[Dixielandjazz] Million dollar question

JimDBB@aol.com JimDBB@aol.com
Tue, 6 Aug 2002 02:18:15 EDT


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In a message dated 7/15/02 1:39:26 PM Central Daylight Time, Pepett writes:


> 
> >> again
>>        RE: THE TYPICAL FESTIVAL FAN.
> 
> >>        Now, if it were possible at a relatively small Festival, to stop 
>> the first 400 people who entered and asked them who Edmond Hall, or Cutty 
>> Cutshall,or Bob Haggart, or Al Nicholas were, what would be YOUR opinion 
>> be on the percentage who would be able to answer the question????
>>         It may sound childish but I am honestly eager to hear the answer 
>> from a long time musician who probably played with all if not most of 
>> these greats!!
>> Best
>>       Perry

     Perry:  I meant to answer you before now but a bunch of things got in 
the way. I am sorry to have to answer this rather dismally.  I don't think 
that five percent would know who those greats were.  Sad, isn't it.  I'm 
discovering that ignornace of the arts is pervasive and goes way beyond jazz. 
 I Just discovered that my two adult sons don't know who Stephen Foster is.  
I was flabergasted.  What's more they didn't recognize any of the titles of 
his classic songs...Swanee River,  etc....

My 20 yr old daughter who is training to be a dancer and also teaches dancing 
came to me recently and asked If I ever heard of the song, "Beautiful 
Dreamer."  I said, of course, that is a Stephen Foster classic.  She heard it 
somewhere and wanted a recording of it so she could choreograph a dance to 
it.  I started to give her a talk on Foster and how his immortal songs were 
such a part of the American soul..  she didn't want to hear about it.  I am 
pissed about this.  Public TV ran a nice special on Foster recently and I was 
hoping my kids might watch it.  I know they didn't 

As for trad Festivals,  the 2nd and 3rd rate are really now the preferred 
bands and musicians.  Edmund Hall and Cutshall are two of my favorites. I met 
them but never played with them.  We are very fortunate to have them on so 
many great recordings.
There won't be any more of this calber and character.

Thanks for asking.

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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2>In a message dated 7/15/02 1:39:26 PM Central Daylight Time, Pepett writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">again<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; RE: THE TYPICAL FESTIVAL FAN.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now, if it were possible at a relatively small Festival, to stop the first 400 people who entered and asked them who Edmond Hall, or Cutty Cutshall,or Bob Haggart, or Al Nicholas were, what would be YOUR opinion be on the percentage who would be able to answer the question????<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It may sound childish but I am honestly eager to hear the answer from a long time musician who probably played with all if not most of these greats!!<BR>
Best<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Perry</BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Perry:&nbsp; I meant to answer you before now but a bunch of things got in the way. I am sorry to have to answer this rather dismally.&nbsp; I don't think that five percent would know who those greats were.&nbsp; Sad, isn't it.&nbsp; I'm discovering that ignornace of the arts is pervasive and goes way beyond jazz.&nbsp; I Just discovered that my two adult sons don't know who Stephen Foster is.&nbsp; I was flabergasted.&nbsp; What's more they didn't recognize any of the titles of his classic songs...Swanee River,&nbsp; etc....<BR>
<BR>
My 20 yr old daughter who is training to be a dancer and also teaches dancing came to me recently and asked If I ever heard of the song, "Beautiful Dreamer."&nbsp; I said, of course, that is a Stephen Foster classic.&nbsp; She heard it somewhere and wanted a recording of it so she could choreograph a dance to it.&nbsp; I started to give her a talk on Foster and how his immortal songs were such a part of the American soul..&nbsp; she didn't want to hear about it.&nbsp; I am pissed about this.&nbsp; Public TV ran a nice special on Foster recently and I was hoping my kids might watch it.&nbsp; I know they didn't <BR>
<BR>
As for trad Festivals,&nbsp; the 2nd and 3rd rate are really now the preferred bands and musicians.&nbsp; Edmund Hall and Cutshall are two of my favorites. I met them but never played with them.&nbsp; We are very fortunate to have them on so many great recordings.<BR>
There won't be any more of this calber and character.<BR>
<BR>
Thanks for asking.</FONT></HTML>

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