[Dixielandjazz] Trad Jazz (British) and the piano

[Marek Boym]

Hello Ken,
Your email remings me of two things:
First - Keith Nicholls' remark (at the 1984 Edinbourgh festival)  "amazing
how soon jazz festival pianos die; this one died an hour ago," and
Second, the story about Art Tatum playing a piano with two keys missing,
while Oscar Peterson, hired to follow him  in a few days, was in the
audience.  Tatum told the landlord that the piano was out of order, and
that although he, a seasoned veteran, could play it, his young replacemtn
might not be able to do so.  The landlord protested: what do you mean out
of order?  I had it compelety repainted a few weeks ago (frop memory, not
the exact words exchanged).
Cheers


On 22 February 2014 00:58, Ken Mathieson <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've never been a fan of pianoless rhythm sections, but in the days before
> electric pianos, a trad jazz gig was always a lottery given the shocking
> state of the majority of pianos encountered in pubs and clubs. One
> disastrous piano gig above all sticks in my mind: it was a rugby club dance
> and the piano was BAD. In the main it was a semi-tone out, but of course
> not consistently so across the 88 keys. Our pianist tried bravely to play
> everything a semi-tone different from normal, but eventually retired to the
> bar at the first interval a defeated man.
>
> There he had a heated conversation with the organiser, who asked him if
> the piano just needed a "bit of tuning or a full overhaul." The pianist's
> reply was "What it needs is a (expletive deleted) Viking Funeral!"
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ken
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz
> Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
>
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>
>
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>