[78-L] Price's Price

[Malcolm Smith]

This opens the door on a sad part of the history. Yes, it was Europe,  
especially France, where most of the early interest in jazz and jazz  
records occurred. There are many on this list who are more familiar  
with the history than I am and I hope they will add to what I have  
too say. One simply needs to note the way black musicians were  
treated in France and the number of them who ended up there and why  
wouldn't they! I will never forget meeting Lil Hardin in Paris in the  
early fifties, A fascinating wonderful pianist and singer. She was  
the pianist in the original Creole Band. One can't do any better than  
that!  She was greatly respected in Paris unlike here.  Sadly, there  
is very little in the way of early records of jazz, and what there is  
is usually recorded with old worn equipment that had been used to  
record white musicians. We should have records going all the way back  
to Bolden but don't. Little interest in the first quarter of the last  
century was shown until a brief revival brought about by the  
discovery of Bunk Johnson in the early forties. Very sad history and  
musically a terrible loss.

Malcolm Smith

On Jul 27, 2009, at 7:25 AM, 78-l-request at klickitat.78online.com wrote:

> Re: [78-L] Price's Price