Marvin Ipswich]

Steve,

I am a little perplexed by your latest posting on this subject. The original
post was referring to the recording by James P. Johnson of After You've
Gone. My point was I don't consider *that session* to be dixieland. That
session has nothing to do with the other sessions pointed out in your latest
email.

Marek Boym, very rightly I might add, brought up the session by Ed Hall with
a similar personnel stating it as dixieland. I agree.

NOW - on to the recordings of I've Found a New Baby mentioned in your last
post.

I've been quite familiar with those sessions for years, having originally
owned them on 78 - ages before Sudhalter had written his first book on Bix.
My contention, which I can hear with my own ears, is that Freeman's session
is dixieland and Wilson's is swing - regardless of the point Sudhalter is
making. That's his opinion. (BTW, I have the greatest respect for the late
Mr. Sudhalter, but don't believe everything written in his books is gospel.)

In the case of the two above mentioned recordings, I would totally agree
with the press at the time, which would have placed these in the same
categories that I have. Again, just because Mr. Sudhalter disagreed doesn't
really mean a whit to me. Those were his opinions. There was a great deal
written about small band swing and dixieland before the publication of "Lost
Chords."

Here again, I'm perplexed as to why you have brought up these other
comments, Condon's "we called it music" and Roy Eldridge about dixieland.
Neither of these things have any bearing on the original post regarding
After You've Gone. Just to point out to you, I'm very familiar with Mr.
Condon, his music and his opinions. And the quote from Roy Eldridge, which
you seem to bring up with some frequency, seems totally out of context,
since he was commenting on a band playing dixieland. I hardly think he was
summing up his entire career's work as "dixieland." I certainly can't
believe anyone in the right mind would think that "Smack" by the Chocolate
Dandies, "Heckler's Hop" by his own band, or "Swing is Here" by Gene Krupa
(just three examples) are "dixieland."

Steve, let me ask you a hypothetical question. If you were stocking the
shelves in a record store in 1945, and you had the following categories:
Dixieland
Small band swing

Where would you put the following:

Ed Hall on Commodore - "The Man I Love"
Bunny Berigan on Vocalion - "It's Been So Long"
Fats Waller and His Rhythm on Victor  - "Aint' Misbehavin"
Louis Armstrong with the Mills Bros. on Decca "My Darling Nellie Grey"
Harry James on Brunswick "Jubilee"

Regards,
Marvin