[78-L] Conga drummers [was Bird with Stringency]

[Joe Scott]

Dizzy and Kenton popularized the idea of adding authentic Latin percussion. The fact that authentic on-the-beat Latin percussion usually gelled horribly with Basie-like swing didn't seem to bother Diz, Nat, or Stan -- Diz basically felt an ethnic connection to black music from South of the border that meant a lot to him, Nat did love swing but almost any style was always good enough for him if it had to do with people calling him a star, and Stan wasn't interested in Basie-like swing (being one of those guys who defined swing loosely enough that Lunceford somehow epitomized it for him). IIRC the frequent rhythmic semi-absurdity of it all bothered Diz's bassist Ray Brown enough that he quit the band specifically over it.

I do think it was great that once Nat decided to get on that bandwagon, and the guy he liked best for the job happened to be a white guy, he had the courage to integrate his little band, which for context was e.g. a couple years before Louis Jordan's endless temperamental Goodman-like turnover ever included its first white guy. Maybe more to the point on the context, Jordan's white trombonist (Bob Burgess IIRC) responded to threats from racists by bringing a gun on stage with him -- now that's a guy who wanted to be in Louis Jordan's band. While we're at it let's praise Lionel Hampton for his courage along the same lines, well before Nat. Lionel Hampton saw what Goodman did and returned the integration favor with straightforward sense and sincerity. (Benny Carter and others, too -- Carter had Bob Graeetinger in his alto section about '46, Porky Cohen was in Millinder's band in about '49....)

Joseph Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: Julian Vein
Sent: 01/09/14 12:41 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] Conga drummers [was Bird with Stringency]

On 09/01/14 18:18, Joe Scott wrote: > On those T. Dorsey and James (and Krupa and...) recordings the extra guys might as well be playing on a movie soundtrack behind a pop singer, they have no more to do with that jazz rhythmically than (unfortunately) Jack Costanzo had to with the swing the King Cole Trio had previously had. John Lewis managed to do an actual creative fusion with strings in the late '50s, "Sketch" by the MJQ with the Beaux Arts String Quartet, in which the strings seemed interested in swinging and could; if there's something comparable from the '30s-'40s I'd like to hear it. > Joseph Scott > =========================== Joe, Interesting that you should mention Costanzo. Conga drummers added to an already complete rhythm section are one of my pet hates. Prestige was particular fond of employing 'em. I get the feeling that they were brought in as a favour, rather than for any musical purpose. Julian Vein _______________________________________________ 78-L mailing list 78-L at klickitat.78online.com http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l