[Dixielandjazz] Bruce Turner

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Folks,

Bruce was indeed a one-off, but, beyond a certain stage of competence, comparison between great plalyers becomes futile. None of these players is better than their peers: they're simply different and it's their individuality which makes them stand out, not just from lesser mortals, but also from one another and it's this individuality which we should celebrate.

While we're on about Bruce, I was working with Evan Christopher for a few days on the Edinburgh Jazz Festival and he brought up the pseudonym "Jimmie No-one", but didn't know it was a Bruce Turner invention, so Bruce's other inventions of "Omer Someone" and the crazy conflation which was "Hung Nuts Picou" came as a special delight to Evan. Incidentally, we had a ball with Evan working with my Classic Jazz Orchestra in a programme celebrating the New Orleans clarinet tradition and the music of Jelly Roll Morton and also in a specially-assembled international sextet playing transcripts of some of the John Kirby Sextet material. If anyone's interested in a fuller report on these gigs, just let me know. I've got a 2 day rest-up before it all gets busy again at the weekend, so I'll be happy to give details of personnel and repertoire. Meantime, here's a link to a review in the Glasgow Herald newspaper of Evan's concert with my band: http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/music/palazzo-spiegeltent-edinburgh-ken-mathieson-classic-jazz-orchestra-with-evan-christopher.21692718

Cheers,

Ken Mathieson