Comments on: Woody Allen's Jazz is..?

Question: Woody Allen's Jazz is..?

elpapacito — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:38:16 -0800

What is the kind of jazz in Woody Allen movies ? I see Allen often plays with the Preservation Hall Band and I'd like to know what kind of jazz do they play in his movies, for instance in Sleeper. Are there bands specialized in that kind of jazz ?

By: tristeza

tristeza — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:43:06 -0800

Dixieland!

By: wsg

wsg — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:47:04 -0800

Dixieland and early American jazz.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:52:01 -0800

As for bands that specialize in it.... you might as well try the man himself. Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band

By: brautigan

brautigan — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:55:39 -0800

There's a good album of tracks from his movies call Woody's Winners which you can buy from Amazon.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:56:02 -0800

Yeah, it's dixieland or "trad" (if you're British). It's what jazz was before swing came along. (Every new wave of jazz left resentful devotees of the previous version shaking their fists in impotent outrage; Louis Armstrong famously referred to bebop as "Chinese music.") There are some very good modern exponents of that style; I recommend Warren Vache, Howard Alden, Ruby Braff, Kenny Davern, Lew Tabackin, and Scott Hamilton (varying degrees of pre-modernity, but all make wonderful music).

By: goatdog

goatdog — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:01:26 -0800

I got into Django Reinhardt because of Allen's Sweet and Lowdown. You can get everything he put on wax for around $25 on Amazon.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:09:31 -0800

So I guess the suffix Dixie doesn't fit Dixie Chicks, they should rather be Country or BlueGrass Chicks ?

By: luriete

luriete — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:18:23 -0800

Naw, they're just from Dixie, I guess. They're strictly C&W Chicks, but not a lot of the W is left in most modern top 40 "C&W."

By: goatdog

goatdog — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:26:59 -0800

Not much of the C, either.

By: paulsc

paulsc — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:56:44 -0800

You might also like The Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Lots of info about traditional jazz on that Web site, including lists of players you'd be well advised to give a listen to. And the greats like Bix Beiderbecke, Sidney Bechet, and "King" Oliver all taught Louis Armstrong a thing or two. And Satchmo is still teaching us all.

If you can spare a couple hundred dollars, Ken Burn's landmark series Jazz is out in 10 DVD set. Worth a listen, and there is a lower cost set of CD's that have a lot of music from the series sound track, plus some additional material that wasn't in the broadcast.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:58:13 -0800

I recommend you check out master cornetist Bix Beiderbecke if you like the music in Allen's films. He's obviously a big influence on Allen's own playing though I think Allen plays a clarinet.

On preview, paulsc beat me to it. (However, I recommend you purchase the Jazz series used as you can get it for half that.)

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:36:24 -0800

Thanks for the tons of accurate info guys :) as a results I'm going to listen tomorrow with friends to some live hot jazz in some little canteen.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:12:48 -0800

Great idea! Live music is always a good choice: it's an experience you can't replicate at home, and it supports the actual musicians. Enjoy!

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:53:02 -0800

dukes of dixieland did some very good records in the 50s

By: troybob

troybob — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:29:15 -0800

by the way, does anybody know the jazz piece that plays repeatedly through his film Alice? i see it's not on the Woody's Winners collection (at least not under the title of that film), and it's always been in the back of my mind to find it...i recall one scene in particular when Alice goes to Chinatown, and you hear a kind of oriental-style intro that rips into this new orleans (i think) jazz piece...

By: Lockeownzj00

Lockeownzj00 — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:22:49 -0800

Also check out the AllMusic page on Dixieland jazz (which leads to New Orleans and Trad jazz.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 05:58:40 -0800

On the web you might check out Hot Jazz Saturday Night from WAMU in the Nation's Capital.