[Dixielandjazz] Hines Air-shots (was Ray Nance)

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Marek,

You're not mad, dear pal, or maybe I am too! I hear that connection too, but 
I suppose it was natural that the first generation of saxophonists, in 
trying to develop the instrument for soloing, had to listen to the 
clarinettists who had gone before. I see it as further proof of one of the 
pet theories of the late Douglas Adams. If the name is unfamiliar, he was 
the author of the hugely entertaining series of books called The 
Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also wrote a series of humorous novels 
about a holistic private detective called Dirk Gently, whose central 
philosophy was "the inter-connectedness of everything." Dirk Gently takes 
this to ludicrous extremes in the books, but is always proved right in the 
end, to the mystification of the cops who were invariably stumped by the 
case.

So, by extension, the Creole clarinettists, Lester Young, Charlie Parker and 
every saxophonist since then are in some way inter-connected! Incidentally, 
do any of the ace sleuths on our list know if Lorenzo Tio taught any 
clarinettists outside of black and Creole musicians? It's known he taught 
Jimmy Noone, Barney Bigard, Albert Nicholas, Omer Simeon, Louis Cottrell Jr, 
Albert Burnbank, Peter Duconge, Johnny Dodds and Sidney Bechet (although the 
latter two claimed to have had little formal teaching from him). Harold 
Dejan also claimed that he, Darnell Howard and Russell Procope had also been 
taught by him. There must have been others. Although he's thought of as a 
Creole, Tio was originally of Spanish descent by way of Mexico and 
photographs of him show no obvious African-American characteristics. So, in 
the racially-divided world of early 20th century New Orleans, he probably 
passed for white while associating with Creole and black musicians, so it's 
possible that he may have taught some of the white players too. Any ideas?

Cheers,

Ken


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com>
To: "Ken Mathieson" <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 9:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Hines Air-shots (was Ray Nance)


Hoorray!
I've always had that feeling when listening to Lester Young - he
reminded me of the Creole clarinet sound; listening to Lester on
clarinet reiforced that feeling, but when I told my friends, they
thought I was mad (I probably was, and always have been, but it has
nothing to do with either the Creole style or Lestr Young).
Cheers