[Dixielandjazz] Vale Harry Harman

[Marek Boym]

Dear  Bill,
When Joe says "nobody," he does not mean old jazz fans, but rather the
younger generation.  I have bee at it some 10 years less than you - after
all, until 1953 or 1954, "jazz" was  "the product of decadent capitalist
culture."  There is a very good Russian film on the subject; I wonder
whether that film - "The Saints Go Marching" -  has ever been screened in
any non-Russian speaking country - it deals with people who were severely
persecuted just because they played jazz before the right time.  I saw it
on Russian television which is available in Israel.  The Polish film "There
Was Jazz" also deals with the subject, even if there nobody gets killed for
playing jazz.  So, my exposure to jazz came when it had undergone a
metamorphosis and became "the expression of the Negroes' struggle for
equality," at age 12 or 13.  I, too, have been studying it ever since,
albeit never as seriously as you.  But - neither of us is under 50!
And even though I've been into it quite intensively, I, too, missed almost
a whole generation of traditionalists in the US; sure, I've known Bob
Schultz, as indeed did my friends - he played with Turk Murphy.  But how
about the others?  Being a GHB/Jazzology customer, I knew more than my
friends, but I hardly knew Richard Haddock until I bought the Wild Bill
Davison tribute CD.  Many wonderful musicians, such as Clint Baker, had
been just names I read in "The Mississippi Rag" and the various GHB
bulletins over the years.  Matt Domber's Arbors Recordings somewhat
rectified the situation.
And how about jazz in other countries?  How many people heard about Dennis
Armstrong, George Huxley, John Maddocks?  The British jazz press covered
traditional jazz, but mainly musicians playing in the London area.  When an
English friend asked who my favourite British trumpet/cornet players were
and I mentioned Jim Petrie, the reaction was "Jim who?"  And Jim was from
Edinburgh, a major city.  Or whoever heard of Dutch jazz musicians, with
the exception of the Dutch Swing College Band?  There have been numerous
Dutch musicians and bands comparable to their internationally renown
peers.  The same is true of other countries as well (OK, there was "Papa"
Bue).
As to Australian jazz, again - there was Bell, and - a void.
When Joe said that he, like most younger people, started by studying the
music of the 20's and 30's, you replied that so did you - in 1945!  But in
those days, there was not much more to be studied.  That changed as the3
years went on.  So, at most, people know about the Yerba Buena and Turk and
- perhaps - Scobey, but what about the years from then on?
And one more thing - Joe wondered about the exception - the British trad.
Nowhere else trad had become such a big fad, THE popular music of the
time!  So people (mainly English speakers) read about it.  Jazz was
extremely popular elsewhere as well, but people wrote about British Trad in
English, a language of hundreds of millions; local press wrote about Dutch,
Polish, Czech or Hungarian jazz, but how many people could red it?
Wow, what a tirade!  Much too long already, so - Cheers!
And now back to the grind,
Marek

On Sun, 6 Jan 2019 at 09:27, Bill Haesler <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au> wrote:

>
> > Joe Bebco <joe.syncopatedtimes at gmail.com> wrote (in part):
>
> > Younger people getting into the music usually start from the beginning
> and devote their learning to the 20s-30s period, and I was no
> > exception. Most straight jazz history that they will find relegates the
> revivals to a sidebar (with the exception of British Trad for some
> > reason.) The 40s revival section will start with Lu Watters and end with
> Turk Murphy...
>
> Dear Joe,
> That is how I started in Melbourne, Australlia. In 1945. Listening to a
> schoolmate's father's Bob Crosby Bobcats' and Muggsy Spanier 78s while he
> was at the war.
> We attended the local town hall Friday night dances and heard our first
> live jazz when the Graeme Bell Dixieland Jazz Band made a special
> appearance.
> We were hooked and followed them everywhere. The band was raising funds at
> concerts and dances for its 1947 journey to Czechoslovakia, France and
> Britain.
> We discovered other Melbourne bands and enthusiasts, jazz on radio, the Lu
> Watters band, JRM, early Louis, et al. Read and absorbed the book
> 'Jazzmen"...
>
> > the 70 years following being not particularly studied by anyone under 50
> unless they grew up in a jazz club with parents involved. It is hard to
> come by a lot of that information second hand.
>
> I was lucky and have been studying jazz continuously for those last 70
> years. Mainly Classic Jazz, the Blues and Swing as a record collector,
> discographer and writer.
>
> > Given my role with The Syncopated Times, (as the youngest writer by
> several decades at 39) I'm giving myself a crash course in the recent
> history with the hope of connecting the younger players who I follow to the
> reality that they are standing on the shoulders of people who have been
> continually reviving jazz for three generations.
>
> I had a look at The Syncopated Times site which I did not know about. It
> appears to be quite an adventurous undertaking.
> Congratulations.
>
> > And that their playing style builds on them rather than growing whole
> cloth from original sources. Many do know it, and lots of bands have people
> of mixed ages, but many others want to distance themselves from the
> "Dixieland" generation while not being all that distinguishable.
>
> And on the way miss some very exciting jazz music.
>
> > I know this is a very old conversation. My point is that there are
> dozens of bands that I should be expected to know in case someone mentions
> them, (as I learned with Soprano Summit) and I'm working on it.
>
> Keep up the good work, as it is your generation's task to keep our music
> alive.
>
> > I know that Australia has an unusually strong traditional jazz scene up
> to the present day, with bands of all ages. I get lots of hits on the
> website from there and had intended to do a roundup of recent albums at
> some point, or a band profile, but my to do list only gets bigger and I'd
> rather find a local to submit a story. I'd love to have a regular writer
> from the area.
>
> They are out there.
>
> > As far as history in general, I'd wager most Americans wouldn't know
> Australia was involved in World War II, let alone jazz, but that's our
> education system.
>
> Sad, but true.
> Except for US troops who were ot here at the time.
> Few Americans know that Darwin was literally demolished in February 1942
> the first, and largest, of more than 100 air raids on Australian soil
> during 1942–43.
> But, as 'they' say, don't mention the War.
> <big grin.
> Very kind regards,
> Bill.
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