ARTIST

Dixon, Dave

"I've always had a natural affinity for music and a memory that seems to be better on music than it is on anything else."

Dave Dixon is a jazz record and film collector who has shared many rare and precious musical treasures and memories with the jazz community on the West Coast for many years. Dixon was the President of the UBC Jazz Society and in 1948 he began hosting his own radio show on WX called "Fats Waller Memorial Session" which eventually evolved into a weekly radio show playing jazz of his choice.

One day, immediately after playing RCA Victor's very first live jazz concert album (Louis Armstrong's "Town Hall Concert" May 17,1947) on his radio show, Dave was greeted by Louis and Jack Teagarden after he stepped out of the studio. "They hadn't heard the issue themselves, so they were interested in what had been done by the Victor people," recalls Dixon. "The publicity guy was with Louis and Teagarden and he was so excited and he said all the members of the University Jazz Club could come down to the Palomar matinee free of charge, and so we did." Dixon says, "The place was electric. The Palomar Supper Club was just packed with people." At the performance, Dixon witnessed "probably the most memorable moment of listening to live music" that never seemed to have happened elsewhere (except for that day in Vancouver). At some occasion in the evening, it was somewhat customary for Louis Armstrong and his band to leave the stage and take a break while the drummer (Sid Catlett) played a 5-minute solo. However, at this particular performance, "Louis stopped and turned around and picked up his trumpet, and they had a drum and trumpet duet," says Dixon. "Certainly nobody I've talked to has ever heard of such a thing going on."


BIBLIOGRAPHY

JazzStreet Vancouver Interview
Dixon, Dave. Personal interview with Alan Matheson. 29 Nov. 2005.

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