Questions & Answers

Writer Lauren Waters sat down with Tom over the December holidays to discuss a wide range of topics. Better luck next time Lauren.

Q. Jazz Times recently published a highly controversial "overrated, underrated" feature. What was your opinion of it?
A. It was nonsense.

Q. Why do you say that?
A. I either know, know of, or have met many of the contributors to that article. These are not people who really for lack of a better term "get it." I saw some of them at the IAJE convention recently. They were outsiders looking in. Even among seven thousand conference participants, they stuck out.

Q. Do you want to play overrated, underrated?
A. I will give you my opinions on underrated.

Q. OK, who in your opinion is the most underrated jazz musician of all time?
A. Benny Carter. If jazz were a decathlon he would be the winner.

Q. Who are the world's most underrated jazz trombonists?
A. In no particular order: Washington DC's Dave Steinmeyer, Steve Wiest in Wisconsin, and my father Tom Smith, Jr.

Q. In order of rankings name the top thirty big bands of all time.
A. 1. Duke Ellington, 1940: The standard by which all big bands are judged.
2. Maynard Ferguson, 1962: Many people disagree. I say check out the album. They deserve to be #2.
3. Count Basie, 1950's: This band was better and cleaner that its Lester Young counterpart. April in Paris redefined big band music.
4. Woody Herman, First Herd: Reevaluations attest that this group was superior to its more celebrated Second Herd counterpart.
5. Fletcher Henderson: The greastest big band of the 1920's.
6. Jimmy Lunceford: The most underrated big band of all time.
7. Thad Jones-Mel Lewis: As time goes on these guys look better and better.
8. Dizzy Gillespie, 1940's: The last word in bebop big band.
9. Artie Shaw: I always considered this a superior musical ensemble to Goodman's.
10. Duke Ellington, 1920's: The Cotton Club band was fabulous, and Bubber Miley ruled.
11. Woody Herman, Second Herd: The Four Brothers edition would have been #2 if they would have stayed straight.
12. Benny Goodman, 1938: When Krupa and James left, this band lost its heart.
13. McKinney's Cotton Pickers: Don Redman was the greatest 1920's writer of big band music.
14. Stan Kenton, 1950's: The Bill Russo period when Rosolino was king.
15. The Tonight Show with Doc Severinson: What was NBC thinking when they let these guys get away?
16. Tommy Dorsey, the Sinatra Period: Nobody did ballads better.
17. Chick Webb: Buddy Rich was history's greatest big band drummer, but nobody swung a band harder than Webb.
18. Count Basie, 1930's: Raw, but good.
19. Billy Eckstine: These guys got a lot of adulation, but were not around long enough to reach full potential.
20. Buddy Rich, Pacific Jazz Band: The band's performances of West Side Story and Channel One Suite justify this ranking.
21. Bob Mintzer: The best big band of the 1980's.
22. Woody Herman, Swingin Herd: Phil Wilson, Jake Hanna, Sal Nistico and Bill Chase.
23. Duke Ellington, Late 1950's band: The band that turned Ellington into a household name.
24. Cab Calloway: Once you get past the singing, you realize what a spectacular band this was.
25. Don Ellis: He redefined the way people perceived the big band.
26. Airman of Note, The Steinmeyer years: Breathtaking trombones!
27. Gene Krupa: Roy Eldridge and Anita O'Day.
28. Toshiko Akiyoshi- Lew Tabacken, 1970's: Some people feel this group was overrated. They must not have been listening.
29. Harry James, The Vegas Years with Buddy Rich: Less ballads, more swing.
30. Paul Whiteman, 1927-34: Many critics punish this band unjustly, because they played a lot of commercial music. Check out Whiteman Stomp; the best Don Redman reading ever. Besides, how do you argue with Bix and Herb Challis?

Q. No Miller?
A. No

Q. How about Benny Carter, Mingus, or Les Brown?
A. I wish they could have made it, but this was a very select list.

Q. Are rankings and "overrated-underrated" lists of any value?
A. Only if they are right.

Q. How correct are your assessments?
A. Dead on.