[Dixielandjazz] Slim Gaillard

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Folks,

I mailed Alastair Robertson of Hep Records about his recollections of 
recording Slim and here's his reply:
snip>
Slim was essentially a con man - he parlayed his considerable 
personality to make up for a basic lack of knowledge. He made a lot out 
of almost nothing but who hasn't? He wasn't an uncle Tom but I don't 
think he cared much for Whitey other than a source of income. I don't 
think many people over here knew exactly what made him tick but I don't 
think he knew either but was happy to ride his luck.
<snip
So there you have it: in a single favourite Glasgow word - a chancer! 
The audience at the Black Bull Jazz Club didn't know what to make of him 
as his performance consisted of a small number of musical pieces, mostly 
in the same key and with the same chords (I Got Rhythm and its common 
variants), interspersed with long interludes of McVouty chat which 
quickly became pretty repetitive. He also seemed completely indifferent 
to the fact that his guitar was wildly out of tune during the first set 
and didn't seem to notice that the house bassist had retuned it during 
the interval. Aside from that he was pleasant, if eccentric, company.

Cheers,
Ken