[Dixielandjazz] Little Enough attribution to Turk

[Maurice Walker]

 Dick Baker said:

>>Others might include

Little Enough (Chauncey's Tune) (Queen City JB attributed it to Turk 
when they recorded it recently)
Social Polecat [aka Turk's Blues)
The Grump (attributed to Turk by Uptown Lowdown JB)
This Way Out (attributed to Turk by West End JB)
Razzy Dazzy (attributed to Turk by Black Diamond JB)
If There Were No Christmas (m. Turk, w. Michael Hulett on Turk's Xmas 
record for See's Candy)
Christmas Eve (m. Turk, w. Michael Hulett on Turk's Xmas record for 
See's Candy)

The "attributed" items are not in the Stomp Index, so I didn't do any 
confirming research on them.  I've got all those recordings, though, 
and I'd be happy to send copies of those tunes to anyone who wants to 
learn them.

----------------------
      Dick Baker
>>  djml at dickbaker.org>> Hey, Dick, when you talk about Little Enough and "Queen City JB attributed it to Turk," you're talking to me. My last date as leader of the Queen City Jazz Band was our concert with Turk Murphy in Denver on November 6, 1986.  In preparation, Turk sent me some scores from which I extracted parts for our guys; some of these were Red Flannel Rag, Social Polecat, and This Way Out.  As I listened to various TM recordings, I kept hearing Little Enough, until finally I said "We've got to play that" -- and this was less than a week before the concert.  In transcribing it from the Murphy recording, I gave a chorus to myself on banjo.  Discussing it at lunch the day after the concert, Turk remarked, "I never thought of giving a chorus to banjo," to which I said, "you would have if you were a banjo player."  The tune has been in the Queen City active book ever since.  Anyway, while I did not work from a Turk Murphy score, he obviously accepted the number as his own work, so I think it can be more than just "attributed to" him. Parts for This Way Out were extracted from Murphy's score numbered 20, which clearly says "Turk Murphy July 1971," so this is more than just "attributed to" as well. Queen City's other serious involvement with Turk Murphy music was in 1984 as the on-stage band for the musical Storyville, with music by Turk and lyrics by Michael Hewitt.  The show featured the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble (respected in Denver almost to the point of reverence), and was the last main-stage show at the long-running Bonfils Theatre -- all-in-all a very iconic event for Denver.  In spite of rave reviews, the Broadway production, much hoped for by both Murphy and Hewitt, never materialized.  A DJML posting by Dan Augustine dated 28 July 2002      http://ml.islandnet.com/pipermail/dixielandjazz/2002-July/001933.htmltalks more about the show, and about the 20 numbers in the show, most of which have appeared nowhere else. (Major exception: the recurring Chauncey's Theme was the chorus of Little Enough.)  I have the music for half a dozen of the tunes. Other possibly overlooked music: Two tunes Turk wrote with Bud Luckey which TMJB played on Sesame Street (with Turk Singing): Alligator King (honoring the number 7), and Penny Candy Man (honoring the number 8).  Each can be heard on Youtube. And: The title song and other numbers for the movie Alabama's Ghost.  Scenes featuring the band were filmed in EarthQuake McGoon's. And:  the online movie data base IMDB credits Turk as the composer of Mack the Knife.  Kurt Weill would of course take exception to this.  Turk wrote the arrangement which Louis Armstrong used (and which appears to have been, ah, appropriated by Bobby Darin, to much greater fame and fortune).   And:  Satan's Cakewalk is credited to "unknown."   It started life as Koonland Koffee Klatsch, written by J P Greenberg in 1904.  It was recorded by the Ossman-Dudley trio in January of 1906 as The Koontown Kaffee-Klatsch. I suspect it was redeveloped by Turk Murphy and renamed to Satan's Cakewalk to avoid using the unfortunate original title. Finally:  Little Enough was written to honor the man who gave Turk Murphy a house.  Lest you think I made a mistake, I'll repeat that : a man GAVE Turk Murphy a house in San Francisco, and Turk thought it was "little enough" to do to write a song in his honor.  Maurie Walker    
 
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