Thank you Rok... those links opened up hours of pure pleasure.
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I was introduced to Batiste through Colbert's show. He's a mind-blowing talent, steeped in knowledge of how the last 120 years rolled out.
He's also an incredibly admirable human being.
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Perhaps many of you have already read "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans" by the Thomas Brothers. I can't recommend it highly enough. It goes deep - back to the rags, bottles and bones guys Louis got to know as a little kid. The reactions I've received after recommending it before can be divided into two camps:
1. Those who enjoyed the history aspect but got lost during the musical theory portions (all non-musicians)
2. Those who absolutely loved it
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@rok2id: "Las Vegas is a better destination for sin city, plus it's family friendly."
I'd rather spend a year in NO than a day in Vegas. Vive la difference.
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Nope. I had it right. I find Vegas detestable.
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I'll never understand the Wynton critics.
Why is creativity the measure? The man is a consummate student of jazz and a fantastic horn player. He's been passing the torch for decades. The jazz world is much richer due to his presence and vision.
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Piano is in no way the most important jazz instrument. You must be hung up on European heritage.
Jazz and blues are founded in "vocal" expression emanating from the human soul. Wind and brass instruments are perfect for "singing" or "crying out" through a musical instrument.
Piano is percussive. Fantastic jazz can (and has) been created on piano. But sax, trumpet, clarinet are the most important - they allow the inner voice to pour forth much like singing. The players literally sing through the instrument.
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You're just plain wrong, and I can tell our disagreement will never be resolved.
Keep in mind - Louis Armstrong was inspired not by piano, but by the rags bottles and bones guy playing his heart out on a tin horn.
King Oliver, Buddy Bolden, Louis... the roots of jazz aren't traced to piano.
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@rok2id
"St Louis has suffered the fate of all large cities."
An incredibly gross over-simplification. Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Denver, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, San Diego - need I go on? Stick with music rok - your understanding of American sociology is wanting.
BTW, I've driven I-70 across Kansas. I felt like I was on a treadmill, with the same desolate landscape punctuated by a town with a grain silo on the north side about every 11 miles. I'm glad we have Kansas, and I'm glad people live there and farm. But I have no use for driving through it again, and I'm not sure I get your affinity for it.
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@rok2id
"When jobs were lost in the north, they didn’t follow the new work"
Where exactly was that new work?
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@orpheus10
You do realize I was quoting rok2id for discussion purposes, I hope.
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@orpheus10
"In one word, what took St. Louis down was "JOBS"; when the going got
rough, the tough got going and left, leaving the majority of
neighborhoods to those least able to fend for themselves, and crime was
for some, the only viable way to make a living."
Bingo - here's someone who gets it.
Here in Baltimore, we lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs between 1950 and 1960, and you don't need 3 guesses to figure out which race got laid off first. Whites stayed employed and used their money to move away (after housing discrimination was outlawed) - leaving the unemployed in the crappy city housing that was all they could afford.
Capitalism moves on to the next best thing wherever it's happening, sometimes leaving millions of the least skilled (and intentionally marginalized) behind. Whether it's steel or coal, ex-employees and their families are left in the vacuum with little means of moving with the investment capital.
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So, rok, you said they didn't follow the "new work" once they were in the north. I asked you where that "new work" was. You said the jobs went overseas.
Thanks for making my point.
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@rok2id
"Give it a rest. In Texas we say, 'that dog won't hunt'. There are
folks in inner city America who have never known, or known of, a family
member that has ever had a job. Generations."
The more you post, the more we see who you really are. Very disappointing.
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To me, "Death Letter Blues" will always be one of the most heart-wrenching recordings from the Delta. It ain't load-the-dishwasher music - it's riveting and spine-tingling.
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@rok2id
"Beautiful music. Typical left-wing liner notes."
We've already debated the political divisiveness that makes its way even into this otherwise wonderful forum.
Give it a rest rok. It doesn't accomplish anything to say things like this.
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