swing, brother, swing

watcha listenin to, crispy? i've been drenching myself in swing, especially of the small group rather than big band variety. at the moment, my fave stuff comes from the kansas city/count basie axis, which for one thing is as grounded in the blues as any mode of swing music. in particular, i've been listening incessantly to lester young and buck clayton, often together. 'blue lester' might be my favorite song ever. clayton is, like any trumpeter or maybe any jazz player up til bop, very influenced by louis armstrong. he's one of the few players who can really withstand the comparison, though: he's really endlessly creative and a beautiful improviser. the uses of the mute is very excellent, and he uses it to create analogies to the human voice. though the playing can be virtuosic, the virtuosity is never the point: it's the juice, baby: the expression. indeed, the voice of his muted horn sounds a lot like the voice of his frequent collaborator billie holiday, and it's hard to say whether one influenced the other or it's just a kind of coincidence.