[Dixielandjazz] This is a public service announcement.

[Charlie Hooks]

I'm afraid that Dick Broadie has fallen victim to the notion that we on the
list are all professional musicians and apt to be interested in musical
matters.  But the responses have shown that, in some instances, at least, he
is in error.  Similarly, I have come to believe that I, also, do not belong
here and have been trying valiantly to leave; but while the list automaton
assures me each time that I am indeed unsubscribed, I keep right on getting
all the posts just as before.

I've written to Ringwald, soliciting suggestions; I also solicit them from
all.

thank you,
Charlie



on 8/3/03 10:09 AM, bert barr at uljb at yahoo.com wrote:

Without being disrespectful - what do any of these
tunes have to do with dixieland? Maybe Mack The Knife
would qualify but most of these songs (I'm not saying
they are good or bad musically) do not or should not
be included on this list if we are still talking
dixieland. Am I wrong?

Bert (mouldy figge) Barr - Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band
--- Richard Broadie <richard.broadie at gte.net> wrote:
> A very fine jazz pianist just emailed this to me.
> Thought you might enjoy
> the contents.  I look forward to your comments.
> 
> Dick Broadie
> 
> *************************************************
> 
> This is a public service announcement.
> 
> It has come to my attention that at any given gig,
> people will request that
> the band play certain songs. There is a depressing
> inevitability to the
> songs that get requested. Following is a list of
> many of those songs, and
> probable reasons why your request didn¹t get
> honored.
> 
> "In The Mood":
> 
> This is the bane of every big band, as well as most
> small Jazz combos and
> wedding bands of every stripe. It's a song that most
> musicians learn to play
> at a very early stage of their career, and by the
> time they've become
> professionals they're already sick of the song. They
> don't care what event
> in your life you associate it with, their souls just
> shrivel when they hear
> the name.
> 
> Inside musician joke (if you don't understand it,
> next time you request this
> song, also ask to have the joke explained to you):
> There's good news and bad
> news. The good news is that Glenn Miller's plane
> went down. The bad news is
> that they saved the book.
> 
> "Mack The Knife":
> 
> If Ute Lemperer or Marlene Dietrich is singing it to
> the Original Kurt Weill
> orchestrations it's a cool song. If a wedding band
> is playing it and trying
> to make it swing it's just horrible. Have you ever
> listened to the lyrics?
> 
> "Jump, Jive and Wail":
> 
> In a very short time this song has almost eclipsed
> "In The Mood" in
> odiousness (odiosity?). We don't care if it makes
> you feel hip, a request
> for this song just sucks the spirit out of a band.
> Hey, big news, the
> "neo-swing" craze ended a few years ago, pretty much
> the moment this song
> appeared in a commercial. Louis Jordan was cool, no
> argument there. A
> wedding band playing this song is not, and
> furthermore they're probably not
> happy either.
> 
> "Girl From Ipanema":
> 
> This is a lovely song, and frankly we really don't
> mind Playing it as much
> as some of this other dreck, but there are a ton of
> other Antonio Carlos
> Jobim songs that are more fun to play. And what
> usually happens when we do
> play it, some young, white yuppie idiot goes into
> his or her 'Latin'
> routine -- you know what I'm talking about. They get
> this silly look on
> their face and they do their idea of a samba. To be
> honest, even if we're
> not Latino it's insulting, racist and ignorant.
> 
> "Proud Mary":
> 
> Again, not a bad song. We¹re just sick to death of
> playing it.
> 
> "Freebird":
> 
> What is it with this song? Unless you live below the
> Mason-Dixon line and/or
> the band is honest-to-God Southerners, there is no
> earthly reason to want to
> hear this song.
> 
> "Linus and Lucy":
> 
> Again, a charming song, but it's really not jazz, as
> so many of You seem to
> think it is. Most pianists have learned how to play
> this purely out of
> self-defense; it's just easier (and faster) to play
> the damn thing than to
> weasel out of it. Vince Guaraldi, the song's author,
> is well-regarded
> amongst jazz musicians, and one of his other Peanuts
> songs: "Christmastime
> Is Here" is one of our favorites.
> 
> "My Way":
> 
> Unless it's the Sid Vicious version, or unless you
> and/or the Band is either
> Italian or from New Jersey, it's just not a great
> song.
> 
> "The Chicken Dance" or "The Hokey Pokey":
> 
> Unless you're 10 years old or live in Wisconsin
> (cheeseheads get a special
> dispensation), don't you think the whole idea is
> kind of ridiculous?
> 
> "The Macarena":
> 
> Hey, it's already 2003. The stinking carcass of the
> song should have been
> cremated years ago.
> 
> Anything by Kenny G:
> 
> To ALL self-respecting jazz musicians, Kenny G is
> the Anti-Christ.
> 
> 99.9% of saxophonists in America would sooner climb
> into a cage filled with
> rabid weasels (or booking agents) than play
> "Songbird".
> 
> Anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber:
> 
> I have it on good authority that this is a true
> story. Webber Was introduced
> to Frank Loesser, a certified giant among American
> theatrical composers, at
> a party in Manhattan. He asked Loesser why people
> seemed to have an
> immediate dislike for his (Webber's) work, and
> Loesser said, "It saves
> time."
> 
> If you put 20 orangutangs in a hotel room with word
> processors it'd take
> them less than a day to write an A.L.W. lyric.
> 
> Anything by Celine Dion:
> 
> Well, maybe some of the female vocalists out there
> wouldn't Mind the
> opportunity to sho-off their chops, but they don't
> count. Us players hate
> the stuff. A 'C.D.' song is a locomotive whose
> emotional throttle is jammed
> wide open.
> 
> Feel free to contribute your own, or to argue.
> 
> Addendum:
> 
> No explanation needed for the following: (see "Proud
> Mary," Which I think IS
> a bad song) "When the Saints Go Marching In" "Happy
> Birthday" "New York, New
> York" "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" "Leroy Brown" "Color My
> World" "You Light Up My
> Life" "Feelings"
> 
> Carole with an "e"
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>
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