[Dixielandjazz] Blushworthy Message! (was Kenneth Mathieson/Swing 2012)

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Robert et al,

Thanks for the kind words, Robert, you really have got me blushing! It's not often I get called by my full Sunday Name! Anyway I'm not here to write about me, but about Ernesto Nazareth (who wrote his Odeon a good decade before James P Johnson wrote his Carolina Shout) and the whole Brazilian choro tradition. 

The choro is a close cousin to ragtime and early jazz and had its big-band phase and ultimately was one of the sources from which bossa nova sprang. The construction of most choro pieces is very similar to the structure of rags and jazz march pieces: 2 complementary opening themes followed by a modulation into a trio theme. Melodically it's got a lot in common with rags and early jazz, although its melodies are more syncopated. Harmonically Choro has more in common with samba and Portuguese music, but that difference makes improvising on choro themes interesting for jazzers. I've always wondered why Dixieland and New Orleans musicians haven't made greater use of choro pieces as they're lively, full of optimism, easy to swing and fun to play. Another Nazareth piece which would work in OKOM is Brejeiro, bits of which were borrowed by Darius Milhaud.

Another of the great choro composers was Pixinguinha, a flautist, saxophonist, bandleader and, above all, composer. He wrote stacks of great pieces which would translate easily to Dixieland treatment. One of them, Lamentos, has an opening theme which is very like the first 8 bars of the old song Heartaches. I've no idea which came first as it's often not easy to detemine when a song was first copyrighted in Brasil, but of the two, Heartaches is much the simpler tune and Lamentos is much more of a challenge.

Robert also mentioned the possibility of Caribbean music being played in NYC in James P's younger days. That was certainly the case. After Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, East Harlem rapidly filled up with emigres and before long their dance halls were attracting jazz musicians to listen to the new rhythms and sounds. Robert will remember a much-missed Scottish musician, the late Francis Cowan, who was a fine guitarist, and outstanding bassist and cellist. After a gig with veteran saxophonist Benny Waters, who had played with one of King Oliver's later bands, Francis asked him what was hot in NYC after Benny had arrived in town from Boston. Francis had been expecting to hear about Fletcher Henderson at the Savoy or King Oliver, or Fats Waller and the piano professors in Harlem, but instead Benny said that all the young musicians used to go over to dance halls in East Harlem to hear the Puerto Rican bands. When Francis asked him what they sounded like, Benny replied "exactly like Dizzy Gillespie!" So, from at least the mid-1920s, "Latin" music was being played in NYC and laid the foundations for the Rumba bands of the late 1930s while at the same time exciting the younger generation of jazz players in the city.

Enough already,

Regards,

Ken Mathieson