#barrett deems

[jazzplusplus]

1955 - Louis Armstrong - Olympia - Paris

Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Trummy Young (tb), Edmond Hall (cl), Billy Kyle (p), Arvell Shaw (b), Barrett Deems (dr), Velma Middletown (voc)

[lickingyellowpaint]

Okay, because I mentioned this earlier, here's how I knew The World's Fastest Drummer.

I was maybe three years old, and Mom and Dad took me to my biggest summer music festival yet. HUGE park, utterly packed. And before we got there, they gave me the whole talk about what to do if I got lost - go to a stage and tell them I was lost so someone could announce it - and talked all about Stranger Danger. If a stranger tried to talk to me or get me to go with them, I was supposed to run and tell them right away. Okay, got it.

We're at this fuckgiant festival, Dad's in the music industry and has a bunch of friends there to talk to, Mom's similarly social, and I'm given a little room to roam as long as I'm still in their line of vision. We were near a smaller stage, and I was probably dancing or making little kid friends, and all of a sudden, this old man comes up to me.

He crouches down and says hello, and asks if I would like to go get some ice cream with him.

I sprint the 10-20 feet back to Mom and Dad, clinging and hollering that it happened, Stranger Danger happened, a creepy old guy asked me to go with him!!!

They were very proud of me, then explained that it had been a test, and that the old man was a good friend of Dad's. He waved the guy over to introduce himself properly, and that was my first introduction to Barrett Deems, who'd been the drummer for Louis Armstrong. Then as a reward for my doing the right thing, we all went together to get ice cream.

I got to see Barrett play a few times over the years and we always chatted a little bit after shows, which I wish I'd been old enough to truly appreciate; I picked up drums myself at 13, but was only 11 when he passed. His wake wasn't my first, but I remember it so clearly. There was a jazz trio playing softly in one small gathering room, and in the next, Barrett was at rest in his coffin holding drumsticks crossed over his chest.

He was a cool dude, needless to say, and every time I hear the words Stranger Danger, I think of him fondly.

[jazzplusplus]

1957 - Barrett Deems and Friend - publicité Ludwig

[onejazztrackaday]

Louis Armstrong – Mack the Knife

Louis Armstrong, nicknamed Satchmo (for satchel mouth), Satch and Pops, was one of the most influential figures in jazz. He was a trumpeter, vocalist, composer, and actor. He started playing cornet on riverboats in New Orleans at the age of 17, and performed right up to his death just before his seventieth birthday in 1971, spanning many jazz styles. 

Armstrong was a true pioneer in jazz. He was one of the first soloists to create significant variations based on the chord harmonies of the songs instead of merely on the melodies. Prior to this invention, solos were largely ornamented variations of the existing melody. Using the underlying chord structure to create new melodies and spontaneous composition is now one of the defining characteristics of jazz. 

Vocally too he forged new ground. While he may not have been the first vocalist to scat lyrics, he was the first to record it on Heebie Jeebies in 1926. A (probably apocryphal) story about this recording is that he dropped his lyric sheet while recording the song and for lack of words to sing, began to improvise his vocals, not wanting to interrupt the take, and was surprised when the record company chose to release that particular version.

Mack the Knife was composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama The Threepenny Opera. The jaunty, swinging, celebratory (and in this version New Orleans) feel of the song is juxtaposed against lyrics about a highwayman and murderer.

The original German lyrics were far more graphic, making it clear that this is a murderer we're talking about. For American audiences, the translation was more ambiguous to soften the killings, essential in eluding censors in the conservative 1950s.

Heres a couple of examples comparing direct translation of the original German lyrics, to the softened translation used in the song:

Direct translation from German original

On a beautiful blue Sunday Lies a dead man on the Strand

American Version

On the sidewalk, Sunday morning Lies a body oozing life

and in the following verse

Direct translation from German original

Jenny Towler was found With a knife in her chest And on the wharf walks Mack the Knife

American Version

Louie Miller disappeared, dear After drawing out his cash And MacHeath spends like a sailor Did our boy do something rash?

This tune is another good jamming tune for getting started with improvising due to its slow melodic and harmonic rhythm and the absence of complicated, quickly shifting harmonies.

– Bozzie 🎷

[mosaicrecords]

Barrett Deems: Louis Armstrong Drummer of Choice

Barrett Deems was one of Louis Armstrong’s drummers of choice and his career (I bet at first mention you can’t name the bands he cut his eye-teeth with) is followed in the Dippermouth blog by Ricky Riccardi.

-Scott Wenzel Read Blog... Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter

[turtleriffic]

"CLAP FOR ME."