[Dixielandjazz] Humble pie re: Toussaint's legacy

[Charles Suhor]

Looks like I’m up for a crow dinner, with humble pie for dessert. I was making a call narrowly in terms of what I knew of Toussaint as a songwriter, not knowing his range as a producer, promoter and developer of talent. That all adds up to a significant contribution in a genre that I have little knowledge of. I think I was just looking for a place for my testiness about the “New Orleans mystique” to land on. Bear with me while I rant a bit.

The particular case of A.T. aside, I believe that a halo is often drawn above many things-New-Orleans, regardless of artistic merit. I cited the mystique of Preservation Hall as an example—So long as there are some greyheads in the band, audiences still think they’re harking back to Storyville. There are statues in the N.O. area of (a) Armstrong and Red Allen, (b) Pete Fountain and Al Hirt, and (c) the “legendary” exotic dancer Chris Owens. I read that as (a) jazz pioneers, (b) important popularizers, and (c) HUH?? WTF!! (Stormy or Blaze Starr, if anyone, would be fitting stripper icon.The former made LIFE magazine, the latter slept with Gov. Earl KL, Long.) 

Another example is the popularity of brass bands and buskers. As Tom Jacobsen has written, the range is wide:  from wonderful ones that preserve or update the traditions or stretch them skillfully to include modern pop influences, all the way down to rank amateurs who are praised because people confuse raw ineptitude with “old” jazz sounds. He quotes trumpeter Irvin Mayfield: "You pick up n instrument, you get a gig, you go to Europe…I’m not tolerating this, man.” 

Also, when any aging, beloved figure dies, it’s standard fare to speak in superlatives. The word “genius” shows up. Well, I guess that’s natural. And journalists in search of a story often don’t have the perspective to refrain from exaggerating. A few years ago an article appeared about clarinetist/leader Chick Credo as a fine jazz artist (in the Picayune, I think). I played with Chuck for about a year. A nice guy, but he just about got by, on a good night. 

The city fathers and mothers didn’t give a hang about jazz for decades, well into the sixties. (I document this at length in Section 1 of my book on jazz in postwar N.O.) When Pete and Al made national reputations and Preservation Hall became news, it occurred to the Establishment that there was money to be made, and maybe jazz is an art, after all. The city has reinvented itself into a hologram, commodifying its cultural strengths, and the real stuff gets diluted, if not polluted. We all know what so-called “Jazz”Fest has become. Last month, a local writer pointed out that there seems to be a new “-fest” almost weekly, in celebration of some or other quaintness. I suggested that they all be rolled into a ball and called “Fest-Fest.” 

Still, I return to the city for food, visits to relatives, and yes, the great dialects. They’ve actually spread as natives have moved to Jefferson Parish and across the lake to Slidell and Mandeville. Uh-oh, now I’ve done it—someone is likely to start a “Yat Fest.”  I confess that I’ve sometimes flaunted my quaintness, since being a 9th Ward Yat has moved from being “from the sticks” to a status symbol. Hey, I’m a Nint’ Wawd kid who played wit Tom Brown when ah was sixteen, dawlin.’  That gets more deference now than being from the University section. Who would have guessed?

Charlie




> On Nov 12, 2015, at 3:29 PM, David richoux <domitype at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This is mostly for Charles S.
> 
> http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2015/11/allen_toussaints_legacy.html
> 
> Dave Richoux
> 
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