Re: Burns' "Jazz"


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Posted by Joe S. on January 13, 2001 at 01:51:12:

In Reply to: Burns' "Jazz" posted by Carl L on January 11, 2001 at 17:16:38:

The Burns perspective reflects historical perspective. As great as others (from the '20's and '30's) were, they always have been ignored in favor of Mr. Armstrong. So in that light, Mr. Burns snapshot is valid, as his perspective reflects that one that always was. I will have to say that no one really equaled Louis Armstrong, in contributions nor in innovations. As a Bix fan, I believe that he could have if he hadn't been "into" so many other "distractions".

If you have NO Armstrong recordings, I recommend as your first purchase the 1954 Columbia album/c.d. "Louis Armstrong plays W.C. Handy". Mr. Handy was actually ON SITE during those monumental sessions. Mr. Armstrong was absolutely in his prime, was working under ideal circumstances, and had an incredibly astute sound engineer in the control booth. You will be treated to some perfectly-controlled nasty trombone playing by Trummy Young, the formidable drumming of Barrett Deems, and delightfully surprisingly world-class jazz vocals from Velma Middleton. A warning: You will be hooked.

An oft touched-on related topic: As one who, like "Duke Ellington", resents classifications, when my children have been given - year after year - their inane assignments of doing reports on Negroes (for the sake of doing reports on Negroes [???]) I have always directed their attention towards the jazz musicians of the '20's and '30's, as these were examples of people who were too busy creating and too busy striving to be the best that they could be to have any time to devote to "being Negroes" - ' as it should be, I.M.O.


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