When Derek Coller decided to pay tribute to his late friend - the
author, biographer, discographer and researcher, Bert Whyatt - he
looked for a common theme under which to group some of the articles
they had written together over the years. He found it in Chicago
where their research activities had gravitated towards the style of
music created by the young white musicians from that city and its
environs - particularly those who rallied around the figurehead of
Eddie Condon - as they listened to and learned from the pioneer
black stylists, many of them the greatest jazz players to emigrate
from New Orleans, including King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Johnny
and Baby Dodds and Jimmy Noone. Two trips to the USA, made by the
authors in 1979 and 1992, led to meetings and correspondence with
some of the musicians in this compilation, and to learning about
many others. There are connections between most of these articles,
interviews and notes, with an over-lapping of jobs, leaders and
clubs. Some of the stories are about pioneers: Elmer Schoebel, Jack
Pettis and Frank Snyder, for example, were in the New Orleans
Rhythm Kings in 1923. Trombonist George Brunis, chronicled here,
was also a member of that band, though his long career - during
which he played with Muggsy Spanier, as did Rod Cless and George
Zack, in the Spanier Ragtime Band of `Great Sixteen' fame - has
been more widely documented. Floyd Bean and Tut Soper, here too,
were also Spanier alumni. The articles originally appeared
variously under a dual by-line, or by either Whyatt or Coller, but
always with consultation and discussion prior to publication. Here
they become a lively mix of the voices of the authors as well as
the musicians and their families, building a story through
biography, reviews and discography. The book is illustrated with
evocative black and white photographs and images, and there is an
Index of names and places to help the reader keep track of the
musicians, composers, producers, promoters and writers who created
this part of the history of jazz.
General
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