[Tradjazz] Impact Records - Impact performances

[Steve Barbone]

As a kid, I didn't have the money to buy a lot of records but there was
plenty of recorded jazz on the radio. I remember a radio program every
afternoon with Dixieland. Listened to all kinds of OKOM on it from Armstrong
and Bechet to Pecora, Nicholas, Picou and countless others.

And there was a radio program from New Orleans that you could also get.
Needless to say, I listened all the time to these, even joined the New
Orleans Jazz Club. Also listened to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and others
including Tont Scott and Buddy DeFranco.

Influences? I agree with Bruce. Armstrong for pure swinging and time
variations within the beat. Dodds, Darnell Howard, Goodman, Shaw, Simeon,
Lewis, Edmond Hall and Pee Wee Russell for the different ways in which they
approached communication with the clarinet, my chosen instrument. And to
Scott and DeFranco for a plethora of "New" ideas.

When I was 15, Hank D'Amico, a neighbor, took me to NYC clubs to meet
Bechet, Simeon, WBD, Condon, Scott, DeFranco, Erwin and all the other
players on the NYC scene in the 40s and 50s.

It was a time when OKOM and other jazz forms were all over NYC. You couldn't
help but soak up the various sounds.

My philosophical influence was Conrad Janis' Band. He started as a New
Orleans Style revivalist later adding lots of black, blues based ex-swing
musicians to his mix. The result was a swinging form of free blowing OKOM
that stays with me till this day.

Wonderful times gigging with Chuck Traeger, Gene Schroeder, Coleman Hawkins,
Roy Eldridge and others, plus sitting in at Nicks, and with Monk at The Five
Spot and Miff Mole on Long Island and learning first and foremost that the
music should always swing and that visual effects and/or persona should be
an integral part of the show.

My oh my, what a great era with so many different OKOM styles to hear. And
so many great players who gave freely of their time and advice to a young,
eager wannabe who could barely play back then, but was learning.

The effect of the influences? That one should develop one's own voice as a
jazz player. Be different. Find your own way and ignore the critics or those
who are wedded to the way it was, or the way is should be. For jazz,
including OKOM exists in the present tense, here and now. Just do it.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone