[Dixielandjazz] In search of a non-tragic jazz hero

[Charles Suhor]

Going back to your criteria below, it seems that you're looking to get 
(a) the most educational mileage (vis a vis the history of jazz)
(b) a good story (some drama in it) that 
(c) doesn't have basic negativity or a bad role model (alcoholism),
(d) with accessible charts for the live band to play as "illustrations."  

Louis was perfect for this, but a lot of great players don't fill the bill well for one or more of the criteria. As an educator, I'd be focused on (a) as a starting point. Since you've done Louis, maybe swing era figures like the Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller, Goodman, or Duke Ellington would meet all the standards. An interesting question--thanks for posting.

Charlie

On Dec 9, 2014, at 2:24 PM, Gary Lawrence Murphy wrote:

> just to be clear, we're not *telling* them about jazz music, we
> *demonstrate* the music by playing it for them -- it is a musical
> show, so what we need to do is to bring together 15 or so tunes that
> can be strung together to tell the story.
> 
> would be very hard to do a Bria Skolberg with myself cast in the lead
> role -- even youngsters can only suspend belief so far before it snaps
> ;)
> 
> The Dorsey Brothers or even to build a show around Nat Shilkret or
> Goldman's band is maybe a workable idea, it binds together what was
> happening in the pre-war Chicago that is then channelled into the
> swing era by the youngsters in the band!