the best bands that play American swing are unfortunatly not American

[Chas]

Big overstatement. I would put up Dean Mora's or Vince Giordano's bands or the Harlem Renaissance Jazz Orchestra up against any European outfit.

The piano player in blackface is disturbing.

Not to mention an idiot. He would have been an embarrassment and an idiot in the 1940's, as well. Never mind nowadays. If a musician did that in the company of other swing musicians back in the day, he would have quickly found himself unemployed and unemployable.

George Gee isn't European.
[video=youtube;FbwUephSpH4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbwUephSpH4[/video]

Neither are Wynton Marsalis or the cats in the present Duke Ellington Orchestra. Or the Count Basie Orchestra.

[video=youtube;NXbHtJ3DEpY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXbHtJ3DEpY&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;s2km13hFKXA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2km13hFKXA&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;5zSFwtPB6Hw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zSFwtPB6Hw&feature=related[/video]

 

[Tomasso]

they may sound funny when they sing but.....

It's hard for me to get past that.

 

[Chas]

I really, really wish that more bands would look like what the Basie and Ellington orchestras look like on stage. Classy and refined. Most bands nowadays look like they just fell out of bed. I swear, every time I see a "jazz" musician get up stage in a pair of jeans, I want to blow my top.

 

[Blackjack]

I really, really wish that more bands would look like what the Basie and Ellington orchestras look like on stage. Classy and refined. Most bands nowadays look like they just fell out of bed. I swear, every time I see a "jazz" musician get up stage in a pair of jeans, I want to blow my top.

We can definatly agree on that. The thought behind my post here was in Europe it seems that when they are presenting 30's / 40's swing as an act they are much more particular in the whole look as well as sound. from the suits to the haircuts and glasses, they seem to grasp it better. Basie and Ellington's band today don't have to "look" like they're in the 40's because they are Basie and Ellington's bands or playing their charts at least. It is show biz as well as music though, and for my taste I like it when the musicians that I work with can "get into character" as it is. Besides nothing in Europe (or here) will ever beat this...
[video=youtube;9yRIUuUJpJM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yRIUuUJpJM[/video]

 

[rue]

Besides nothing in Europe (or here) will ever beat this...

That goes without saying, but it's nice to know some are keeping the music alive today

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Big overstatement. I would put up Dean Mora's [band] ...up against any European outfit.

Yes. Watch and listen: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mora's+modern+rhythmists&aq=0&oq=Mora's+Modern

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

And anything Fletch says on the subject, you can believe. The man knows.

Yes I briefly attempted to license a body of vintage jazz recordings for re-issue on vinyl from said corporations which own the music, and found Fletch's post in this thread to ring very true with regards to the difficulties in getting these corps interested in licensing "old stuff".

But also agree with the bands Chas pointed out - top notch American music played by American music - those Lincoln Center Ellington concerts are AMAZING - Yes, it Really Can Be Done, to play authentic original style, but also adding your own Flavor, without sounding like you're Going Through The Motions (as with the 1970's technically excellent but mostly-uninspired Time-Life Swing Era transcribed re-recordings by Glen Gray's excellent orch) - that Lincoln Center stuff is Pure Fire...

- CH

 

[Blackjack]

Yes I briefly attempted to license a body of vintage jazz recordings for re-issue on vinyl from said corporations which own the music, and found Fletch's post in this thread to ring very true.

- CH

The subject was performing and re-recording vintage jazz tunes not re-releasing existing material. There is no problem re-recording or performing anything you find on 78 or vinyl. You can argue the point all day with me if you'd wish but I've been a studio and performing musician for close to 40 years, and I know what I'm talking about. I've recorded and performed many many tunes from the 30's and 40's over the years and released them commercially under my own bands as well as others and never had a problem. This is not an excuse for American bands to not show interest in this genre , sorry but that's the way it is. If a major label isn't interested in you as an artist, because you choose to record swing, then you always have the option of recording and releasing it yourself. We've had a lot of success doing just this over the years.

 

[Chas]

America is a big spread-out mercantile nation. We mostly only support classical music as an arts institution, because it's European and good for you. We do jazz largely in the universities, where it has to be very pure and vie for status as art. Anything else has to be mass marketable - to millions of folks in different parts of the USA - or it disappears.

This is especially true of jazz and related music. Any jazz has a tough time outside New York or the universities. But older, more commercial jazz styles call up associations we don't feel comfortable with - for example, Jim Crow, which is not so close to European memories, but which American art and learning still has to address seriously.

Getting back to that mass marketability issue, our pop music legacy from the 1920s to 60s is not public property. Large media companies own most of it. Because they are large, and it is not mass marketable, they can't afford to license it at all. Its greatest profit lies in suing people for damages who play or re-release it.

Just some of the many reasons American bands can't play American swing well, or at all. There are exceptions, but so few as to mostly prove the rule.

But that won't stop me from writing charts based upon the recordings and re-arranging it. Which I intend to do.

 

[Blackjack]

As Artie Shaw said Chas, "There are no bad songs, just bad arrangments!" :eusa_clap

 

[Lily Powers]

I can't help but think of American actor Lee Tracy when I watch those great Ondrej Havelka videos.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I can't help but think of American actor Lee Tracy when I watch those great Ondrej Havelka videos.

Here's another one of my favorites

It All Depends On You (Czech version)

[video=youtube;B4vUr55J0fw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4vUr55J0fw&feature=related[/video]

 

[Blackjack]

Actually my favorite of his videos is his marvelous copy of Glenn Millers version of Jingle Bells. With all this heat lately watching this cools me off..

[video=youtube;hBrO09meKoA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBrO09meKoA[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I like Ondrej Havelka's early recordings with the Original Prague Syncopated Orchestra. Back then his accent was noticeably heavier and when he sang in English it gave the vocal a delightfully mysterious lilt.

[video=youtube;6WS3N-JdWXg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WS3N-JdWXg&feature=related[/video]

 

[ChrisT]

I was in Czech Republic last week-end and I have seen an advertising for on of his show: He will playing in Plzen this Wednesday.