Dixieland Jazz Straight From Germany

Dixieland style jazz is pretty new, as music goes.  Dates from the 1920's in New Orleans, with the first recording coming about 1917.  The style took its name from a band called The Original Dixieland Jazz Band.  Dixieland, with it's upbeat intertwining of horns playing freestyle and melody, soon spread to Chicago, and then to the east and west coasts.

The instruments in Dixieland jazz are pretty much the same as with any jazz band, but also include the banjo, one of my favorite instruments.  Somewhere in the rise of the big bands in the 1930s, the banjo dropped out of the jazz lineup, to be replaced by the guitar.

Want to hear real Dixieland, head for New Orleans, but in the meantime, there are some German and other European bands that do a pretty fair job.  The Saturday free  jazz concerts in Homburg (11 to 2:30) sometimes feature Dixieland and the German crowds love it.

This selection, "I can't believe that you're in love with me,"was written by Jimmy McHugh and Clarence Gaskill and dates to 1927.  Gaskill wasn't a prolific songwriter, unlike his partner.

Jimmy McHugh (1894-1969)  wrote over 500 songs, recorded by all the big names of the 30's to 50's, such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday,Nina Simone, Chet Baker, Dinah Washington, June Christy, Peggy Lee,Deanna Durbin, and Ella Fitzgerald.  Check McHugh out on google and you're sure to recognize many,many of his songs.  Some were written in collaboration, as was this one.


Your eyes so blue
Your kisses too
I never knew what they could do
I can't believe you're in love with me

You're telling everyone I know
I'm on your mind each place you go
They can't believe that you're in love with me
(From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/billie-holiday-lyrics/i-can_t-believe-that-you_re-in-love-with-me-lyrics.html)
I have always placed you far above me
I just can't image that you love me
And after all is said and done
To think that I'm the lucky one
I can't believe you're in love with me