[Dixielandjazz] Spanish songs from New Orleans

[Bill Haesler]

 Charles Suhor wrote:
> I’ve always wondered if the claims of Spanish and Caribbean influences on early jazz were exaggerated. The tango craze and Morton’s few left hand tango rhythms are cited, but I don't hear a more widespread or pervasive influence in early jazz The Spanish flamenco dance rhythms, with tapping and castanets, seem a good candidate, but the where do those show up in early jazz?... Any help from you-all would be appreciated.

Dear Charlie,
Back in the early 1950s Australian Festival released a 10" LP (CFR10) 'Songs Of Trinidad' by Wilmoth Houdini, that floored us.
As usual, there was no information
Take a listen to the cornet player on "Black, But Sweet".
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuVt2Qq6-ro

It  turned out to contain the eight rare titles by a Wilmoth Houdini with Gerald Clark's Night Owls' session for Brunswick made in  
New York on 16 February 1931.
It's listed in Brian Rust's 'Jazz Records', but not Tom Lord's Jazz Discography.
A fine calypso band featuring hot, driving cornet by Walter Bennett (of Bennett's Swamplanders, Horsey's Hot Five) and the swinging string bass of Al Morgan.
I also have the sides on a 12" Folklyric 9040 LP and an Arhoolie CD 7010.
The titles are:
No Mo' Bench And Board
Sweet Papa Willie
Honey I'm Bound To Go
The Cooks In Trinidad
Arima Tonight, Sangre Grande Tomorrow Ni
Black But Sweet
I Need A Man
Stop Coming And Come 

Four of the tunes immediately went into Australian bands' playlists. 
Try and find the LP/CD if you can. 
Repetitive (as all calypsos are) but worth it. But then, 78s were rarely played in session order in one sitting in the 30s. 
(Of course the sides are available for sale on the usual mp3 sites.)
Stop press! It looks like they are all here:
   http://www.mp3s.ws/mp3/the-cooks-in-trinidad-wilmoth-houdini.html
Kind regards,
Bill. 




> 
> Charlie
> 
> 
>> On Oct 23, 2015, at 4:22 PM, Kevin Yeates <kyeates at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I have greatly enjoyed the few Spanish tunes I have heard that are in the trad jazz genre. Unfortunately they seem to be few and far between (or my massive musical ignorance is on full display). I know of The Cure, and St Louis Blues with its Latin part. After that I am running short on tunes. 
>> 
>> Could some of those more knowledgeable on this list provide the names of some other "Spanish" tunes?
>> Kevin YeatesVancouver, Canada
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