[Dixielandjazz] Roy Eldridge followed Louis Armstrong?

Tue Apr 11 05:46:20 EDT 2017

It was for me the other way around. I started with revival Dixieland in 
1956, mainly European trad like the Dutch Swing College Band, Chris 
Barber, Acker Bilk etc. Then Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, the MJQ came, 
followed by Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk … and after that 
I started with Miles Davis during the early 60’s, totally taken by the 
1964 concerts that produced the albums “Four And More” and “My Funny 
Valentine”. From there I went back to the beginning period of Miles (the 
famous Prestige albums) and kept following him until the end (1991). I 
saw him some 25 times, during the period 1967-91. The first time in 
Rotterdam (De Doelen), sitting in the front row. And, indeed, the 
creative artist is often ahead of his audience: here I was listening and 
sort of expecting a 1964 Miles (that I knew so well from all the 
records), but Miles had evolved a little further and I felt not 
completely comfortable at the time I must say. However, listening to the 
same concert now (bootleg records) it is all familiar ground for me, 
only it took me some time to realize how great the music is.

With respect to jazz I became pretty much sort of an omnivore, both 
going back to the jazz beginnings (black and white early jazz, big band, 
swing) and keeping up with most of its developments. And it gave me a 
lot of satisfaction. At first I lost my interest in traditional jazz, 
but that came back again (and I’m glad it did) at the age of about 30 
(early 70s).

There were years that I saw Miles more than once and I’m glad his final 
year 1991 was among those: New Orleans (Jazz Fest) and The Hague (North 
Sea Jazz). Especially the New Orleans concert was quite impressive, with 
mainly an enthusiastic black audience, and Miles starting for BB King 
(Blues) and Rocking Dopsy (Zydeco). The location: The Municipal 
Auditorium in the Louis Armstrong Park (north of the French Quarter). 
Great concert and I’m glad I later received an audience taped copy of it 
through my friend, the Danish Miles discographer Jan Lohmann. Miles had 
a deep respect for Louis Armstrong and I love the few existing 
photographs of their encounters. And Miles never disliked his audience, 
that is completely nonsense the stories they made about “turning his 
back”. Miles listened all the time to the music around him and was fully 
concentrated about it. And you know the famous stories such as the one 
from pianist Herbie Hancock, where he was playing a wrong note in a 
chord, and Miles immediately playing another note making Herbie’s note 
sound just right.

I often have the unpleasant feeling that many “jazz purists” are 
intolerant, wanting to be more roman catholic than the pope.

Just my few cents.

Sep

Op 11-4-2017 om 1:31 schreef Marek Boym:
> Sorry.  I didn't mean to be offensive.
> I made the journey the other way round: I started listening to 
> everything when in my teens. including rock and roll, which in my 
> native Poland (and later here in Israel) was considered jazz, and 
> became greatly disappointed by modernists, in particular by the then 
> greatest hero, Miles Davis, before I ever heard Wild Bill Davison.  I 
> had known the Brubecks ("Blue Rondo a la Turk," for example) and the 
> MJQ records by heart before I ever heard ABOUT Wild Bill. Gradually I 
> lost all interest in their cool, to my ear - lifeless - music.  By the 
> mid 1960's  I dropped most "modern" jazz and concentrated on jazz and 
> swing.  I cannot see the connection between Miles Davis and jazz.  
> nothing wrong in liking Miles Davis - it just does not sound like 
> jazz.  Eddie Condon had something to say on the subject: "A terrible 
> thing has happened to jazz: it became respectable."  That must be the 
> reason while so many musicians want their music classified as jazz.  I 
> wish I could claim this is an original idea, but the explanation comes 
> from Hughes Panassie's "The Unreal Jazz."
> I apologize again,
> Marek
>
>
>
> On 11 April 2017 at 00:42, Charles Suhor <csuhor at zebra.net 
> <mailto:csuhor at zebra.net>> wrote:
>
>     Marek, I came by my fandom honestly. Born and raised in New
>     Orleans; before my teens, enchanted (still am) by Bunk, Louis,
>     Bechet, and others. Moved along, without burning the bridges of my
>     love for early jazz, to enjoying and playing drums in many styles.
>     Gigged with big band and modern jazz groups on some weekends, on
>     others with Armand Hug, Chink Martin, Paul Crawford, etc. But from
>     inside your bubble, I’m not a jazz fan. You’re entitled to your
>     opinion, man, but that’s an insult.
>
>     Charlie
>
>>     On Apr 10, 2017, at 3:20 PM, Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com
>>     <mailto:marekboym at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     some of us do not consider Miles Davis followers jazz fans, which
>>     makes the preceding part of this post irrelevant.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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