Actual (not armchair) HJDF

[KevinSchaper]

Mike, are you really that narrow minded, or are you just being a prick for the sake of being a prick?

The Willie Nelson thing was mine - cuz even though Gene Harris kicks ass, he has about as much of a connection to harlem as everyone's favorite long haired texan tax-avoider.

I have a bunch of his stuff, and I play it all the time, but if I were judgin the contest, playin him would lose points for a lack of "harlem content"

(and then people'd hafta make tshirts)

[djstarr]

hey, are you going to that Little Jazz store in Seattle thats downstairs in the basement...??? I dropped a few Bills in there...damn it! LOL

No, I didn't have time to go to Bud's last night; it's downtown near the stadium and there was an M's game on --- I ended up going to a used CD store in Queen Anne that has a good jazz section and Silver Platters - which is quite good also.

I hear Bud's is the best, I better save up some money before I go in there.......

[falty411]

I didn't see the tap tribute, but to say that the tap dancers before the hot shots weren't paying tribute to their legends (just 'cuz they didn't copy a routine) I'm sure is an insult to those tap dancers who worked so hard and were influenced in many ways by their predecessors.

like i just said, you dont need to copy a routine to pay tribute. you just need to have they paying that are being respected in mind.

its not an insult to say it wasnt really paying tribute. Saying they sucked would be an insult, which they didnt. They were all incredible and very talented. Like i said though, i dont think they were really dancing for the legends, it seemed like they were dancing for themeselves and the audience, which again isnt good or bad....just an observation.

[falty411]

Ok, I guess narrow-minded it is!

narrow mindedness is a term that can easily be thrown around by people of the like. narrow mindedness seems like the unwillingness to accept someone elses opinion based on the reasons they have given. something i feel you are just as guilty of.

again you continue to say that i am "this" and i am "that" but you give no reasons to back up your every so "open minded" opinions.

[Swifty]

There is a big difference between being narrow minded and wanting to focus on something specific from time to time out of respect.

Funny, the impression that I often get from people that focus on these specifics is not so much that they are doing it out of respect for the original artists but rather so that they can say "look at how great of a DJ/dancer/performer I am, I can pay tribute to so-and-so."

[falty411]

Funny, the impression that I often get from people that focus on these specifics is not so much that they are doing it out of respect for the original artists but rather so that they can say "look at how great of a DJ/dancer/performer I am, I can pay tribute to so-and-so."

i didnt see anybody this weekend that gave me that impression.

i have seen people before that have played songs out of disrespect for other people. like making a mix out of spite.

ps i thought jesses contest music was great.

[Mr Awesomer]

There is a big difference between being narrow minded and wanting to focus on something specific from time to time out of respect.

Funny, the impression that I often get from people that focus on these specifics is not so much that they are doing it out of respect for the original artists but rather so that they can say "look at how great of a DJ/dancer/performer I am, I can pay tribute to so-and-so."

Assumptions are a bitch aren't they.

[Mr Awesomer]

i thought jesses contest music was great.

Word. To bad he doesn't play more of that music for the social floor.

[Lawrence]

the music during the battle seemed like music, had you taken a 6 song sample from the DJs at the Chicago Exchange. (where they have a great mix of djs)
i know the rules werent saying that it had to be a tribute to Harlem and the the musical/dance renasciance that occured early last century. Im just saying it would of been nice had it been looked at this way.

Yeah, man, you tell them. And, while we're at it, tell Carmen McRae that her "Tribute to Billie Holiday" sounds nothing like Billie Holliday, and that her "Tribute to Sarah Vaughn" ALSO sounds NOTHING like Sarah Vaughn. Let's also bash the LCJO "tribute to Duke" for sounding very little like the Cotton Club original. And even Duke Ellington is guilty of it as a co-conspirator, too: Ray Brown didn't sound like Jimmy Blanton in his tribute to Jimmy album with Duke Ellington.

And what the hell was The Cure doing on a Jimmy Hendrix Tribute album a few years ago singing "Purple Haze?!?!"

Seriously, I understand what you mean, and sympathize somewhat. Jesse's set looks good, but it looks like a selection of Groove-oriented versions of Harlem-based songs, not a collection of Harlem Jazz originals. And, as I noted elsewhere, it seemed a bit odd that mostly groove-oriented DJs were selected for this competition.

However, "tribute" does not mean "copycat." Often, it is more respectful to do a "tribute" in your own style than to plagiarize that style.

It seems obvious that the HJDF was taken in that context: not to exclusively push "original" music, but to pay tribute to Harlem Jazz by celebrating the widespread influence that Harlem Jazz has had on the jazz world, including and extending to recordings by Idaho musicians in the 1990s. I suspect that when Harlem musicians were playing in the backrooms of Harlem in 1933, they would be amazed to think that their influence would extend so far, and would have felt honored to have the Gene Harris version played as a reflection of how far their influence reached.

In that sense, all the music seems to have some roots in Harlem, even if the musician who played it is not from Harlem plays it nothing like the original.

It also sounds like enough "original" music was mixed in, as well.

[Swifty]

you mean the song off of an album that is an entire tribute to ellington where the artists made an effort to recreate ellingotns band during its peak years?

Gene Harris playing Dont get a round much anymore is no more a tribute than (as someone said) Willie Nelson playing it.

"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by the Gene Harris Superband features some well-respected jazz artists (including "Sweets" Edison) in a New Testament Basie-style arrangement. True, it's not exactly a Duke Ellington tribute, but I'd say there's more in common there than "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by Willie Nelson - featuring some well-respected country artists in a folk/country reinterpretation. If for no other reason, both Harris and Ellington are pianists and Nelson is a guitarist.

I'd think it's a pretty clear disctinction, but I guess we all draw the line in a different place. Neither is my favorite version of the song, but again, that's all a matter of opinion.

I also noted that a few years later the Harris version appeared on a "Duke Ellington Songbook" compilation.

[CafeSavoy]

ps If you want hard swinging stuff by billie holiday, get some of her material when she recorded with Teddy Wilson.

Teddy Wilson is the shit

Some of the sessions from Billie Swings and A Musical Romance have Teddy Wilson leading. The others all include members of Ellington's, Basie's, or Goodman's band.

[CafeSavoy]

He was the house band of the Savoy in '32. '34 was when he moved into the Cotton Club.

ah, cool. thanks.

[falty411]

Some of the sessions from Billie Swings and A Musical Romance have Teddy Wilson leading. The others all include members of Ellington's, Basie's, or Goodman's band.

if i remember correctly, the Billie song you played in the Battle featured Teddy Wilson


*nope, it didnt...my bad

[Swifty]

Assumptions are a bitch aren't they.

I'm not assuming that is why they in fact do have such a focus, but rather it is the impression that they leave after the fact.

Are you assuming I'm talking about you?

[falty411]

Are you assuming I'm talking about you?

yeah reuben, assumptions are a bitch