The Northwest times. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1947-1955, 1947-07-22

| bushel, parrying others. Appar-
emily he does this sort of thing
everywhere he goes. Helps the
| cause of jazz no end.
He is definitely a modernist.
| Which to the non-jazz fan means
. that he likes the New Music Of
Woody Herman, Stan Kenton,
Boyd Raeburn. the Be Bop of Dig
zy Gillespie and Charlie Parker
and other new stuff
What do you think of Benny
Goodman" says one youngster.
"Benny's all right" Granz drawls.
But he PLAYS like 1887; this is
/ l947. Sure he's a swell technician,
he plays clarinet like nobody can,
but he isn't playing todays music.
He belongs to yesterday"
How does Johnny Hodges come
up to Willie Smith?" Hodges is
Duke Ellington's alto soloist who
has done such wonderful stuff as
Day Dream, Don't Get Around
Much Anymore, and the altoing on
Lionel Hampton's Sunny Side of
the Street. .....
Hodges is all right. But he's
always doing the same thing.
That sound of his fits the Elling-
ton band perfectly. But in a unit
like this where the soloist is on
his own Hodges wouldn't fit. Will
lie could cut him anytime. You
can't beat Hodges when he's play
ing that slow stuff but he can't
swing"
What About Be Bop?
whats with this BE BOP
Stuff" asks sweating youngster.
Someone else smokers: Jaw, that
junk"
You can't make fun of Be Bop,
you know Garnz says. Lots of
guys go around laughing about
new stuff that comes up or pan
it just like that. It's easy to do,
but you have to listen to it and
try to figure out what guys like
Dizzy (Gillespie) n Charlie
(Parker) are getting at.
This was typical jazz bull
session with most of the musi-
clans referred to by their first
names only. Among the initi-
ated Benny" "T. d. Louis"
Billie" Woody ct cetra, need
no further Identification.
This Be Bop is in the same
category as the stuff that Woody
and Kenton are trying. It's new
kind of jazz. Maybe it's good and
maybe it isn't. Takes time to find
out"
Granz put his finger on glar-
ing fault in jazz fandom when he
attacked the sweeping ways OF
criticism that most fans and cri-
tics indulge in. You don't say
one man is good and the other no
good. he suggests. The thing is
you either like him or you don't.
And you can't say that one man
is better than the other on a GER
tain instrument since their styles
vary and what they aim at might
be completely different"
SOl0ists Not So Hot
Many idolized musicians are
highly regarded because of solos
taken with bands. Granz suggest
ed that many of these soloists, like
Johnny Hodges for example, were
perfect when playing music espe-
cially written for them, but in a
jazz free-for-all, as his concerts are
to restricted extent, they would
be lost because they would have
to supply the sound all by them
selves and not have a big band =
backing their own sounds.
There is where the superiority
of Coleman Hawkins, and Willie
Smith, and Buck Clayton, and Roy
Elderidge shows up, points out
Granz.
Jazz Race
Norman Granz's Jazz at the Phil >
harmonic concerts were recently
being featured in New York City
and included as additional features
some men from the Ellington band
and some stray musicians from
the recently disbanded Kenton
orchestra. He has never taken
his show through the Southern
United States because he has a ,
clause il his contracts specifying
that the halls or theatre he plays
in will not discriminate against
any patron because of color or
race
His example of combating race
discrimination is being followed
by some promoters of similar jazz
concert tours.
New Canadian.