[Dixielandjazz] Leonard Feather

[Steve Voce]

Charlie Shavers was a good nut, as I've mentioned here before. When he was leading his Dixieland band he used to use Ruby Braff as a dep. Ruby was very hard up with little work at the time.
Sometimes he'd get back to his cheap hotel and find an anonymous envelope with $50 waiting for him. After a couple of these he asked the guy on reception 'Did the guy who left this look like a seal?'
'I suppose he did,' said the receptionist. It was Charlie.
The melody Maker asked me to interview Miles Davis when he visited Liverpool. It was only after I agreed to that I realised that their London correspondents
had refused to because he had a reputation for being very difficult. On the night I was scared and had four pints of very good bitter in the pub over the road from the Philharmonic Hall
before I went in. I knocked on the green Room door and to my horror Miles opened it in person. He had his hand behind his back and I thought 'God, he's going to stab me.' He looked
at my card and brought his hand from behind his back. It held a bottle of whiskey. 'Come in, Steve, and have a drink.'
I'm proud to say that I drank from the same bottle as Miles Davis. He was completely charming. I was too drunk to do the interview. Tough on the Melody Maker.
I love the story of Leonard Feather arriving at Birdland. There was a big queue outside and, imperiously, Feather took his friends to the front of the queue.
The people in the queue jeered at him and  wouldn't stop until he and his party made his way shame-facedly to the back of the queue.
When it was suggested that Leonard had left England in 1939 to avoid the war, Leonard claimed that he had finally left Britain for the States in
1938 before the war was imminent. The respected jazz writers Max Jones and Max Harrison (still alive to confirm it) saw him in jazz clubs in London through the summer of 1939.
Apparently the 1938 trip was just a visit. As a young stripling I can't confirm this personally. And I was only five when the war started so didn't go to many jazz clubs.
(It reminds me of Bud Freeman teasing Coleman Hawkins about his age: 'I can remember listening to the records you made with Fletcher Henderson when I was eleven,' said
Bud. 'I was ten when I made those records,' said Hawk).
When Leonard put together his encyclopedia he simply sent musicians a form to fill out and printed what you returned. A pal of mine (still alive to confirm it!) was sent such a form.
He added personal details which he wrote were specifically for Leonard's information and not for publication. Leonard simply published everything regardless.
Leonard used to write excellent blues lyrics, though. Better than almost anyone. The music he wrote was uninspired and uninspiring (see the LP on MGM).

Steve Voce

> Stephen Barbone wrote:
> Dear Marek:
> It is always interesting to balance  books by writers and critics, with memories of musicians who were there at the time. That's one reason I enjoyed Jim Beebe's postings about musical life, and Leonard Feather, Miles Davis, et al.. Based on my limited musical experiences during the 40s, 50s, and 60s, I will say that I agree with Jim. I also think most musicians saw through Leonard Feather.
> I too had spoken with Miles about several aspects of music and can verify that Miles was generally disgusted with critics and felt they "manufactured" the supposed friction between modern and trad jazz musicians. And the fans helped perpetuate that myth by taking sentences out of context, like: "Armstrong says bop is Chinese Music". Or Dizzy says "Armstrong is old fashioned" OK, they were uttered as published, but were said in the heat of battle to critics who were propvoking the battle. There was little friction among the musicians. For example:
> Armstrong and Gillespie lived within a few blocks of each other in Corona, Queens County, NYC. (Not too far from where I lived at the time) And often visited together as friends when schedules permitted.
> Charlie Shavers led a Dixieland Band at the metropole with Tony Parenti and Big Chief Russell Moore. One night he couldn't make it and sent Dizzy Gillespie as a sub. Parenti and Moore loved it as did Dizzy.
> Etc., etc., etc.
> And there was always the myth that Miles hated white people. Spread mostly by the press and folks who didn't know Miles. Absolutely false. As is the myth that he hated Dixieland. Folks forget that Miles said on numerous occasions words to the effect that: "No Louis, no Miles."
> Another example is a short conversation I had  with Horace Silver circa 1959 at the Cork&  Bib in Westbury Long Island.  I asked him about his influences and his first response was Art Hodes, and almost echoing the above Miles/Armstrong words with: "No Hodes, no Horace Silver".
> Point being book reading is fine, but like all of the written word, should be taken with a grain of salt. The author usually has an agenda that slants what he/she writes. Unfortunately that seems to be especially true of music critics. Many of them already have a predisposition before they write a critique. And so they pick apart the music to suit their own prejudices.
> Rare indeed, is the critic who can approach a piece of music, or a book, with an open mind. And so, when Feather did his best to evoke musical criticism by one musician about another,. he did his best to do so by stacking the deck. His 3rd Blindfold test with Miles is a classic in that regard. It certainly verifies the Beebe claim that Feather played the worst recorded examples he could find in the belief that it would generate controversy and controversy is what sells  newspapers and magazines. His 3rd Miles blindfold test is a classic example For a treat, see the below website, being sure to read Feather's disclaimers at the top:
> http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_3.html
> Reading Miles' comments, if taken out of context, they would have you believe he hated Ellington, hated Clark Terry etc.
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
> www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
> PS: For kicks read the 2nd blindfold test of Miles at:
> http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_2.html
> Note what he says about Condon et al., and then Bobby Hackett el al.
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>