[Dixielandjazz] Bop v OKOM - was - Retirement Home Gigs

[Marek Boym]

Dear Steve,
>
> I'm not so sure of that. For example, when Charlie Parker died in 1955, he
> was no where near as well known or popular as say, Benny Goodman Duke
> Ellington, Artie Shaw, Louis Armstrong, Eddie Condon, Count Basie, Ella
> Fitzgerald et al.


I know.  But big bands were gone for the most part (in 1949 Basie had
a small group), and the hip people embraced bebop.


> As for Monk, he was virtually unknown in the 1950s here in the USA

That's funny - when jazz became "kosher" in communist Poland, Monk was
hailed as one of the greatest.

a>...Fame for him was a slow climb which started to gather steam about
> 1960. And he always personally denied that what he played was bop.

A lady in her 80's was around in th 1960's.  And the tunes she
requested were his.
>

> Brubeck was another story, but his music IMO is closer to OKOM than it is to
> Bop.

I'd rather put him closer to the MJQ.  BTW, the later, reunited
edition of the MJQ might not have been OKOM, but, unlike the original
quartet, was definitely MKOM.
>

> MJQ, IMO, did not play bop, but for want of a better word, chamber jazz.
>
> Anyhow, in 20 years or so of playing retirement homes, this was the first
> time a resident requested a Monk tune.

Cannot argue with experience.  Which you have and I have not.
Cheers
>