I'm curious... I like a lot of 20s and 30s jazz, too... You're talking about a particular scene in Chicago? I'd like to know some more...

Paul Whiteman's band was probably the best of them.  He had legitimate crossover appeal, what with Bix, Jack Teagarden, Frank Traumbauer, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, and even Lady Day passing through at one time or another.  Artie Shaw certainly had tremendous popular appeal, as did Les Brown, and, dare I say it, Guy Lombardo.  Glen Miller's Orchestra was probably the zenith of the style, unless one counts Woody Herman and his Herd; but they were too good (Jazz Hoot and Woody's Winners are just too hot for the casual fan.)  The whole thing ended up with Lawrence Welk and his ghastly noodling outfit, the bane of my youth.

But stereotypes die hard.  For several years in the mid-00's I had to attend the JVC Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl for professional reasons.  I did so with little enthusiasm, as the thought of listening to the likes of Michael Franks, Fourplay, Howard Brown, and Dave Koz(!!!!!!!!!!!) held little appeal.  I presumed the crowd would consist of the palest polo shirt and Dockers crowd, sipping chardonnay and nibbling away at rubbery Jarlsberg, while tapping their toes on the upbeat.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that the crowd consisted of 85% to 90% affluent, middle-class black folk, just having a hell of a time.  Hoisted on a petard I was.  Still, I didn't regret eventually delegating the duty to an enthusiastic colleague who would have paid his own way, if necessary.

Last edited by Maximilien de Robespierre (2010-08-10 03:19:14)

Last edited by Maximilien de Robespierre (2010-08-10 03:45:24)

Claude Thornhill's Big Band is also one of the progressive orchestras, but I think that all this third stream/ modern big band stuff isn't quite what RR&P had in mind with his original post...

The whole argument...what jazz is? Urban black experience, African-Jewish roots, Classical? European folk music. Whatever....

Black/White? Well, it is both. Even capitalist and communist. Urbane and from that old chicken shack.

Once you start to classify by race and other such restricting edifices, it starts to lose its meaning, which is? Shake your rump and be environmentally aware....possibly?

Some of the sweetest band music I have ever heard is captured on Mosaic's 'The Complete Okeh and Brunswick Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Trumbauer and Jack Teagarden Sessions (1924-36)'. Truly a joyous noise unto the world.

Probably, if you're a fan of West Coast jazz, dare I say it, third stream, more essential than Louis Armstrong's the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings.

Last edited by 4F Hepcat (2010-08-10 15:00:27)

I'd forgotten this one.  It's possible that Alvey and Yuca (for instance) can shed even more light on this subject.

Gosh, Jeri Southern's daughter said singing made her mother depressed.
Must be how the Ukrainians are feeling after being subjected to U2.
Joking aside, Jeri did not make old bones, being a diabetic with a heart condition.