Moderne wrote: Wow...Dixieland jazz live in Bourbon Street. That must've been an experience!
It was! I arrived in New Orleans in early July 1979 for the first time and spent a few evenings listening to live bands playing Dixieland jazz in the bars on Bourbon Street. One night I had heard a female singer do a blues version of
Kansas City. After that I went to one of my regular Dixieland bars, where the band knew I was a tourist and asked me if I had a request. Out of interest, I asked them to play Kansas City. I just wanted to hear a Dixieland version of it to compare that in my mind with the blues version I had heard.
My request raised some eyebrows. Obviously the band had never played Kansas City. After all, it's rock 'n' roll, not Dixieland. Playing the song appeared to be no problem, though, but they wanted to sing it as well since it had a lyric. Finally after some talking the drummer said he knew at least a couple of verses and they set the mike for the drummer to sing. The saxophonist asked him: "Which key do you wanna sing it in?" The drummer replied: "D."
Then they began, and with all the improvisations I think the song lasted for seven or eight minutes. My ear couldn't detect the slightest mistake in it. Very swinging music. When they finished, I thanked them and I said: "I got the impression that you hadn't rehearsed this particular song even though you played a perfect version of it." With a big smile on his face, the saxophonist said: "Mediocre musicians rehearse!"
Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 6:03 am