[Dixielandjazz] Lou-Easy-An-Ia

[Dick Baker]

Gary et al.,

Here's what I came up with in my research for the Stomp Off Index:

George Buck's notes to Salty Dogs in New Orleans (as Louisian-i-a) CD say,

         "Written in 1950 by Baton Rouge-born clarinetist Joe 
Darensbourg while driving home from
         an out-of-town gig with the Kid Ory band.  It was first 
recorded by Pete Daily shortly
         thereafter with the composer on clarinet and it became a New 
Orleans standard."

Looks like that record was Capitol 1370, rec. 12/20/50, with Johnson 
Rag on flip side.

Well, the copyright has no hyphens and no extra 'i' at the end:
         LOUISIANA; w, m & (c) Joseph Darensbourg 27Oct50 EU220282.

I found the original Capitol 1370 label, and indeed, the title there 
is LOUIS-I-AN-IA.  I've
put on my web site for you to check for yourself, at

         http://dickbaker.org/stompoff/Louis-i-an-ia--Capitol-1370.jpg

George Lewis, he recorded it twice in 1953, the first as the bizarre 
Lou-easy-an-i-a-i,
the second as Louisian-i-a, which does most accurately mimic the pronunciation
of the word in the lyrics, and must be the version that most later 
bands have followed.

My approach in the Stomp Off Index is that an actual published 
version of a tune, whether that is
on sheet music or a record label, is definitive, since titles and 
even composer credits frequently
change between copyright and publication.

So as far as I'm concerned, the title is the one on the first 
recording, the Pete Dailey-Joe
Darensbourg record, and thus is Louis-i-an-ia.


>Can someone provide me with some history, insight or anecdotes
>concerning Joe Darenbourg's "Lou-Easy-An-Ia"? The Anderson book has it
>with this spelling written in 1949. I have seen it spelled differently
>elsewhere (without the Easy). Does anyone know the real spelling?
>
>I had the great pleasure of playing with Joe when he did a master class
>at UCLA while I was there. Of course, when Joe was around, we never
>called this tune by its name but rather "Joe's Tune." He left us a
>couple of years later.
>
>Gary Kiser


--Dick Baker
Working on an updated version of the Stomp Off Records Tune Titles 
and Composers Index
See working draft at http://dickbaker.org/stompoff/index.pdf