[Dixielandjazz] Dukes of Dixieland, 1963

[jim at kashprod.com]

 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UgoLM1BvIc>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UgoLM1BvIc  A video of the Dukes I've never
seen.  Excellent, especially the bit of Weary Blues at the end.  I remember
how the "purists" of Dixieland at the time put the band down as being "too
commercial", due to their nationwide success on their Audiophile recordings
that were used in every shop promoting STEREO record players in the late
50's.  It was really just envy, of course, as the band proves here with
great, great swing.  And, Freddy, with his "popping trombone".  Not an easy
figure to play, if anyone else has tried it!  Still, to this very day, I
play Blue Prelude, and stay very close to Freddy's version which I learned
note per note in 1959.

 

I heard the Dukes live in Las Vegas in 1963.  It was in a lounge at a casino
at about 6pm.  Only a couple of folks in the lounge to hear them, and they
played exactly like it was a packed house!  That was a lesson I have
continued to use at every gig we play.  Play to enjoy the music, and play as
it is a packed joint, no matter what!

 

By the way, I was recently in Seal Beach, California attending a family
wedding (a grandson!), and tried to recall which of the shop windows I
played in on Main Street.  I know it was several doors up from Clancy's bar,
which is still there, but the shop I thought it was in has a front window
which is too small for the 6 piece (Vince Saunder's) South Frisco Jazz Band.
I think it might have been 3 doors up from Clancy's, which now has a
converted front to the place.  In 1959, it was  a Coffee House in the style
of the Beatniks of the day, and while other Coffee Houses had a bassist &
someone reading poetry, the Rouge Et Noir had a full blown Dixieland band!
We played there for about 2 yrs (3 nights a week) before heading off to
Costa Mesa at the Honeybucket bar.  I was promptly thrown out of the bar for
being underage, and joined the Air Force Bands at March Air Force Base in
1961, before being sent to Torrejon Air Base in Madrid.  To cut a long story
short, Madrid is where I still am, and I'm still honking!  

 

Cheers, Jim Kashishian

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