[Dixielandjazz] Band Dress

[Tony Davis]

The always impeccably dressed Bill Gunter said:

> ...my observation (as a musician from the U.S.) is that Brit trad bands
tend to dress down and the garments are most often black or grey...

Well, Bill, there's quite a wide gamut of dress among British bands.  It's
true that many go for the safe but boring white shirts and black trousers
(pants), but most bands nowadays spice this up by adding a fancy waistcoat
(vest) or even brightly coloured braces (suspenders).

My own band was run for many years by a man with a very dominant personality
and rigid views.  He chose the band's uniform shirts, and avoided anything
bright or elaborately patterned.  "We don't want to look like an Irish show
band," was one of his frequently repeated maxims.  (I don't know what he had
against Irish show bands in particular.)  He was also colour-blind.  This
meant that we usually ended up wearing shirts of brown or grey with perhaps
a muted red stripe.  They were awful.

These days we wear bright red or yellow polo shirts for informal gigs,
waistcoats over white or black shirts for the more upmarket ones, and
occasionally cream single breasted jackets over blue or black shirts with
long ties.  We never wear dress suits (tuxes), although I have one for use
when depping with other bands which require them.  I think it's important to
look good on stage, but you need to be comfortable too, and playing a
four-hour gig under bright lights wearing a dress suit is not going to bring
out the best in a band.  I favour lightweight jackets, pastel shirts and
long ties.

--
Tony Davis
Trumpet/Cornet, Zenith Hot Stompers
Aston, Oxfordshire, UK
www.tony-davis.co.uk