[Dixielandjazz] Firehouse 5 + 2 arrangements

[Daniel S. Augustine]

Katie (c: DJML)--
    You're a gem, thanks!  I've never heard of the Firehouse Revival before, but i just listened to a couple of their tunes (re-creations) and they do sound like the FH5+2 arrangements, but not slavishly copied.  As Alfred North Whitehead said, "No generation can merely reproduce its ancestors.  You may preserve the life in a flux of form, or preserve the form amid an ebb of life.  But you cannot permanently enclose the same life in the same mould."
    For others who may be interested, you can hear (and see) them on YouTube, and also on iTunes, www.last.fm, www.cduniverse.com, www.amazon.com, www.rdio.com, and a number of others.
    However, i couldn't locate a website for the band.  It would be good to know if they would be willing to make their arrangements of the FH5+2 available to others.
    That, however, brings up the legal question about unpublished but recorded performances of songs: can someone just transcribe what was played and sell or otherwise distribute them without paying a fee to the original band or writer?  What if somebody records you at a festival, and then transcribes it and sells it?  Is that legal?
    Katie, please thank George for me!  It's so great that he's still playing and that you're meeting with him.  I wonder if he would be interested in doing what is called an "oral history" (just a live recording of him talking) of the FH5+2 and his experiences in jazz over the past 60 or so years?

    Dan
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On Nov 30, 2011, at 1:58 AM, Katie Cavera wrote:

Hi Dan - I had a nice visit with George Probert today and I asked him your 
question about the Firehouse 5 + 2 arrangements.  I'm including the DJML in this 
email in case anyone else on the list is curious about this.  George said that 
as far as he can recall most of the arrangements were collectively improvised - 
they really didn't have any one person arranging for the band.  He says a lot of 
times they'd get the sheet music or a piano part and everyone would work from 
that.  He says that in different cases, different people in the band were given 
credit for arranging the material (including himself) but but that was just a 
formality.  More often then not, they'd collectively improvise and work things 
out as they went along.

The exception to this is their version of the Anvil Chorus which I believe is 
actually called the "Anvil Stomp" on the recording I have.  That was arranged by 
George Bruns for a special appearance they did at the San Francisco Opera House. 
George says it was a big concert and they shared the bill with Wild Bill 
Davison.  He told me that Jimmy MacDonald came out on stage shirtless and 
covered in olive oil to play the anvil.  Now that's showbiz.

There is a band in Switzerland called the Firehouse Revival that has 
painstakingly transcribed many of the Firehouse Five arrangements which they 
play when they perform. George reminded me of them and I met the band many years 
ago when they came and played a festival here in Southern California (I think 
the Orange County Festival, but I could be remembering this wrong.)  We did a 
massive set combining their band and George Probert's Monrovia Old Style Jazz 
Band.  They were a really nice bunch of guys and girls (they had a female 
drummer) and I enjoyed them personally and musically.

I hope that answers your question!
- Katie
http://www.katiecavera.com
http://www.youtube.com/kcavera

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**  Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
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