[Dixielandjazz] Ray Nance

[Bill Haesler]

 ROBERT R. CALDER wrote (snipped):
> I could bemuse North Americans -- possibly not Bill Haesler and his compatriots -- with the four names of Holding, Roberts, Garner and Marshall, whom dozy cricket commentators declare to have been among the very best fast bowlers...
and 
> I wrote that: 
> --- “Pie Eye’s Blues” reinforces the moral demand to note what an amazing musician Ray Nance was, with a collossal tone on the --- hybrid-like 
> trumpet-cornet which he preferred to more conventional horns. 

Dear Robert,
Only slightly bemused.
To the dismay of many of my young jazz mates and most of my work colleagues back in the 40s, I did not catch the cricket bug.
Probably because I never made the school team in any sport. 
Australian Rules football (too physically intimidating) and cricket (too boring). 
I'm similarly bemused by the passion of some for Ray Nance and the later 50s-60s Ellington recordings.
My own Ellington collection stops in the mid 40s, whereas my musical interest in it tapers off in the mid 30s (with a few exceptions including the small groups).
However, I did some googling and found this in a review of the Ellington 'Blues In Orbit' album:

"Pie Eye's Blues" is a hot studio improvisation featuring Ray Nance and Jimmy Hamilton trading three solos each, while Ellington's piano and the rest of the band try their emphatic best to get in a word or two.  

Then I was (surprisingly) able to hear the whole track on the Melody Centra site.
Mmmmm. Not unlike my experience with cricket.
I do not own the 1938 Nance/Hines airshots. Never have. 
But do have the 1938 studio sides and the two 1940 Horace Henderson sessions. 
I think I'll continue listening to latest Frog CD (DGF 79) 'Stop and Listen!'.
If you haven't done so already, you will probably give me up as a lost soul this time.
8>)
Very kind regards,
Bill.