Continued: Jazz in the Heartland

Morrison, author of the novel Jazz,said in a 1993 Paris Review interview that right after the Civil War, the music produced by ex-slaves (what Morrison considers "the beginnings of jazz") was considered -- "as all new music is -- to be devil music; too sensual and provocative. But for some black people, jazz meant claiming their own bodies. You can imagine what that must have meant for people whose bodies had been owned, who had been slaves as children, or who remembered their parents' being slaves. Blues and jazz represented ownership of one's own emotions. So, of course, it is excessive and overdone; tragedy in jazz is relished, almost as though a happy ending would take away some of its glamour, its flair. Now, advertisers use jazz on television to communicate authenticity and modernity; to say `trust me' and to say `hip.'"

Morrison continued, "In so much of contemporary music, everybody sounds alike. But when you think about black music, you think about the difference between Duke Ellington and Sidney Bechet or Satchmo and Miles Davis. They don't sound anything alike, but you know that they are all black performers, because of whatever the quality is that makes you realize, Oh yes, this is part of something called the African-American music tradition. There is no black woman popular singer, jazz singer, blues singer who sounds like any other. Billie Holiday does not sound like Aretha, doesn't sound like Nina, doesn't sound like Sarah, doesn't sound like any of them. They are really powerfully different. And they would tell you that they couldn't possibly have made it as singers if they sounded like somebody else. If someone comes along sounding like Ella Fitzgerald, they would say, Oh, we have one of those. It's interesting to me how those women have this very distinct, unmistakable image. I would like to write like that." Me, too.

Media Matters: Notes to You, newsletter of the Illiana (Illinois-Indiana) Club of Traditional Jazz, July issue, profiled banjoist-vocalist Cynthia Sayer and Bill Allred's Classic Jazz Band and previewed IOTCJ and other area events, JazzEddy@aol.com. (It was a pleasant surprise to hear Bill Allred's CJB featured on Gerry Swanberg's "Big Band Scene" June 29 on KBEM-FM, www.kbem.org. Almost always, the featured bands are modern -- not that there's anything wrong with that.) The August issue of Notes to You previewed the club's 35th anniversary jazz festival Oct. 24-26; published Judi K's memorial to Franz Jackson; profiled The Hot Club Illiana which plays the Glendora Ballroom, Chicago Ridge, Ill., Aug. 17; reviewed a new CD by The Red Rose Ragtime Band and announced the impending dissolution of the Buck Creek Jazz Band after 31 years.

The July issue of the newsletter of the Catfish Jazz Society (Iowa-Illinois) welcomed Alpha Dog as its new front page columnist and offered voluminous listings of area events, catfishjazz@yahoo.com.

Banjo fans were treated to two hours of pure joy when Nick Spitzer surveyed the scene -- past, present and future -- on his superb syndicated program American Routes July 18, www.mpr.org.

At the other end of the Mississippi: "Through Hell and High Water: Vintage record label Jazzology was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. In fact, the decades-old label might have gone under were it not for direct mail." The U.S. Postal Service says it helped 79-year-old George Buck save his business in a well-written article published in the July issue of Deliver, www.delivermagazine.com. RAG editor Leslie Johnson is quoted about Buck's excellent quarterly publication Jazzbeat.

Meanwhile, the May 5 issue of Newsweek magazine, www.newsweek.com, carried an article, "Toward a New New Orleans," in which musicians Ellis Marsalis and Donald Harrison were quoted about the city's traditions and the future of its music in the wake of Katrina.

Memorials to recently deceased Hall Brothers Jazz Band drummer Doggie Berg (see obituary, July RAG) may be sent to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, 2820 Napoleon Av. #890, New Orleans, LA 70115. Services were held in River Falls, Wisc. June 30 and a memorial to the former U.S. Marine is being planned for Ft. Snelling military cemetery near the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. The memorial is tentatively set for June 25, 2009. In a July 2 e-mail, Doggie's widow, Mimi Trudeau, said, "Because of my Native American blood and all of the time I spent on the Ojibwe reservations in Northern Wisconsin, I attended many pow wows (feasts) on the first anniversary of the deceased. That is the proper time to release the earth-bound spirit into the greater world of the Great Spirit. I think this is something Doggie would approve of."

Meantime, Chuck DeVore, 48, son of charter HBJB cornetist Charlie DeVore, was selected to occupy the band's drum chair for the annual Great River Jazz Festival, La Crosse, Wisc., Aug. 8-10, www.lacrossejazz.com.

In an e-mail, Chuck DeVore wrote, "I'm self-taught, but Doggie was my biggest influence. I saw him play every weekend at the Emporium of Jazz, Mendota, Minn. through my teen years when I worked at the Emporium selling records and popcorn. I had an old snare drum in the back room of my concession stand, and I'd work on press rolls while the Hall Brothers would swing the night away. I saw plenty of great drummers from Preservation Hall such as Cie Frasier and Sammy Penn. When I started sitting in with the Bill Evans band in 1994 at Chang O'Hara's in St. Paul, I was listening to a lot of Baby Dodds' recordings. To me, Doggie Berg embodied the spirit and energy of all of the great New Orleans drummers with his own distinctive, unique style.

"I consider it a real honor to be invited to La Crosse to play with the Hall Brothers band. I go there with quite a bit of excitement and anticipation. I will do my best to support the front line with a swinging and energetic pulse, and, hopefully, I can make the guys and Doggie proud."

Meantime, Chuck is seeking a drummer for his recently organized St. Peter Street Stompers band which made its debut July 20 in St. Paul. A drummer? Yes, because in that band, Chuck plays tenor sax. Other members include Milo Grika, cornet; Andy Kurcan, trombone; Eddie Sekula, bass, and Dave Wilkening, rhythm guitar. Chuck related, "I organized my sax band at the beginning of the year by using Craig's List. I just posted the ad for jazz musicians interested in the New Orleans style. Within a couple of the days, I had them." I suggested Chuck play both drums and tenor with a harness ala "harp" players. No? OK, so Minnesota-Wisconsin drummers who can play New Orleans style may contact Chuck DeVore at chazdenver@comcast.net.

The Lake Superior Ragtime Society will hold its 2009 youth ragtime piano contest April 11. Applications are available at lsrs@cpinternet.com. The 2008 contest winners were announced in the Society's January-May newsletter as were the most popular rags among contestants.

Please send me your news by the fifth of the month preceding online publication: Will Shapira, 5644 Morgan Av. S., Minneapolis MN 55419; wshapira@aol.com. No attachments. Thanks, later.

August 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.