[Dixielandjazz] Michael Steinman's blog-- Jazz Lives. IAJRC meeting in NO in September.

[Norman Vickers]

To:  Musicians and Jazzfans; DJML

From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

 

Here's info from Michael Steinman's blog-Jazz Lives.   International
Association of Jazz Record collectors meeting will be in New Orleans in
September.

 

Click on the link below to read in your browser or see below.  One may
subscribe. Thanks Michael. 

 

 

 

 

http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/theres-life-in-and-beyond-those-gr
ooves-the-international-association-of-jazz-record-collectors/

 



New post on JAZZ LIVES 

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<http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/theres-life-in-and-beyond-those-g
rooves-the-international-association-of-jazz-record-collectors/> THERE'S
LIFE IN (AND BEYOND) THOSE GROOVES: THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF JAZZ
RECORD COLLECTORS


by  <http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/author/jazzlives/> jazzlives 

I suspect that most people, asked to describe "a jazz record collector,"
would create at best a gentle caricature.  It wouldn't be too far from the
general stereotype of someone who assorts, covets, arranges, and studies any
kind of ancient artifact.  In the imagined cartoon, the man showing off his
prize collection of mint Brunswick 78s by the Boswell Sisters is simply a
cousin of the museum curator, happily dusty.

But stereotypes are meant to be exploded by reality, and many jazz record
collectors have seen the daylight and know that there is life beyond the
shelves, beyond their notebooks of sought-after discs.  One sign of life is
the refreshing friskiness of the Journal of the International Association of
Jazz Record Collectors.  I would have written this blogpost a few weeks ago
but I kept on finding new things to read in the March 2012 Journal . . . so
I apologize for my tardiness but it is another sign of life.

I was entranced immediately by the cover -- a comic portrait of trombonist
Miff Mole, taken in Chicago in the early Fifties (courtesy of the jazz
scholar Derek Coller): boys and girls, don't try this at home without adult
supervision.

 <http://jazzlives.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/miff-iajrc-3-2012.jpg>
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Inside I found Bert Whyatt's discography of the rough-and-tumble West Coast
pianist Burt Bales (including recordings with Bunk Johnson and Frank
Goudie), a chapter in Don Manning's novel SWING HIGH! -- its subject being
an insider's look at life on the road with a big band in the Forties.  I
read an extensive affectionate report by Perry Huntoon on Jazz Ascona, and
made my way through many CD reviews.

And that's not all.  In an initial offering of jazz research done by Dr. Ian
Crosbie -- who sent questionnaires to many musicians and got remarkably
candid answers, we learn from the Paul Whiteman reedman Charles Strickfadden
that (in his opinion) Bill Challis' arrangements for the Whiteman band were
"melodic, uncomplicated, non-swinging . . . No affect on trend."

In another section of the Journal I read a fascinating long letter by the
scholar and current IAJRC President Geoffrey Wheeler -- its focus on Charlie
Parker's RELAXIN' AT CAMARILLO.  To give this its proper context, the
previous issue of the Journal (December 2011) had an intriguing study of
Parker's actual stay at  the mental hospital located in Camarillo -- written
by William A. Pryor.  Wheeler adds this, which surprised me: "During a stay
at Bellevue Hospital in New York City in the early 1950s, Parker was
interviewed by a resident psychiatrist regarding his use of drugs.  At one
point, the psychiatrist asked Parker if he wanted to give up drugs.
Parker's response was an emphatic 'no'!  . . . . This was related to me by a
personal friend who was later on the staff at Bellevue and was told this by
the attending psychiatrist."

There's more.  The IAJRC will be holding its annual convention in New
Orleans (Sept. 6-8, 2012) and in addition to scholarly presentations and the
opportunity to buy records, chat with fellow jazz enthusiasts, and tour the
city, there will be live music from the Scandinavian Rhythm Boys and others,
video presentations by Tom Hustad, Ruby Braff expert and author of the new
book BORN TO PLAY, film scholar Mark Cantor, and jazz researcher Sonny
McGown (the last one having as its subject the eccentric clarinetist Irving
Fazola).

To join the IAJRC and get in on the fun, click
<http://www.iajrc.org/index.php/about/benefits> here.  To learn more about
the convention, click
<http://www.iajrc.org/index.php/conventions/67-2012convention> here.

May your happiness increase.