Tom --
Thanks for your note.
<< The young guys driving the revival were second generation white guys
playing dixieland, with little or no personal connection to the original
musicians. >>
Again, not supported by facts. There were just as many interactions
between the Frisco guys and Black musicians from New Orleans -- if not
more. Watters, Helm and those guys sought out black musicians & music
(given the segregation in America at the times), and visited New Orleans.
And the best bands had significant black audiences -- at least in the East
Bay.
The whole tradition of Sunday afternoon sessions came from the Watters'
Hambone Kelly's club: Sunday pm was for special guests and jammers like:
James P Johnson, Danny Barker, Mutt Carey (and even Eddie Condon!). This
tradition led to most of the Jazz Societies, and eventually Festivals
around the country.
Many New Orleans/Black guys came west to LA and SF. And interacted with,
hired, or jammed with the younger revivalists:
A partial list of New Orleans or 'original' black musicians active and
engaged with the young West Coast white guys included:
Bunk Johnson - spent a year in SF 1942-43 and played with the white guys &
rump YBJB (& roomed with Burt Bales)
Kid Ory - Club in SF hired all kinds of musicians
Amos White - popular trumpeter at Bill Erickson's Pier 23 jam
Pops Foster - jammed and played with young dixielanders
Wellman Braud - I heard him play with a revival band in the 1980s
Earl Hines - performed, broadcast, hired young white guys
Darnell Howard - close relations with many Frisco jazz guys
Frank Big Boy Goudie - played almost exclusively with 'dixielanders'
1957-63 - Born near and played NOLA golden age
Clem Raymond - few facts but played and recorded with Oxtot
Sister Lottie Peavy
others
And several old NYer/Chicagoans were also active here into the 1950s and
60s: Muggsy, Marty Marsala, Joe Sullivan, Joe Darensbourg. But I can tell
you that the impact of early jazz and swing on those guys was just as
profound an experience as it had been for the Chicagoans.
There were gradations of 'revival.' Nor was it simply recreating
repertoire. The best were no longer derivative but creating fresh JAZZ
music within a classic form.
Dave Radlauer
--
hm# 510-848-8323
cell# 510-717-5240
www.JAZZHOTBigstep.com
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