[Dixielandjazz] The World Championship of Jazz: The Complete Story...

[Dick Baker]

...or More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About the Subject

Fellow DJMLers:

The complete history of the 1975 event was reported in "Tailgate 
Ramblings," the newsletter of the Potomac River Jazz Club.  I was the 
editor of that publication in 1975, and I organized one of the 
largest out-of-town delegations (c. 65 people) to go to the 
event.  The PRJC knew Max Collie well, because his Rhythm Aces had 
played several times for us.  In fact, his was the band we sponsored 
in the competition--jazz clubs around the country were invited to 
pick a band to support in the event, and many clubs backed their 
home-town bands.

The original announcement describing the event can be found in the 
April issue at http://dickbaker.org/PRJC/PDFs/TR%201975-04.pdf (p. 9)

The September issue (http://dickbaker.org/PRJC/PDFs/TR%201975-09.pdf) 
had a complete report on the festival on p. 4, followed by a report 
on how the competition was judged by journalist/jazz fan Hal Willard, 
who was in fact one of the five judges.  (The judges' opinions 
counted for 50% of the vote, while the ballots cast by the audience 
counted for the other 50%.)  The other judges were Ray Coleman, 
editor of "Melody Maker"; Terry Waldo; Graeme Bell; and Milt Gabler.

The December issue (http://dickbaker.org/PRJC/PDFs/TR%201975-12.pdf, 
p. 8) had a brief preliminary report on the fallout from the 
festival, when it had become clear that the festival had lost a ton 
of money and that some musicians had not been paid.  It highlighted 
several charges made against Max Collie and the festival's 
co-sponsor, Sam Johnson, by Dan Simms, who had been brought in to 
help organize the festival in the five weeks before it took place.

In the January 1976 issue 
(http://dickbaker.org/PRJC/PDFs/TR%201976-01.pdf, p. 7), Max Collie 
rebuts Simms's claims and presents the whole story of the festival 
from his point of view.

Finally, in the February 1976 issue 
(http://dickbaker.org/PRJC/PDFs/TR%201976-02.pdf) comes the article 
"World Championship of Jazz: Chapter the Latest" (p. 6), in which I 
recapped all this in one pithy page ("Pith on it," I hear you 
saying), including responses to the Simms claims by Sam Johnson and a 
Dan Simms rebuttal to all the rebuttals.

Everybody who attended that festival says it was one of the best they 
ever saw--I certainly feel that way.  It's just a shame that it ended 
in so much controversy and ill will.


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      Dick Baker
  djml at dickbaker.org