New Orleans holds a special place in the imagination of the world. That’s because of black music.At that second line parade I visited on Sunday, I saw a couple of young Japanese tourists who chatted with the brass-band musicians during breaks.
As for the sounds of traditional New Orleans jazz, those are being kept alive by performers across the globe. Such as a group in Argentina called the Small Jazz Band. Let me point you to a FREE MP3.
In 2004, the Small Jazz Band released a version of “If You Want to Be My Sugar Papa,” a tune popularized in the 1920s by clarinetist Johnny Dodds (who recorded with King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong).
Click here to hear that track. To download it, follow this link.I’m also streaming the Dodds version; click here to listen.
I am not a particular fan of “trad jazz.” But I do respect its power to endure.
Dixieland and similar sounding jazz was never my cup of tea either...until Ken Burns special on Jazz highlighted it along with the roots of Armstrong's music. Now I'm less averse to the sound, especially the clarinet pieces and have developed an affinity for some of the double entendre vocal sides.
ReplyDeleteI also credit the Jazz series with opening my eyes to the Big Band sound, which was never a fave of mine, again, except for some of the vocalists.
After the second listen, I'm warming to the Dodds piece.
^ The thing we can never understand is how bold that old jazz was at the time it was created... what a shocking departure it was from any other music heard at the time.
ReplyDeleteNow, we've got Ellington in our heads, and Bird and Trane, so the early jazz sounds cute and old-timey. But that shit was hittin' like hip-hop in its time.