[Dixielandjazz] Central Plaza - Dixieland on East and West Coasts

[Stephen G Barbone]

> "M J (Mike) Logsdon" <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> 
> Steve:
> 
> Since during the early days of R&R New York was a jazz Mecca for youth, first, what would you say was the impetus, and second, would you say that New York in the 50s is equivalent to San Francisco and environs in the 40s (via Watters)?

Dear Mike: 

I really cannot speak for the West Coast scene of the 40s. However from what I read about it, it was not the same. Dixieland never stopped in NYC. I think it was not so much of a revival like the West Coast, but a continuation of what had been going on in NYC all the time. The only revival in NYC was a "New Orleans" Jazz" revival. For example, the folk music jazz of George Lewis and copycats.

The bulk of the NYC scene from 1945 to Condon's Death in the 70s was diverse. There was, on a regular basis at random times during that period, the Dixieland music of groups led by:

Conrad Janis who fused New Orleans with Kansas City Jazz.
The DeParis Brothers who with Omer  Simeon between them had a distinct style.
All sorts of Condon Groups featuring about 35 different Dixieland Musicians from  Georg Brunies to Wild Bill
Phil Napoleon
Billy Maxted
Kenny Davern
Billy Butterfield
Bobby Hackett
Fletcher Henderson
Jonah Jones
Vic Dickenson 
etc., etc., etc. (To numerous to name them all)

Then around the edges were college Dixieland bands at just about every College and University. Like Eli's Chosen Six at Yale and countless others. Bands like Southampton Dixie Racing and Clambake Society or Kenny Butterfield's Beale Street Stompers played the college circuit every weekend, traveling all over the East Coast. I played gigs from St Lawrence University in Northern NY State to Duke University in North Carolina during the late 1950s. As did Condon, Napoleon and the working pros of the New York Nightclubs.

You could go out every night of the week and hear a different band, with a different style of Dixieland at numerous clubs in the NY metropolitan area. There were regular Dixieland programs on the radio and live broadcasts from different venues. I believe it was much larger than the West Coast scene. I don 't really know it, but IMO, NYC was the Dixieland capital of the world back then.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband