[Dixielandjazz] Revivalist bands (was Tuba Skinny)

[Marek Boym]

I guess we disagree on the definition of "revivalist." The Dixieland jazz
> tradition is an unbroken stylistic thread that doesn't usually involve
> harking back to foundational players. I was raised in that tradition and
> had no thought of reproducing "older" jazz, as much as I admired Baby Dodds
> and Zutty.
>



> I take it that Lu Watters, Turk Murphy,
>


Actually, despite the detractors (and some adorators), Watters was not
"intentionally resurrectionist in the style he adopted."  He himself denied
it.  The bands he was reputedly "resurrecting" did not, for the most part,
use a brass bass, but rather had a double bass.  And finally the Yerba
Buena came up with a style all its own, and quite widely imitated.  But the
sound is unmistakable, and, unfortunately, less swinging than the original
Oliver or Morton bands.  But definitely valid!


Sure.  But some, like Sammy Rimmington, have managed to become original.
And I've heard Brian Carrick many times, and he sounds swinging and fresh,
despite being a Lewis follower ans playing the late George Lewis'
clarinet.  The British revivalists set out to resurrect the New Orleans
sound, and again, came up with a style all their own.  Sure, some British
trad bands sounded like banjo with band accompaniment, but the better ones
had their own very recognizable styles.


a thousand George Lewis imitators, and most banjo & tuba bands are
> intentionally resurrectionist in the style they've adopted.
>



> Some, like Tuba Skinny, break through to use the style with originality.
> But for the most part, they strike me as being "good time jazz," very
> danceable, and they go well with pizza. Marshall Stearns made a distinction
> between "swinging" and "getting hot." The likes of the FF+2, in my view,
> merely "get hot," and are borderline corny,
>

Now you're skating on very thin ice!  I have written something derogatory
about the FF+2, and boy, did listmates get angry!


> closer to Boyd Senter's Senterpedes and Freddie "Schnikelfritz" Fisher
> than jazz. The best revivalist and Dixieland bands swing.
>

At leat we agree on SOMETHING.  But all the bands playing today are
revivalist, as their members were for the most part born after the
"Dixieland era," and probably after the "Swing era."  Most listmates became
enamoured with OKOM listening to revivalist bands.



> And it was Louis in the Hot 5s and 7s (along with Hines, Bechet, Bix, and
> a few others) who were seminal in teaching us all how to swing.
>


We judge based on recorded evidence, but for every band recorded there were
scores that went unrecorded.  And they, too, did swing.  The Duke had a
band in the mid-twenties, and I wonder how much he was influenced by louis
and Hines; his models were the stride pianists who swung like hell!

Cheers

> Okay, a lot of this is a matter of taste, but I think this analysis (which
> isn't original, of course) is one legitimate way of looking at jazz styles.
>
> Charlie
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 1, 2015, at 1:26 PM, Marek Boym wrote:
>
> After all, both Banu Gibson and Duke Heitger (and even his dad) are
> revivalists.  As were Kenny Davern, Dick Wellstood, dick Sudhalter Don
> Ewell, you name them.  All revivalists.
>
>
>
>