Otis Ferguson on John Hammond

[paul secor]

My friend Bill Morrison sent me this today: http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/hist409/ferguson.html

Otis Ferguson nails John Hammond without using a hammer.

[Christiern]

That sounds quite accurate as a description of the younger John Hammond. Much of it was still valid 20 or 30 years later, but there were other sides to John's personality. Leonard Feather alluded to one of them in his WWII era Metronome article, Heil Hammond! It was about John's dictatorial ways. I was left with very mixed feelings about him—they run from great to less than great. He accomplished much, but not as much as he wished us to believe. Hank O'Neal recalled walking out of St. Peter's after a lengthy memorial service for John. Many speeches were made, much greatness was was waved about. As Hank stood at the curb, ready to cross the street, John's secretary came up beside him. Looking straight ahead, as if oblivious to his presence, she muttered: "They bought the story."

[ghost of miles]

Ferguson's a writer and person who's always intrigued me--one of my favorite cultural critics from that era. Well worth picking up this apparently now-OOP Da Capo anthology if you can find it.

[Brownian Motion]

Leonard Feather alluded to one of them in his WWII era Metronome article, Heil Hammond! It was about John's dictatorial ways.

No jazz producer was perfect, least of all Leonard Feather, who marred a few jazz recording dates with his clunky piano playing, and marred even more with his ersatz blues lyrics.

[Christiern]

Don't tell me anything bad about Leonard Feather—I know more than anyone needs to know about that...and then some!

John had his faults, but I am hard put to think of anything Leonard left that deserves admiration.

[Chuck Nessa]

I only spent 2 days in the same room with Mr. Hammond and the Ferguson piece rings true.

Edit to say Leonard Feather was there too.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Chuck Nessa

[Christiern]

Yes, Ferguson captured him pretty well, right down to the inevitable bunch of newspapers John always carried under his arm. One day, as he walked through the lobby at Blackrock, someone popped up and said "John!" Poor John was so startled that he dropped his papers and Screw was suddenly no longer hidden between the WSJ and NY Times!

Was it a large room, Chuck?

[Larry Kart]

Also, that Ferguson piece is a remarkable piece of writing -- the rhythms of the sentences/thinking/everything.

[Big Beat Steve]

I've been intrigued by Otis Ferguson ever since reading a piece by him in Ralph J. Gleason's "Jam Session" anthology. Really a tragedy he did not survive WWII.

In case anybody knows - what's the approximate percentage of jazz writings in the "Otis Ferguson Reader" book?

[tranemonk]

I caught this one on NPR yesterday..

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132079058/john-hammond-the-ear-of-an-oracle

[AllenLowe]

btw, and I always get flak for distance diagnoses, but he sounds like a classic Asperger's personality.

[Christiern]

I caught this one on NPR yesterday..

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132079058/john-hammond-the-ear-of-an-oracle

That piece was written by John McDonough, who saw John through rose-colored glasses and would have kissed his feet if given an opportunity to do so.

[AllenLowe]

hey that's the guy on Chuck's new Anthony Braxton CD -

not -

I assume that's the DownBeat McDonough, who did some OK writing but had a fatal streak of musical conservatism. I actually met him years ago in Chicago.

[Chuck Nessa]

Hard to believe I know 2 John McDonoughs. Boy are they different.

[paul secor]

I've been intrigued by Otis Ferguson ever since reading a piece by him in Ralph J. Gleason's "Jam Session" anthology. Really a tragedy he did not survive WWII.

In case anybody knows - what's the approximate percentage of jazz writings in the "Otis Ferguson Reader" book?

My copy of the Otis Ferguson Reader is the December Press edition - I assume that it's the same as the Da Capo edition. 125 of 305 pages are devoted to his writings on music.

[Larry Kart]

Hard to believe I know 2 John McDonoughs. Boy are they different.

I only know the one John McDonough; boy is he different. Also you might (or might not) be astonished at how much like this he already was in high school. As I think he may have written once, though probably not in these terms, at age 16 he wanted nothing more than to be a comfortable middle-aged denizen of the mid-1930s. Follow your dream.

[medjuck]

Don't tell me anything bad about Leonard Feather—I know more than anyone needs to know about that...and then some!

John had his faults, but I am hard put to think of anything Leonard left that deserves admiration.

Well Feather did write "Might Like a Rose".

[jeffcrom]

My friend Bill Morrison sent me this today: http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/hist409/ferguson.html

Otis Ferguson nails John Hammond without using a hammer.

Thanks for posting this; it inspired me to pull out my copy of The Otis Ferguson Reader. I read all of his pieces on Bix Beiderbecke over the Atlantic Ocean last night, and thought they were insightful and beautifully written.

One mistake, I think - Ferguson refers to Bix's solo on Paul Whiteman's "After You've Gone" in two of the essays. The only problem is, I don't think such a thing exists. I've got the IRD edition of the complete Bix recordings in my iPod, and there isn't any such track. I'm 4000 miles from my discographies, but I'm guessing that there's a recording of "After You've Gone" by Whiteman featuring Andy Secrest or some other Bix follower, and that it was attributed to Bix in those early days of jazz scholarship. Anyway, I'm really enjoying becoming reacquainted with Otis Ferguson.

[AllenLowe]

"Beiderbecke over the Atlantic Ocean" is my favorite - a beautiful nautical solo by Bix.

[paul secor]

My friend Bill Morrison sent me this today: http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/hist409/ferguson.html

Otis Ferguson nails John Hammond without using a hammer.

Thanks for posting this; it inspired me to pull out my copy of The Otis Ferguson Reader. I read all of his pieces on Bix Beiderbecke over the Atlantic Ocean last night, and thought they were insightful and beautifully written.

One mistake, I think - Ferguson refers to Bix's solo on Paul Whiteman's "After You've Gone" in two of the essays. The only problem is, I don't think such a thing exists. I've got the IRD edition of the complete Bix recordings in my iPod, and there isn't any such track. I'm 4000 miles from my discographies, but I'm guessing that there's a recording of "After You've Gone" by Whiteman featuring Andy Secrest or some other Bix follower, and that it was attributed to Bix in those early days of jazz scholarship. Anyway, I'm really enjoying becoming reacquainted with Otis Ferguson.

Getting that link is making me read and reread some of Otis Ferguson's pieces.

[jeffcrom]

"Beiderbecke over the Atlantic Ocean" is my favorite - a beautiful nautical solo by Bix.

Yes, I realized that sentence could be read two ways, but decided to leave it. I guess I liked the ambiguity.

[AllenLowe]

sorry - boring day at work

[paul secor]

In another essay, Otis Ferguson writes of John Hammond:

"In one way, Hammond is the ideal critic, fighting for what he thinks is good, fighting hard with time and money and infinite energy. But he is no thinking critic and is as full of chinks and sharp bias as a bag of nails. He is to be respected and thanked, but not safely followed as a mentor." - from Speaking of Jazz II

Seems fair enough.