[Dixielandjazz] Harry James

[Bill Haesler]

Dear Listmates (and Steve Voce),
The things you find on your bookshelf.

From Peter J Levinson's 1999 book 'Trumpet Blues. The Life of Harry James, (page 251).

  While in London [1972], Harry James did an interview with the English jazz critic Steve Voce.When Voce asked him if the biggest audience was for the commercial numbers he had recorded he visibly bristled. James answered, "That would depend on for whom you are playing. If you're playing for a jazz audience, I'm pretty sure that some of the jazz things we do would be a lot more popular than 'Sleepy Lagoon,' and if we're playing at a country club or playing Vegas, in which we have many, many types of people, then I'm sure that 'Sleepy Lagoon' would be more popular at that particular time. But I really get bugged about these people talking about commercial tunes, because to me, if you're gonna be commercial, you're gonna stand on your head and make funny noises and do idiotic things. I don't think we've ever recorded or played one tune that I didn't particularly love to play. Otherwise, I wouldn't play it.
(From Levinson's interview with Roland Smith, 1996.)

What was the original source Steve?
Cheers,
Bill.