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Most people who are familiar with this era and have studied it a little bit are familiar of course with the Dukes of Dixieland and several other bands, but one of the most amazing bands often seems to be overlooked by those who only touch the surface, and that's the Wilbur de Paris band.

I was a member of a second revival era band during the early 80s, and when particular arrangements of particular historic bands were just so perfect that they could not be improved upon, we would strive to completely recreate them - not with sheet music transcriptions, but from learning them from repeated listening.

When the character of the genre/repertoire of that 1980s band began to change - due to bringing in a singer, and the nature of out-of-town jobs accepted begin to change as well, I resigned, but before I resigned we had begun to ear-transcribe several Wilbur to Paris arrangements, including Martinique, Wrought Iron Rag, his amazing version of Limehouse Blues, and a few others. I really wish we'd continue to pursue the de Paris repertoire (and other music which represented the best of the genre), rather than going off in the direction that the band chose to go.

I realize that we are in an era where this music has greatly wained in popularity and most bands that play it today are sort of jam session type bands that really don't work on learning forms, arrangements, nor even the verses of songs - and only their choruses, and nor do many seem to study those who came before them, but if anyone is interested in really getting into this repertoire, I would just bring their attention to someone that they may not have yet discovered, that being Mr. de Paris and his amazing band.

Finally, I believe that shunning of the word "dixieland" is damaging to the study of this music, as the 1950s era was and is referred to as Dixieland Revival, and at least as many black musicians participated in it and benefited from it as white, so to wallpaper over terminology is to wallpaper over history and over some amazing musicians who took music and musical styles of the 1920s and 1930s to another level.

None of us have control over these threads, and when someone - who begins a thread - complains that it is gone off in a different direction, some of the rest of us chuckle, because we are so familiar with how these things go, but it would be nice to see others continue to either discuss Mr de Paris or other really remarkable Dixieland Revival era bands and musicians, or even some of the more progressive jazz musicians (Morton, and so many others) from the 20s and 30s.

TO AVOID CONFUSION...Many of the Dixieland Revival era musicians played jazz music - when younger - in the 1920's and 1930's...but came to "full bloom" - as well as national/international prominence - LATER during the Revival era. de Paris (as do many) fits into this category.

..If you really want to hurt my heart though, you can link some brass quintet "robo-dixie" crap arrangements into this thread. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE-gPV5Zh-o...etc.

I am unfamiliar with Wilbur de Paris, but just from the few clips I’ve watched on YT, his band and arrangements seem like they would be quite enjoyable to play, e.g.

Awareness was the primary goal of initiating this thread, so - seeing success - I'm smiling.

When I was in that band in the early 1980s, we could rarely get through a multiset gig - playing for any of our regulars - without this specific tune being requested or demanded... and we played this arrangement just about note-for-note, and with all of the inflections (copying the style of the individual de Paris band musicians) and - of course - all of the key changes.



We would also play this one, when we thought people were talking too much during one of our sets:
(... and we worked damn hard on this friggin' arrangement)



...thus named - due to the brief quote from the Anvil Chorus in the middle of the trumpet solo.

Good stuff. I’m more fond of the up-tempo pieces, but the slower ones are interesting as well. The band is very tight throughout.

I’m going to try to listen to more of his/their work. There are a lot of musicians from this period (late ‘30s to late ‘50s) I’m only now discovering that are really interesting and still mostly unfamiliar to me. Thanks for kicking this thread off.

P.s. Their version of “Fidgety Feet” cooks.

This thread doesn't need to be about this one band, but I find them particularly fascinating, because they just don't fit within any category or pigeonhole of Dixieland jazz bands.

Further, when you try to decide who influenced them, the answer ends up being "everyone".

@hrender, since you claim to like the lively ones, here's one that's not so easy to find on youtube with this band (unless you know to look for it).

It's sort of a "Tiger Rag" type of tune, except more fun, a bit more interesting, and with a name that is more likely to capture your imagination.



:Moutarde" means "mustard" or "mustard-smelling" in French, but it's also French slang for angry.
The way it goes back-and-forth (at an extremely quick pace) between strains imitates an argument - and between more than two, yes?

I liked that one, too, although I didn't share a link to it. The version I listened to was this one. I was surprised that the one comment on the video complained about the "ridiculous" tempo, when the impression you get from watching the performance was how relaxed all of the musicians are. In particular, Sonny White and Garvin Bushell both look like they're taking it easy, when they're clearly not. I'm incredibly impressed by both gentlemen.

hrender wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 3:17 pm I liked that one, too, although I didn't share a link to it. The version I listened to was this one. I was surprised that the one comment on the video complained about the "ridiculous" tempo, when the impression you get from watching the performance was how relaxed all of the musicians are. In particular, Sonny White and Garvin Bushell both look like they're taking it easy, when they're clearly not. I'm incredibly impressed by both gentlemen.

Another Revival era band consisted of a bunch of Disney cartoonists, and (to me) they were THE "west coast" (choppy/2-beat) sound...which others either also did (or mimicked). Arguably, neither swinging 4-beat dixie bands nor the 2-beat ones sounded like 1920's - 1930's bands...but (well...) one wouldn't expect musicians who had lived through a couple more decades to sound like those from a quarter century ago...

...and more of what I would categorize as "pedestrian" (is there such a thing as dixieland snobbery...??)

...the "Firehouse 5+2" or (occasionally) the Firehouse 5.

I was fortunate to play in one of the first-era revival bands - not because I’m over 100 years old, but because that band was in existence continuously for almost 60 years, and I was privileged to be associated with it for the last 20 or so.

The “arrangements” were nothing more than a piece of paper that could only be called a “road map” - no notes, just a list of choruses and who did what. All the notes were in the players’ heads - which after 60 years, they were pretty well defined.

Those were GREAT days, and I miss them profoundly, as do I miss the band members who have moved on.

https://syncopatedtimes.com/the-red-oni ... york-city/

There are many people who have been waiting years for the 1964 live Dukes of Dixieland LP that was recorded in a Chicago club called Bourbon Street to be put on YouTube. I found that it is now on there. There are two separate links for side one and side two of that LP.

Arguably, the most heartfelt sounding and amazing arrangement of "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans" (a 1947 song introduced by Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong in the movie, "New Orleans") is on that LP. It's the second track on side one.
Frank Assunto did an amazing vocal which will never be surpassed. He was the leader and trumpet player in the band.

There were also several current to 1964 movie themes - played in a dixieland jazz style - on that LP.

Fred Assunto, his brother and the trombonist, had been diagnosed with cancer and another trombonist takes his place on this LP and from henceforth.

Those two brothers were Mike M's uncles, and Mike's grandfather is also on the recording. Mike subscribes to this discussion list.

Lots of stuff to listen to here! I'm a big fan of trad jazz, to which I think I can say Uptown Lowdown and the New York All Stars are some of my favorite playing so far.

Never thought I'd see bloke spongebobposting.

For the folks wondering, "So, how would that sound with tuba?" I found this version of Très Moutarde. I think I like the Wilbur de Paris version better, but it's good to hear some tuba.



Here's WdP's version of Malta, with some very nice solos. I especially like Mr. Bushell.