[Dixielandjazz] viva la difference ( re Mildred Bailey - Spokesman Review)

[Joe Carbery]

Dickie Wells, in his autobigraphy "The Night People", said that jazz music
can get too perfect and lose its rawness & excitement thereby. (I'm away
from home at present and can't give the exact reference.)
On another matter: I read somewhere that Johnny Hodges used a tenor reed on
a "specially modified alto mouthpiece." I've only seen one reference to
this. Does anyone have any comments? Buster Smith recounts using a tenor
reed on his alto (and Lester using a baritone ditto on his tenor) when with
(I think) the Blue Devils. However, he doesn't mention modifying the
mouthpiece.

Joe Carbery.

On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 12:26 PM, Shaw, Tim <Tim.Shaw at mh.org.au> wrote:

>
> Bob, that's not what I meant by "too good"/  I'd rather hear top class
> musicians, and usually not in an organised environment than just jamming.
> I meant something to do with what Whitney Bailliett called "the sound of
> surprise".  Ella doesn't surprise much - she's always fantastic.
>
> I'm a clarinettist. I find Johnny Dodds more satisfying listening than
> Jimmie Noone;  Pee Wee Russell's seeming incompetence more interesting than
> (for example) Ken Peplowski; Lester playing clarinet more interesting than
> Bigard. (and Lester playing tenor more interesting than Paul Quinichette,
> who's technically "better", but otherwise almost indistinguishable.
>  The late Kenny Davern, a fabulous musician could do Noone- (and Doods,
> and Russel) -like things with his own original twist, was perfect in the
> Ella sense - but even he didn't produce many surprises because the others
> had done it first.
> cheers! (waiting for the flames)
> tim
>
> PS - and I 'd rather hear early Benny than late Benny any day, even though
> late Benny was a far better musician in most senses.
> If you don't understand what I'm on about, but know classical music - try
> listening to Benny Goodman's recording of the Copeland clarinet concerto
> with the dozens of others by technically superior players.  The Goodman
> recording has a difficult-to-define uniqueness that the others lack
> (Goodman commissioned the concerto)
> ________________________________________
> From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com [
> dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Robert Ringwald [
> rsr at ringwald.com]
> Sent: 25 April 2012 09:13
> To: Shaw, Tim
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] viva la difference ( re Mildred Bailey -
> Spokesman Review)
>
>    Tim Shaw wrote regarding Ella:
> I agree with Bob - there are few really great Jazz vocalists (and more
> female than male greats)
> My favourite is Billie - but mainly on the basis of her 30s Teddy Wilson
> recordings. She had Lester and the cream of the NY musos as backing.
> Later, she sounded like a parody of hersels (as did Lester)
> I find Ella *too* technically perfect.
> (snip)
> When someone makes a statement such as that, it always amazes me. Like,
> “Someone is too good!”
> Someone may prefer a certain singer to another. But to say that a singer,
> or a musician is too perfect...
> On a recent Jazz festival, I won’t say where to protect the innocent, one
> of the really good musicians in a really top band was told by a listener
> that he’d rather hear the “jammers” then the recording quality band.” In
> other words, he’d rather hear bad starts, out of tune playing, bad notes,
> poor solos, musicians playing who don’t know their part in an ensemble, and
> terrible endings..
> No wonder the music business has gone to hell. Most people have no idea
> what good music is.
> --Bob Ringwald
>
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>
>
> WARNING: This message originated from outside the
> Northern/Melbourne/Western Health e-mail network. The sender cannot be
> validated. Caution is advised. Contact IT Services (+61 3 ) 9342 8888 for
> more information.
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz
> Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
>
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>
>
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>
>
> WARNING: This message originated from outside the
> Northern/Melbourne/Western Health e-mail network. The sender cannot be
> validated. Caution is advised. Contact IT Services (+61 3 ) 9342 8888 for
> more information.
>
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz
> Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
>
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>
>
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>