[Dixielandjazz] Classic Jazz Orchestra

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Folks,

Back at the end of July my band appeared in the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival in front of a capacity audience in one of the 3 Spiegeltents on the George Square site. The review below appeared in a local newspaper and is now archived in the reviewer's blog. At the end of the review, she gives the playlist, but this omits the last 2 numbers (maybe she had had enough by that time and left!) which were Jelly's Sidewalk Blues (complete with automobile klaxon) and a riotous Black Bottom Stomp.

http://jazzmatters.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/edinburgh-jazz-festival-2012-ken-mathieson-classic-jazz-orchestra-salutes-the-kings-of-jazz/

As you'll see from the playlist, the bulk of the concert was a commemoration of Bix's music, but we also played some Bechet, Hodges, Jelly, Armstrong and Duke for contrast. I had floated the idea of a Bix concert in 2011, since the date of our concert then almost coincided to the day with the 80th anniversary of Bix's untimely passing. The festival planners weren't interested in the idea then, but this year they came up with the iidea of a Bix theme, so, allowing for 2012 being a leap year, we played an eighty years and threehunderd and fiftyfive days commemoration concert.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the reviewer, Alison Kerr, also filmed some of our gig and you can see a couple of numbers at:
http://jazzmatters.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/edinburgh-jazz-festival-in-videos-classic-jazz-orchestra/

On the grounds that all publicity is good publicity and that she had written such a good review, I wasn't going to raise an objection. The two numbers on her blog have very similar tempos, so it's just a pity she didn't film Black Bottom Stomp or Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down as they were ravers at about 240 beats per minute, but hey ho, no complaints. Incidentally, our trombonist, Phil O'Malley, is now in danger of being called "Half Man, Half Pillar."

I hope you enjoy the clips,

Cheers,

Ken