[Dixielandjazz] Leonard Feather Blindfold Tests

[Marek Boym]

I have read Feather's "Jazz Years."  On the cover, the saxophonist and
bandleader John Dankworth is quoted calling Feather "The writer who
has made the most significant contribution to the world of jazz."

The book is interesting, albeit rather controversial.  I rather tend
towards Muggsy Spanier's "tribute" to Feather  - "The Feather Brain
Blues."

Feather might - or not - have tried "to make "T" look stupid," but he
also recorded three JT sessions in the '50's.  Likewise, he stated
that "the several ancounters with Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden,
SEPARATELY AND TOGETHER (emphasis added), were  the most meaningful of
my entire RCA Victor association.  Hardly an indication of underrating
JT.  Still, a rather mediocre pianist that he was, he claimed to be
able to outplay Art Hodes with one hand tied behind his back (or
something to that effect).

I guess he must have been a complex person.  In his book he has a
whole chapter about (and against) gender discrimination, yet he wrote
"Just Another Woman" (a rather mediocrequality blues).  He played on
some quite good swing sessions in the UK in the 1930's.

According to Feather, Buck Clayton was among the signatories of a
letter to DAvid Smart of "Esquire," in which they refused to cooperate
with the magazine"as long as the present unfair set-up continues;" one
of their complaints was that Eddie Condon's personal manager edited
the "Esquire Jazz Book."  Well, it this was true, at least Condon was
not vindictive - he hired Clayton when the latter needed work.

The Jim Beebe article is very interesting.  Still, I believe that both
the claims of his daughter that Feather "was ... a champion of the
music he had fallen in love with as a young Englishman" and the
complaints about his attitude (he was at least abetted by his
companions in the "Three Deuces") are true, even if somewhat difficult
to reconcile, and the claim that "his hate of jazz was well known"
(quoting from memory) was rather exaggerated.

Cheers