[Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 132, Issue 8

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Butch et al,

Sorry I'm late back into the fray: an out of town gig yesterday meant that 
I'm just picking up Butch's mail on
Sunday evening. Butch wrote:

>This is the first time I've ever heard Bud Scott accused of inaccurate 
>time-keeping.  It's not true on this >recording.  What is true is that he 
>is the guitarist whose playing Jelly Roll Morton cited as the reason he 
>gave >up playing guitar.
>
> For the record, I've played the Noone record for a lot of people who know 
> very little about traditional jazz.  >Many say they don't like what Bud 
> plays.  It's not what they want to hear from a guitarist, but to my ears 
> it >sounds great BECAUSE HIS TIME IS PERFECT.
> If it's not what you like to hear, you're entitled to that -- but please, 
> he is not incompetent.


I seem to be the person whose comments caused this outburst, but let's be 
clear about what I actually said. No mention of competence or incompetence, 
nor of the guitarist's name as I didn't have any reference sources available 
to find out. I simply wrote re Jimmie Noone's Blues My Naughty Sweetie...: 
'Everyone else seemed to find it easy enough, but the guitarist certainly 
found the tempo too ambitious as he was struggling to hold it down 
throughout the entire first chorus. So, it might have been the perfect tempo 
for Jimmie Noone, but it sure wasn't for his guitarist!'

I still stand by that: I've just listened to it again and still hear the 
guitar getting in front of the piano in several places in his solo. It still 
sounds to me that he's not comfortable with the tempo and that the rhythm 
section is trying to hold the time together, so some very uncomfortable 
tensions arise. It's only when Noone comes in that it settles into a steady 
rocking tempo and from that point on I enjoyed it. I'm not questioning 
anyone's musical competence, certainly not someone who proved his 
credentials over a long career like Bud Scott, but all musicians have a 
comfort zone about tempos for soloing over and, on this occasion at least, 
my ears tell me that Bud, for whatever reason, was outside of his comfort 
zone.

Cheers,

Ken