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Thread: Samuel Charters's book A Trumpet around the Corner and mandolins

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    Default Samuel Charters's book A Trumpet around the Corner and mandolins

    This is a history of early New Orleans jazz that came out in 2008. I'm only a third of the way through it and have some mixed feelings about it overall. It could only have been written by Charters, who, until his death, spent seven decades researching the obscure origins of early jazz in New Orleans. One thing that has stood out is how many early jazz musicians played mandolin before moving on to their primary instruments, usually after being unsatisfied with the volume the mandolin could achieve, especially in a larger band context. The word mandolin doesn't appear in the book's index, but in these earliest chapters, it's mentioned in many places. The mandolin craze at the turn of the century corresponds neatly with the rise of the music that would, in a short time, become jazz. Here's a particularly noteworthy example about early cornetist Freddie Keppard (though this is far from the only one): "Freddie was soon taking lessons on the accordion, mandolin, and violin, while Louis [his brother] played the guitar. . . . Louis also recalled that Freddie became impatient playing the mandolin because he couldn't play loud enough, and when he was sixteen he began taking lessons on the cornet from Adolph Alexander, who played cornet and baritone horn with many orchestras, including the Superior Orchestra and Manuel Perez's Imperial Orchestra . . ."

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    Registered User Bob Buckingham's Avatar
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    Default Re: Samuel Charters's book A Trumpet around the Corner and mandol

    While this has nothing to do with jazz, my grandfather played mandolin and gave it up in 1917 when he went into the navy for WWI. I visited a cousin in 2017 and she asked me if I knew what this thing was. It was his mandolin which I now have. They must have been quite popular back then as they do show up quite often and your writing about the volume problems helps explain the hybrid resonator mandolins and banjo-mandolins, which could cut through the mix. We are blessed today to have great sound capabilities where everyone can be heard if the time is taken to set up it all up correctly.

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    Default Re: Samuel Charters's book A Trumpet around the Corner and mandol

    Sounds like an interesting read. I do like Sam C.'s writings, especially his book where he discovers Joseph Spence in the Bahamas.

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