[Dixielandjazz] James Lincoln Collier

[dwlit at cpcug.org]

I read Collier's books on Armstrong, Ellington and Benny Goodman. The only
reason I still have them is I have a hard time discarding books that might
have some useful facts.

Collier is a rank amateur "historian", I'd go so far as to say *dishonest*
for his misuse of footnotes and sources, for sure unreliable. His
opinions, theories, etc., as interesting as some of them might be, must be
taken basically as unsupported crap.

He hoodwinked Ken Burns into selecting him as one of "Jazz's" mostly
time-wasting talking heads (I liked Winton M.'s contributions)

BTW, I never finished Laurence Bergreen's "Louis Armstrong" because he
insisted on making many statements that went way beyond the facts.

Yes, that's what I really think...

--Sheik