Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians

362 Pages·2000·8.26 MB·English

by  Floyd Levin

CLASSIC JAZZ
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CLASSIC JAZZ
A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians
FLOYD LEVIN
Foreword by
BENNY CARTER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
Title page illustration: The author and his wife,
Lucille—Emperor and Empress of the 1985 Jazz
Jubilee, Sacramento, California.
Unless otherwise credited, all illustrations are by the
author or are from his collection.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2000 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levin, Floyd.
Classic jazz : a personal view of the music and
the musicians / Floyd Levin.
p. cm.
Includes index.
isbn 0-520-21360-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Jazz—History and criticism. 2. Jazz musi-
cians—United States. I. Title.
ml3508.l48 2000
781.65—dc21 00-022554
Manufactured in the United States of America
08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the mini-
mum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992
(r 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
To Lucille, my loving wife and perceptive editor,
who shared these wonderful experiences with me.
Her sincere praises buoyed my efforts, and her
unerring criticisms deftly improved my narration.
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CONTENTS
FOREWORD BY BENNY CARTER xv
PREFACE xvii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxiii
INTRODUCTION 1
1 KID ORY AND THE REVIVAL ERA 9
Kid Ory / 11
Kid Ory’s Legendary 1921
Nordskog/Sunshine Recordings / 14
Papa Mutt Carey / 24
Buster Wilson / 28
Andrew Blakeney / 31
Ram Hall / 34
Dink Johnson / 37
Bud Scott / 39
Joe Darensbourg / 42
Ed “Montudie” Garland / 46
Teddy Buckner / 61
viii Contents
2 A PERSONAL VIEW OF THE MUSIC 64
Lieutenant Jim Europe’s Hellfighters—
The 369th Infantry Jazz Band / 65
“I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”—
The First Recorded Hit of the Jazz Age / 68
The World Premiere of “Rhapsody in Blue” / 73
“Relaxin’ at the Touro”—
Memories of Muggsy Spanier / 78
Spud Murphy / 82
A Memorable Jack Teagarden Record Date / 85
The Duke Ellington Sacred Music Concert—
New Orleans, 1970 / 89
Dick Hyman’s Historic
Direct-to-CD Recording Session / 92
3 A PERSONAL VIEW OF THE MUSICIANS 97
Benny Carter / 97
James P. Johnson / 99
Brun Campbell and Scott Joplin / 104
Rex Stewart’s Memories of Jelly Roll Morton / 109
Anita Gonzales and the Untold Story
of Jelly Roll Morton’s Last Years / 114
Johnny Guarnieri / 124
I’m Just Wild about Eubie—
Memories of Eubie Blake / 128
Jess Stacy / 135
Milt Hinton / 139
Spiegle Willcox / 142
Eddie Miller / 145
Morty Corb / 148
Barney Bigard / 151
Wild Bill Davison / 156
Rosy McHargue / 159
Artie Shaw / 163
Andy Razaf / 165
Contents ix
Coot Grant and Sox Wilson / 169
The World’s Greatest Jazz Band / 172
4 THE INFLUENCE OF NEW ORLEANS
MUSICIANS ON CLASSIC JAZZ 177
The Jazz Journey—From Lulu White’s
Mahogany Hall to Carnegie Hall / 177
Papa Celestin and the Voodoo Queen / 181
Danny Barker—The Jazz Troubadour / 190
Lorenzo Tio, Jr., and the Clarinetists
of the Crescent City / 195
Willie James Humphrey, Jr. / 202
George Lewis / 206
Alton Purnell / 209
Bill Russell / 212
5 THE GREAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG 218
Louis Armstrong’s Underrated Recordings
during the Big-Band Era / 219
“Ambassador Satch” on the World Stage / 222
A Sentimental Journey—Louis’ Funeral / 225
6 JAZZ ON THE WEST COAST 230
Los Angeles in the Swing Era / 230
The Palomar Ballroom Fire / 233
The Firehouse Five and the Good Time
Jazz Record Company / 240
The Yerba Buena Jazz Band and the Jazz Man Label / 246
Benny Strickler / 248
Turk Murphy’s Final Triumph / 251
I Remember Bob Scobey / 254
Dave Dexter, Jr. / 259
The Poor Angel Hot Jazz Society / 262
Dick Cary’s Tuesday Night Band / 263