The following article is found in:

Musica Jazz - December 1956 - pages 13 &14.

The information is provided by : Centro Nazionale Studi sul Jazz Arrigo Polillo in Siena, Italy.

Translation by Louis Iosub

KID ORY = NEW ORLEANS

Arrigo Polillo

I don't think I've ever heard so opposed opinions after a jazz concert as after Kid Ory's on November 26th at the Smeraldo, during his quite long Italian tour.

"Better than I thought", said many, and many others promptly answered they were deeply disappointed.

As for me, I don't understand the disappointment, as what I've seen is just what I expected. Or maybe they thought that Kid Ory would play like Jack Teagarden, or even J.J. Johnson ? Ory is just as he is, and always been. Even in his great days he never was an artist of the same stature as Johnny Dodds or King Oliver, not to mention Louis Armstrong. He's always held his part with honesty and sincerity, and he still holds it today, with just as much honesty and sincerity. First of all, he gives a concert, not, as it too often happens, a show : his jazz is authentic, unadulterated and without any trick. It's heartwarming, believe me, to at long last hear some original New Orleans jazz, played by men who contributed to its creation. It is emotional to hear Muskrat Ramble played the right way by the man who wrote it, so many years ago.

The band that Kid Ory has taken to Italy consists of Alvin Alcorn (trumpet), Philip Gomez (clarinet), Cedric Haywood (piano), Wellman Braud (bass) and Kansas Fields (drums), the latter replacing Minor Hall, who had to go back to the United States because of health issues. None of them is an outstanding solist, and only Wellman Braud (whose sounds just the same as on Ellington's records) enjoys a certain reputation. However, Alvin Alcorn must be recognised as a trumpeter of excellent quality, gifted with good taste and technic, just as Cedric Haywood, a laid back pianist reminiscent more than once of Joe Sullivan. On a lower level, mexican clarinet player Gomez, not very loyal to the cannons of New Orleans, and finally Kansas Fields, a heavy and noisy drummer, and so completely foreign to the mood of the orchestra. Regarding Ory, I felt that his most respectable age has no significant effect on his performance. His reputation of now almost legendary pioneer has not the slightest influence on his behavior on stage and off. Ory is a simple and modest man, and deserves admiration as such.

In this kind of jazz, which of course remains close to folk music, what really counts is not so much the individual performances of the soloists as their ability to play ensembles, and furthermore the authenticity of the sound. From this point of view, Kid Ory's band is more than satisfactory : I cannot remember hearing live any other orchestra as genuinely New Orleans. In some arranged passages (in Tin Roof Blues or Wolverine Blues for example) the Creole, and therefore French, character that jazz had in its origins becomes clearly evident, although it seems to have been completely lost now. One after another, the best known classics of jazz have been played, from Eh L‡-bas to Milenberg Joys, from Rampart Street Parade to High Society, from That's A Plenty to Savoy Blues, to an enthustiatic reception by the over capacity crowd (at least 3000 attendants), singularly devoid of education and musical taste.

It was just as watching Coppi running at the Vigorelli velodrome. There was no solo, as irrelevant, that was not overwhelmed with applause, and this happened, they tell me, in every Italian city.