Thanks for the article Tyler, the only suggestion I would make is to locate, on YouTube, some much better transfers of the King Oliver band which have been made in recent years and give us a much radically clearer idea of what the band actually sounded like. I'm not where I can get to them but I'll try to search later.
By the way, as you know, the BEST way to hear Oliver's music is directly from the 78s, which is what we do every Monday night with the Hot Club of New York hosted by Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera. Requests are encouraged, and I'll be requesting King Oliver's Dipper Moith Blues tonight.
All are welcome to join us at any point during the evening! The meeting is on Zoom from 7:30pm to 10:30pm ET at https://zoom.us/j/833482351. This link is also available at hotclubny.org.
Vic Hobson's research into Armstrong's time with a barbershop quartet sent me back earlier than this. He wasn't the only one in his New Orleans cohort to have sung in a quartet, either.
The quartet format was essential to early black music and has become the basic formulation for music today when you think about it. Even for groups larger than a quartet. I haven't read Hobson but he's proceeded by a lot of good work done on the whole quartet issue by lynn Abbott, who has also written about the black origins of the barbershop Quartet. But it's not just Armstrong there were tons of those in black communities throughout the United States.
Man to hear those early jazz songs on the riverboats back in the day must've been something special...
Thanks for the article Tyler, the only suggestion I would make is to locate, on YouTube, some much better transfers of the King Oliver band which have been made in recent years and give us a much radically clearer idea of what the band actually sounded like. I'm not where I can get to them but I'll try to search later.
Thanks, Allen. I will do that.
By the way, as you know, the BEST way to hear Oliver's music is directly from the 78s, which is what we do every Monday night with the Hot Club of New York hosted by Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera. Requests are encouraged, and I'll be requesting King Oliver's Dipper Moith Blues tonight.
All are welcome to join us at any point during the evening! The meeting is on Zoom from 7:30pm to 10:30pm ET at https://zoom.us/j/833482351. This link is also available at hotclubny.org.
Vic Hobson's research into Armstrong's time with a barbershop quartet sent me back earlier than this. He wasn't the only one in his New Orleans cohort to have sung in a quartet, either.
The quartet format was essential to early black music and has become the basic formulation for music today when you think about it. Even for groups larger than a quartet. I haven't read Hobson but he's proceeded by a lot of good work done on the whole quartet issue by lynn Abbott, who has also written about the black origins of the barbershop Quartet. But it's not just Armstrong there were tons of those in black communities throughout the United States.
Fascinating! Thank you.