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Here is a territory band from Dayton, Ohio which is
magnetized by the moment in the late 1920's and early 1930's when
classic jazz evolved into small band swing. The fluidity and
polyphony of the front line remained intact, while the driving rhythm of
the banjo and tuba was lightened by the substitution of guitar and
string bass. Unhampered by the horn sections and written
arrangements of the big band jazz that captured the years from the dawn
of the depression through the denouement of World War II, the music left
lead players free to explore their individual creativity with the
support of a "modern" rhythm section. It looked backward with
an affectionate smile, and forward with an appreciative glance.
After amassing and absorbing the wonderful music of the giants of jazz
and the schools and styles of New Orleans, Chicago, New York, Kansas
City and San Francisco, the aficionados who used to be affectionately
termed "mouldie fygges" would scour the second hand stores for
recordings from the "territories" -- those areas of lighter
population density where under-recorded and under-appreciated bands
often established their own sound and local traditions. Dayton,
the home of the Wright Brothers and Dunbar, has been as fertile and
inventive in music as it has been in technology and poetry. As
inheritors of its territorial approach to traditional jazz, the Classic
Jazz Stompers have enjoyed almost two decades of pleasurably fanning the
flames of that tradition. |
