[Dixielandjazz] James Lincoln Collier's Book on Armstrong

[Stephen G Barbone]

As Eric has discovered, and Steve Voce hinted, the JLC book on  
Armstrong is controversial to say the least. Some talking heads love  
it, while others claim if is fraught with errata and sloppily  
researched, adding that as a writer, Collier is best known for  
fictional works.

He is a wonderful amateur OKOM trombonist having developed a love for  
jazz at Hamilton College which featured Jazz Band concerts from the  
mid 1940s through the 1960s. He was part of the student group that  
brought  a notable jazz band to perform there in 1947. That band  
included  Max Kaminsky, Miff Mole, Art Hodes, Danny Alvin, and Tony  
Parenti. It also included James P. Johnson to perform intermission  
piano.

I met him in the 1950s when I was with a Dixieland Band that played at  
Hamilton every year. Our drummer, Dick Sherman was a classmate of  
Collier's. Collier sat in on trombone and was wonderful. He was also a  
regular in a Dixieland Band that played every Thursday at the Donnell  
Branch of the New York Library on a gig that lasted about 25 years.  
That band, includin g Sherman, used various NYC players depending upon  
who was available. Musos like Tony Parenti, Peter Ecklund, Jon Erik  
Kellso, Orange Kellin, Joe Muranyi, et al.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband