[Dixielandjazz] White jazz of the early twenties

[Marek Boym]

Dear Bill,
I beg to disagree.
The ODJB were indeed the earliest.  While speaking of Ladd's Black
Aces, I mentioned "and that goes for other similar bands" on purpose,
as the Original Memphis Five (more or less the same people) and other
bands were playing like that.
NORK's records hit the market already in 1922; the Original Memphis
Five still sounded like that in 1924, and even later.
It's not a matter of listening backwards - there were lots of
recordings with the ODJB "jerky" rhythm after the New Orleans Rhythm
Kings.  And white bands in Chicago (Husk O'Hara, for example) sounded
less jerky already in 1922.
As to listning chronologically - while there may be some records with
lower musical quality to which I listen aminly because they come from
the twenties, my listening is hardly ever for historical reasons; I
listen to music for fun.  I've had both the LPs mentioned for over
thirty years, but somehow I never played them one after another
before.
Only once, after reading Humph's statement that the 1936 ODJB's "Tiger
Rag" was as stiff as the original, two friends and I sat sown and
listenet repeatedly to several ODJB recordings (and one by the NORK),
and reched the conclusion that Humph was wrong.  Actually, that
session occurred because I did not remember it the way Humph described
it (in general, my opinion on ODJB seems to be bettr than Humph's).
Cheers

On 29 July 2012 13:22, Bill Haesler <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> Marek Boym wrote [in part]:
>> The other day I played the Wolverines right after Ladd's Black Aces.
>> What a difference!  And not only the sound of Bix - the general approach. No wonder they had such an impact on white bands.  For some strange reason, Ladd's Black Aces (and that goes for other similar bands) followed the ODJB, and here they heard something so much more complex and relaxed!  Sure, there were the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, whose music was very different than that of ODJB, but, for some reasons, they had more impact on the white Chicagoans than on the New York musicians.
>
> Dear Marek,
> Put dates to the four bands that you mentioned.
> Then listen chronologically.
>
> ODJB. 1917- 1921
>  New Orleans via Chicago to New York (and England).
>
> Ladd's Black Aces. 1921-1924
> New York.
>
> The New Orleans Rhythm Kings. 1922- 1923
> Chicago.
>
> The Wolverine Orchestra. 1924.
> Chicago.
>
> Nobody was listening backwards in those days.
> The secret ingredient was "Chicago" in the early 20s.
> Think King Oliver and all those who came up from New Orleans.
> Very kind regards,
> Bill.