[Dixielandjazz] Vicious Attack

[David Palmquist]

Kaye's observation, and Steve's, are valid.  There are many young people 
who enjoy older music.  All is not lost, but we need to be active rather 
than passive in nurturing and protecting the music we love.

Someone who has good potential to revitalize the business is Holly Cole. 
Small group stuff (trio) but very creative with the just the right amount 
of showmanship. I haven't heard a lot of her material (yet) but what I've 
heard appeals to me.  Not Dixie, but traditional.  And g-o-o-o-d.   I had 
the great pleasure of listening tonight to a CD called Johnny Favourite 
Swing Orchestra, Holiday Romance.  This is straight ahead swing music in 
the late 1930's style (except the drumming is in places perhaps of a later 
style), well written, well arranged, and well played.

Locally (Vancouver) we have a lot of older music on a couple of radio 
stations, and we have a jazz festival annually. Every time one of the 
"names" comes to town, the bigger halls sell out (3,000 +/-). Two huge 
local retailers (one with a multitude of stores) have extensive jazz sections.

We must share our love of our music with others if there is to be a chance 
it will continue -- but as an art form instead of popular music. Not 
everybody has an ear for jazz, there isn't even a common understanding of 
what it is, and even in its heyday, other than the subset called Swing, it 
was never superpopular.

Swing is alive and well among the kids born in the late 1970's to mid 
1980's, and jazz generally is very healthy in the North American school 
music programs. Lots of kids are into music class, with varying interests. 
When my kids were in junior high only a decade ago, over 50% of the kids in 
their school were taking elective music courses, and this continues today. 
While they've all finished school now, their senior high school with 2,000 
kids still has enough demand to employ two full time music teachers.

Let me get in a plug for David Berger, Wynton Marsalis and Jazz@Lincoln 
Center. These people are doing a tremendous amount to bring OKOM (or at 
least MKOM) to a younger generation. If we can develop an interest in young 
people today for the music of Ellington, Armstrong, Morton, and their 
contemporaries, then the record companies may still find it worthwhile to 
meet the needs of our niche. Jazz CD's account for about 3% of the US$13 
billion a year Americans spend on compact discs (per the Recording Industry 
Association of America).

David in Delta





At 20:05 29-12-02, Kaye Wade wrote:
>Last Night I went to Casey's in Canoga Park in LA area.  Evie's band
>plays every Sat. Night - basically Dixie & Jazz.  There were about 7
>people + the band that were over 50 yrs. the other 60 were 21 to 27 yrs
>of age & loved every minute of the music. And I see the dancers at the
>other clubs who are all very young.  We are not loosing, we are just
>starting over.
>
>K
>
>--
>Kaye Wade
>Stuntwoman-Actress, Reflexologist
>Vocalist & Bandleader -Kaye Wade's Riverboat Ramblers
>& The Tinsel Town Ten Minus 3
>PO Box 1068 Studio City  CA. 91614-1068
>http://www.KayeWade.com
>
>
>
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