I like listening to jazz from just about any era from the very beginnnings onward. And having originally played ragtime piano before really learning how to play anything else, or any other instrument, my first exposure to jazz was to Jelly Roll Morton, especially his “Red Hot Peppers” combo of the 1920’s. I still love JRM both as a bandleader and a pianist. Similarly I like the playing of Louis Armstrong, and other New Orleans players from the era. I’ll call this style New Orleans jazz. If you don’t understand the distinction between NOJ and Dixieland, then you may as well stop reading now. Otherwise, please bear with me.
So why is it that when I hear music that’s labelled “Dixieland”, I hate it? It seems insipid and tame. It doesn’t seem to have the driving beat and bluesy roughness that NOJ does. It seems well suited to denture adhesive commercials, where indeed you do encounter Dixieland in at least one commercial, in which a denture-wearer happily demonstrates his ability to play the trombone. The odd thing is, both NOJ and Dixieland incorporate many of the same stylistic elements. A steady 4/4 beat. Swooping trombone phrases. Blues-based chord changes. So what’s the difference? Is Dixieland an intentionally toned down version of NOJ, watered down for folks who couldn’t take the real deal? Should I think of NOJ as being alalogous to Chuck Berry or Little Richard, while Dixieland would be analogous to The Big Bopper?
Jazz fans, what’s your take on this?