[Dixielandjazz] Phil Napoleon & more

[Stephen G Barbone]

> Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com> wrote (polite snip)
>
> A friewnd of mine is moving to a protected housing, so I have come
> into pssession of quite a few LPs, among them Dixieland Jazz Battle
> (Decca DL 5261), with Pete Daily on one side and Phil Napoleon and his
> Memphis Five on the other.  The liner notes describes the Napoleon
> band as "a large slice of jazz history," whereas, according thereto,
> "the Pete Daily band represents a conscious revival of the old style
> by a rough and ready group of younger men."
> True, Napoleon's group contains Tony Spargo of the ODJB, but the
> others: Phil Olivella, Billy Maxted, Andy Russo and Jack Fay - can
> hardly be regarded as real veterans (or rather, could not in those
> days).  The Daily band, on the other hand, in addition to the leader
> (a little younger than Napoleon) includes Joe Rushton (hardly a
> "younger man"), Rosy McHargue and Country Washburn.
>
> I would not have wondered so much about that, except that the notes
> were by the jazz historian Marshall W. Stearns, written some five
> years before completion of his Story of Jazz.  Thus, either he was
> much less knowledgable than is generally believed, or he distorted
> facts on purpose.

Dear Marek and List Mates:

Perhaps I can shed some light on Mr. Stearns's thinking:

Phil Napoleon became very popular in residency at Nck's in NYC after  
WW 2, after he had reformed his "Original" Memphis Five. As you say  
his various groups there were not all "original" veterans. Certainly  
Spargo, who appeared with him frequently was, but the rest were not.

However, the music was true to Napoleon's concept at the beginning of  
the jazz age. He was not "consciously reviving" it, but rather playing  
what his groups had always played since 1917 and using his own  
arrangements.

A subtle distinction, or a play on words perhaps, but Napoleon was  
doing what he had always done. Whereas Daily's band was making a  
conscious attempt to revive a style that others had played before him.

I think he would have used Miff Mole (an original in his early band)  
in his 1950s band except that Mole was in Chicago with his own group  
until 1954 or so. Mole's replacement was Andy Russo, a fine player and  
quite up to the Napoleon arrangements. Great sense of humor.

I used to see Napoleon's bands quite a bit at Nick's, loved what they  
played and had the good fortune as a young wannabe to sit in with him  
at Ncks, along with, Billy Maxted, Chuck Traeger,  Russo, Spargo and  
Sal Pace. They placed a jam tune which enabled me to follow along  
rather than a Napoleon arrangement.

I also worked quite a few gigs with Jack Fay, a wonderful bassist who  
passed away much too young. He lived in Bayside NY, a mile from me and  
I would drive him to gigs. One night coming home from a gig on Long  
Island, we  had Symphony Sid on the radio and he was playing some  
really mellow jazz. I looked a Jack and said let's keep driving. He  
agreed and we drove around for another hour of so listening and  
chilling out.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband