Harry’s Place Arts

I love Louis. His aside to himself of “heh heh ya braggin’, Louie” in St James’s Infirmary is one of my favourite moments in music.

I can’t remember where I read this but apparently he actually was quite the scholar of classical music, and at one point in his career was intending to move further towards doing things like adapting Prokofiev before a friend pointed out that he could make a lot more money grinning a lot and doing the gravelly-voice thing. No bad thing, that, but one can’t help wondering what he might have come up with if he’d decided to write large-scale works.

Talking of large-scale classical/jazz works, there’s an open rehearsal of Duke Ellington’s Queen’s Suite on the South Bank tomorrow afternoon: http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/music/jazz-blues/productions/tomorrows-warriors-open-rehea-42492

Great! And who are the equivalent (genuinely big) stars of today, of that kind of calibre, with that kind of talent?

I really don’t know. I adored Danny Kaye when I was a kid. Was he that great? I’d like to think that he was, and this isn’t simply nostalgia

I read a biography of Louis Armstrong not long ago. When he was about 7 he got a job delivering coal to brothels. Later he briefly tried to become a pimp, but only had one prostitute, and she used to beat him up. He was a staunch advocate of the use of laxatives, and when he died his honorary pallbearers included Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, and - wait for it - David Frost.

His album with Duke Ellington is in my top 5 of all time.

Miles Davis considered Armstrong to be an ‘Uncle Tom’.

He did sort of, but he also admitted that Armstrong played a huge role in forcing white people to accept black musicians and entertainers as equals and that he wouldn’t have had the success he had if it hadn’t been for Armstrong etc etc. Also, Miles Davis was an arse.

Anyway, here’s an article about Louis telling Eisenhower to “go to hell”.

I think it could be more perfect, if Danny kaye fucked off, for example, and Louis A shut up and started blowing that horn.

“Miles Davis considered Armstrong to be an ‘Uncle Tom’.”

Yes, but you have to remember that Miles Davis was a cast iron arsehole with a bit of a complex about his gentle middle class upbringing. He could play the trumpet, though.

I think it could be more perfect, if Danny kaye fucked off, for example

That sentiment, in this context, in those words, is very Kingsley Amis. That’s a good thing.

Wow! No, that couldn’t be more perfect. I adored both of them as a kid, seeing them together actually brought a tear to my eye.

I went to a meeting in London yesterday and I was dressed exactly like Danny Kaye in this video.

Consummate entertainer and style icon.