[Dixielandjazz] Repeated solos

[Steve Voce]

*   * From my column in the current issue of Jazz Journal:

When the RAF decided it couldn't defeat the Russians without my help, I
spent the evening before I joined it playing the 12" 78s of Louis's May 1947
Town Hall concert. During different periods of my life I have thought I'd
discovered the perfect jazz performance. At that time I thought it was/Rockin' Chair/, a glorious collaboration
of two giants, Louis and Tea, backed by another in Bobby Hackett. Everyone
on the record seemed relaxed and in perfect control and the result was a perfect instant classic.
I still believe it was one of the greatest jazz occasions, but a little cynicism kicked in with age and I now know that it was
   set piece, as were many of the numbers played that evening.

   Louis and Johnny Hodges both had their set pieces, as I mentioned couple of
months ago. So did Tea--/Sheik Of Araby/and/Basin Street/  for
instance. A host of the great soloists, particularly Bud Freeman, took the same
road. As professionals they expected to play for audiences that came once and
went away impressed, not for aficionados who knew every note in advance or
even, ridiculously to them, attended both first and second houses of their
dates. And in return those audiences couldn't understand how the giants, who we
saw as improvisers in the grasp of unstoppable and continually renewed
inspiration, could be so crass as to repeat the same programme twice in one
night, to say nothing of at every concert throughout a tour.

   An abiding memory of such a situation is the hurt and confusion Louis and Velma Middleton suffered on their 1956 tour. Their
British audiences were quite unreasonably outraged when confronted with what
had been Armstrong's normal concert programme for years and years. The audience
wanted new and pure improvisations on/West End Blues/  whilst Louis and Velma wanted to make us laugh with/Baby, It's Cold Outside/.

   It wasn't much later that Johnny Dankworth stood up during a Lionel Hampton concert and shouted 'How about playing some
jazz?' In retrospect, how very rude of him.

   Frustration abounded.

Steve Voce

>> Then also, later on Louis was often accused, by critics of playing the same
>> solos on various tunes for years. I figure so what? They were still HIS
>> solos whether original or repeated.<grin>
>
> I have read this many times.  all tunes were set, etc. etc.  Then why
> aren't they always the same length?
>
> My ears (even if Steve does not trust them) tell me that the critics
> were superficial.  I do not want to say the solos were ALL different,
> but somehow they sound different from performance to performance - the
> inflections, perhaps?
>
> Cheers
>
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